2021)

May 5, 2021 10:04 am

While I did connect the meaning to the title, the details you provided about Mork and Pi makes this so much better

May 14, 2021 08:17 pm

Ep 6 more or less seem to confirm what you're saying here. Pi says a fish upon the sky is something impossible.

This is the most adorable show I've seen in a long time. The Pi character is bratty and a little annoying, but it's all sweet and funny. I think the Meen/Duean story is more interesting. Louis plays innocent incredibly well.

Foreigner

May 14, 2021 09:18 pm

glennaa11:
Ep 6 more or less seem to confirm what you're saying here. Pi says a fish upon the sky is something impossible.

I've just finished watching the episode. I'm going to update the thread now. I must say, I really like Pi's explanation, more than my own theory. Now I also understand why Muang Nan's spin-off novel is called "Star in the water".

glennaa11:
This is the most adorable show I've seen in a long time. The Pi character is bratty and a little annoying, but it's all sweet and funny. I think the Meen/Duean story is more interesting. Louis plays innocent incredibly well.

I'm also enjoying it a lot. And yes, Louis is playing his part perfectly ^^

ksk79

Aug 1, 2021 06:02 am

Stars on the Water, the original novel, read more like a gay story than a BL story. So I am not at all surprised that it would not likely be made into a series. I felt so sorry for Muang Nan, the protagonist, in the novel.

Foreigner

Aug 1, 2021 08:54 am

ksk79:
Stars on the Water, the original novel, read more like a gay story than a BL story. So I am not at all surprised that it would not likely be made into a series. I felt so sorry for Muang Nan, the protagonist, in the novel.

I can see and understand why you would consider Star in the Water a gay story, but that's not the reason why they decided not to turn it into a BL series. JittiRain explained that she regrets writing it. In particular, she is afraid that the dark tone and the allusions to incest in the first part of the book may negatively affect the perception of the Thai BL industry. She even decided to stop the circulation of the novel (it's not on MEB's website anymore). That being said, there are a lot of people who believe that since "the story is a depressing, emotionally taxing, slowburn drama that revolves around the characters’ inner thoughts instead of actions or dialogue", it wouldn't be suitable for a tv adaptation anyway (I'm quoting this comment).

Personally, I think that JittiRain is being too hard on herself. She shouldn't be ashamed of exploring controversial themes. What matters is not what she writes about, but how she handles it and I think that she did a good job here. The "incest" topic wasn't just tropey and shallow (like in Love by Chance, for example), but it had an emotional depth and a complexity that made it stand out.

chiha

Aug 1, 2021 09:21 am

I had no idea something like this had happened. Incestuous relationships already get so much hatred, if the same story is written for something which is not incestuous—say a cohabitation bl—then it will get more love than an incestuous bl. The same tropes and stories for a non-incestuous relationship will be viewed with more favor. It doesn't help that dramas like History4: Close to you portray the relationship between the step-siblings as the more unhealthy one.

That being said, I completely understand why Jittirain did what she did. Bl authors already get shamed too much. I hope that in the future we can get such stories but done in a mature and careful way, and not how carelessly it was handled, as in the case of Tum and Tar in Love by Chance and Tharn and Type in Tharntype.

ksk79

Aug 3, 2021 01:40 pm

@Foreigner, thank you for filling me in on what the author felt about the book. As a matter of fact, I'd like to clarify that labelling it as more gay-themed means it has less commerical value for the producers to attract the vast BL audiences out there.

Foreigner

Aug 4, 2021 03:25 pm

Foreigner:
the allusions to incest in the first part of the book

I'd like to clarify a few things.

Mueang Nan's love interest in the novel is Nuer Nakin. [SPOILER FROM THE NOVEL] Nan is convinced that Nuer is his half-brother, but by the end of the book he discovers that they are not blood-related. In other words, there's no real incest, but the first half of the story deals with it since Nan -- and the readers -- are misinformed. As I said before, what really matters when you treat controversial topics is the way you present and handle them. From what I've heard, JittiRain was able to create a poignant story where you can clearly feel and understand Nan's desperation. He knows that his love is impossible because it's forbidden, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't erase Nuer from his mind and he feels totally lost when Nuer is not there. He is constantly torn between his need of having Nuer by his side (as more than just a brother) and the sense of guilt that comes from those feelings. In the meantime, he also has to deal with some other problems. He is always smiling because he doesn't want other people to know about his issues or worry, but the truth is he is barely holding all the pieces of his life together and his mask could break and crumble at any moment. I'd love to read the actual novel to get an even better insight into Nan's character.

Nyx Medina

Aug 4, 2021 11:24 pm

I also noticed this sensitive topic of incest (or close to it) was present in the Thai BL "Brothers" earlier this year. Although the series dealt with step-siblings, I had a problem with some acting and dialogue of the story as well as the weird semi-nude intermission vid of the characters. In any case, I loved Folk there. Hope he gets another project soon. :-)

May I ask, where I could read Star in the Water? Despite the controversy, I wish this would be made into a BL series eventually if only for Mix to have a new project (preferably with Earth still? haha). Maybe PondPhuwin of FUTS could have a cameo also there? (crossing fingers). :-D

Foreigner

Aug 4, 2021 11:59 pm

Nyx Medina:
May I ask, where I could read Star in the Story?

As far as I know, there's no English translation (neither official nor unofficial) and JittiRain has stopped the production and circulation of the Thai novel, so finding it is pretty hard. At the moment I think you can only read this detailed summary written by a user who read the novel in Thai.

Nyx Medina:
I also noticed this sensitive topic of incest (or close to it) was present in the Thai BL "Brothers" earlier this year.

To be honest, I've never watched a drama with a proper, interesting approach to step-siblings romance. For some reason, whenever they decide to go for that trope, they never develop it enough and it always remains pretty shallow and not so credible. In the end, you can't sympathize with the characters much.

Anyway, JittiRain has already stated that Star in the Water won't be adapted into a series. Personally, I think it's better this way. As the readers of the book said, the strength of the novel is the psychological aspect that derives from the character's thoughts; there isn't much action, so it would be hard to make a proper series out of it. Also, Mix said that he doesn't want to star in a sad or tragic drama for a while, so... XD

Nyx Medina

Aug 5, 2021 12:07 am

You got it right! The plot of Brothers appeared to be shallow and the acting were understandably amateuristic. Folk was cute though. ;-)

Thanks for sharing the detailed summary. Maybe in the future, someone could share Star in the Water novel with English translation. Would love to read that. Hopefully, the author would continue it soon if only to have some closure.