HIStory4: Close to You (2021)

SO FAR SO BAD

@sarhattiwatti got everything right about this problematic show, so I'll just add a few comments here in response to how I've seen people defend other terrible shows.

1) "You haven't even seen the whole series yet, how can you judge it so soon?"

In a few short episodes, we have already seen unwanted touching, STALKING, and INCEST. There is no way to justify these actions no matter how many more episodes are left. Once a person has committed these acts, there is no taking it back or making it better or okay. They are and should be deal-breakers for any further relationship developing between people. Would you end up dating a stalker because they turned out to be "nice" or "cute" or YOUR BROTHER?

2) "This is just fiction, anything goes. It doesn't mean anything, it's just a fantasy."

Fiction and story-telling have always had real-world consequences. Every culture uses stories to pass on values and spread ideas about what beliefs they hold . The representation shown here regarding male/male relationships are very problematic and those who do not know real people in same-sex relationships can conclude, based on this show, that men can be persuaded to date their own brothers or their straight co-workers if the only tried hard enough. There is so much wrong with this narrative. Lack of positive or accurate representation is a part of why we have racism and homophobia in the real world. This show certainly doesn't help in any of these areas.

3) "This was created by straight women for straight women."

Again this is an issue of REPRESENTATION. Regardless of the creators or target audience, the relationship being portrayed is male/male and therefore is a representation of gay men everywhere. Telling other people's stories without getting anything correct is harmful, and it begs the question if any gay people are involved in the creation of this show, because it doesn't seem like it, and that's a problem in itself. I also highly doubt straight women or anyone want to see incestuous relationships between characters, fictional or otherwise.

4) "It's not incest, they're not related by blood."

Again, @sarhattiwatti already addressed this but I also want to further emphasize this because it's WAY TOO COMMON in BL shows. Whether related by blood or not, IT'S STILL INCEST. They have a scene in the show from back when the brothers were younger and were taking care of each other. That just further establishes that they had a prior FAMILIAL relationship and makes this all the worse. They grew up together, nature has a way of making people not see each other in a sexual way if they grew up in the same household as established through psychological research, so anything that deviates from this is WRONG. Please don't debate me on this because it will make you look bad. Stop trying to justify incest, it's not a good look for anyone... And as for the inability of two men to reproduce, would it be okay for a brother and sister to have sex if they use protection or have their tubes tied??? IT'S. STILL. INCEST. AND. IT'S. STILL. WRONG. (add clap emojis for emphasis)

BL shows have always blurred the lines between realism and fantasy, but this series really takes it too far to a place that creates a problem for the representation of male/male relationships. It has taken cute fantasy into a dark place, and it's a huge step back in the progress of LGBTQ+ representation. Such a shame coming from Taiwan, which is otherwise the leader in Asia regarding these matters. This show either needs to hire some actual gay people, or end entirely for the sake of everyone.

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Good looking Cast and heartwarming story

History 4 is not too intense like the other history series... but its amost likable one till date.. the cast is very good looking and story is really hearttouching... its very warm and feel good drama.. you will love it.. its worth a watch.. the chemistry between leads is sizzling hot... the tension between the couple feels real .. the struggle of loving someone of same gender with all the social obligation is worth a watch.. Love ia not easy for anyone if its true and real thats what you can see in drama..love the cast and the storyline too.. must watch drama.. highly recommended..

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Interesting

I thought this was overall a good episode. There was one scene that I found a little unnerving but I still like the chemistry of our two couples. Also I didn’t find the girl ships as intrusive. As long as they keep the crazy females out of the way I’m ok. My main interest is the development of the bl couples. There was a good balance between the two couples and we see how strong the bond is between the three roommates. Also we got some insight into the family dynamics of the stepbrothers. The only concern I have is bl writers have used this stepbrother relationship too many times. It’s beginning to be boring and too predictable. While it’s not incest technically it can feel eerie especially if they have lived in the same household for a number of years and essentially grew up together.

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Trash

This bl is not worth it.

The strepbrother trope, romantizing sexual assaults, stalker, im only gay for one person..

I always loved the HIStory series but who wrote this one was a big let down.

The story is honestly so boring, there is a fujoshi who is a weirdo and one of the boys likes her so forcing his friend to be fake liking him. ofcourse they fall in love, Then there is the only gay for u thing that he says also “Its not sexual assault because u are not a girl” who even wrote that is dumb.

The other story are the step bro’s, guess what one is a stalker and is possessive he also gets the other drunk and assaults him. the story just erased it because they literally going to fall in love.

Look at the series named “the effect” they didnt romantize sexual assault/r.pe

Im sad that this is a let down

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Awful plot. Tw : R*pe

The whole dynamic of the second couple is so wrong. R*ping someone is not okay in any world. Idc if he has a sad backstory , it doesn't justify violating someone he claims that he likes. He could have waited it out. The plot felt disgusting and wrong. I don't like how they make it seem like a guy getting r*ped is no big deal. This is so messed up , it was suffocating to watch. Would not recommend this.

Not y'all justifying r*pe when he clearly got him drunk and f'ed him while he was in a drunken state, if he was confident that his brother liked him , he wouldn't have done that. AND IF ANYONE DOES THAT TO A PERSON THEY LOVE THEY ARE F*CKED UP IN THE HEAD.

"They were in love" oh then why did he get his brother drunk? Why couldn't he keep it in his pants & WAIT UNTIL HE GOT A CLEAR YES BEFORE DOING IT? Why is violating someone okay just because you like them?
That is not the way to go about when you like someone.
"YES" IN A CLEAR CONSCIOUS MIND = CONSENT. Would that man give consent to his brother when he was not drunk? NO HE WOULDN'T. IDFC IF HE WAS IN DENIAL THAT HE LOVED HIS BROTHER OR NOT. THAT DOESN'T EXCUSE ANYTHING. THE BROTHER SHOULD HAVE WAITED IT OUT INSTEAD OF R*APING THE PERSON HE LOVED. THE BROTHER WAS DAMN SURE THAT HE WOULDN'T GIVE CONSENT THAT'S WHY HE GOT HIM DRUNK. FICTIONAL OR NOT, THIS IS WRONG. IN NO WORLD IS THIS OKAY.

People go watch movies or dramas to feel and escape reality and if this escape of yours includes justifying r*ape because the r*pist had a sad backstory or the victim was in denial of his feelings, you need therapy.

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They're not even trying to respect the lgbtq+ community...

I'm dropping this right after the second episode (3+4/20). I have no reason to continue watching this. It feels like I'm reading a bad yaoi from like 2010 or something, its BL in it's purest form and I hate it. This drama is only made to please straight women who fetishize mlm relationships and gay men. This is not okay, as someone who is part of the lgbtq+ community i feel very disgusted with this and the people who are trying to justify the things that are happening in the series.
Here are things that are very problematic about the drama:

1. Liu Mei Fang, the fujoshi
First of all i'd like to say that there are straight girls who know how to be respectful fans, but Liu Mei Fang is not one of them. The whole thing about straight men pretending to be gay to get the girl just is not right. It's literally using fetishizing and queerbaiting to your own advantage (which is not even realistic and harms actual gay people because other people will think that this is normal). Liu Mei Fang herself is a big part of the problem. She was ready to forget about the bullying she faced (which clearly she hasn't gotten over) just to see Xiao Li Cheng harras his male friend because according to her "He's still in the closet." Shipping real people (even if it's in a drama)* is very harmful and it can literally destroy friendships. I'm a kpop fan and have seen the effects shipping has on idols, they get uncomfortable around each other and are afraid of showing too much affection because of "fans" that don't treat them like real people. This happens a lot with bl actors too, who are usually straight and only showing affection as fanservice, they're not actually in love with each other.

*Here I mean that showing shipping of real people in a drama can lead to it being normalized. I'm talking about shipping real people such as actors and idols, not characters in a drama, shipping them is fine as long as the relationship is appropriate (fyi there are no appropriate ships in this drama).

2. The stalking
I don't know what the writer was thinking but this is actually something illegal. Fu Yong Jie secretly copying Ye Xing Si's key and breaking into his house is just so wrong in so many ways. On top of all of this he's too protective of his brother he needs serious help and therapy. He literally tried to beat up one of Ye Xing Si's friend just because they were being touchy with each other. All of this is being excused by saying "they're brothers" which leads us to the next thing:

3. The incest
Incest is way too normalized and romantized in bls and it should not be that way. It's still incest even if they're not blood related and can't reproduce, I repeat IT'S STILL INCEST AND SHOULD NOT BE NORMALIZED. If some of you don't know what incest is, here's the definition: The definition of incest (according to wikipedia) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), ADOPTION, clan, or lineage. If you're saying it's not bad because Fu Yong Jie was adopted, then what about fathers who date their adoptive daughters? You don't just get to pick and choose what problematic tropes can be romantized. Feeding in to the incest trope in BLs harms the lgbtq+ community. Also them being brothers adds nothing to the storyline, there are other kinds of close relationships they could've chosen for them but they went with step-brothers..

4. The sexual harassment
No means no but Xiao Li Cheng doesn't seem to understand that. He keeps trying to persuade Teng Mu Ren to fake date him and keeps touching him inappropriately even when he says no. Even friends have boundaries that you should not cross, especially if the friend directly tells you that they're uncomfortable. And no, begging someone for consent when the other has said no many times but eventually gives in is not consent.

+. The acting
This last thing has nothing to do with the story but I'm so disappointed that the HIStory series has downgraded to this. Trapped was so interesting but apparently it was downhill from there. These actors don't have enough experience and skills to be considered good. The over the top acting and breaking the fourth wall is very cringey and hard to look at. This doesn't seem like a comedy, more like 'we didn't cast good enough actors to do a serious drama so we made it a comedy to excuse their lacking skills.'

BL as a genre is very problematic and should be separated from actual gay dramas, but as for now the line between those two is very blurry and it should not be that way. If you want to tell stories about gay people you can't ignore the struggles we go trough. Every minority goes trough something and everyones experience is different but you can't separate the gay community from the hate and homophobia we face just so you can make profit off of it. People say they just want fluffy BLs that don't touch on these very serious problems and honestly I kinda do too. Not every gay drama has to make these serious things the main point of the plot because there are gay people who live a happy life right now, even if they have faced struggles in the past. It's perfectly fine to do a drama about the life without much struggles, but you need to make sure to tell that especially in conservative countries being part of the lgbtq+ community is not just sunshine and rainbows. An example of a good fluffy BL is Cherry Magic. It's extremely fluffy but still manages to touch on the struggles of figuring out your own sexuality in a serious matter and the fear of judgement lgbtq+ people deal with. Another one would be His - I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love. It touches on the same things as Cherry magic but from a very different perspective.

Straight cis women writing these kinds of BLs and lgbtq+ stories kinda feels like white people writing POC-stories, they don't have the experience that gay and trans people go trough. People have argued that BL is harmless because it's fiction and it's not supposed to be serious. Some have said that it's okay to fetishize mlm relationships and gay men. IT'S NOT! Fetishizing is never okay and it's not a compliment. With lgbtq+ people, fetishizing can lead to serious problems as it allows straight cis women to be homophobic with the excuse "I watch BL" and then they exclude lesbians, bisexuals and trans people from the lgbtq+.

ps.
Just because you don't think this way doesn't mean that there are not people who do and that leads to normalizing these things. Call problematic behavior out when you see it. Thank you.

pps.
If you thought this was a good drama when you watched this but now educate yourself, I don't blame you, because as I said, many of the things portrayed in the drama are very normalized in BLs. But if you now, even after reading this review refuse to think about these things from an another perspective and get defensive, you're genuinely a bad person.

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Hot and not scared....

I absolutely love love love this series. I am however sick of seeing the word “rape” being thrown around...watch it for yourself and make your own mind up. I can tell you that in a court of law it would have no legs whatsoever. Morally however, well that’s another subject. I am not going to dwell. I understand why he did what he did, but I am not 100% on board with his methods. Their relationship will not sit comfortably with everyone. I do however want to say THEY ARE NOT RELATED IN ANY WAY SO ITS NOT INCEST FFS!

The four leads are all very well cast. Chemistry is on fire. Story is good, trots along nicely, good plot twists and turns. Considering none of them had done BL before they were awesome.

The NC scenes are very well done, very sexy, very hot just enough to make your toes curl up!!!!

Only thing that annoyed me was the stupid line...I don’t like men, I just like him....FFS that should be banned.

This is not your usual run of the mill BL and that alone makes it worth watching. No school kids in shorts.

Couple of characters from History 3 made an appearance too - unfortunately not Wayne, but I think it may bode well for History 3 Season 2.

Anyway, if you like your NC scenes hot and steamy then this is for you. This is a good series and I’ve already watched it three times.

Make your own mind up after YOU have watched it not because of a reviewers opinion.

Enjoy! I certainly did.

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A catalogue to illustrate all the wrong reasons for having BL just for the sake of it?

Okay, 1st episode introduces a trio of main guys, who then walk in front of the camera in slow motion. And I don't like any of the 3? This never happened to me before while watching HIStory!:)

I didn't like 'Make Our Days Count', but it was GREAT in compare to this. This is really bad... There are two guys who should be friends, there's no real spark between them, only a lots of stupid "humour", then we have two guys who should be family, one of them acts super meek though he should be the confident type as shown in his work life, one of them acts like a psycho stalker. There's stupid fujoshi girl who's all giddy to see boy on boy couples forming, not caring if they're clowns & creeps.

At episode 6, it gets even depressing... I felt so sorry for one of the guys. He was such a good big brother and he had to find out that in that respect, he was nursing a viper. The kid step-brother makes a move on him when he is drunk, just because his attraction to him is "love" in his warped mind, not caring that he actually broke his heart. Had he really loved him, he would not do that to him. I will not argue here whether brotherly love is more than lovers love, apparently to please the BL audience the lovers love took priority so that we could watch that bedscene.

Looks like this show was made with the purpose to serve as a catalogue to illustrate all the wrong reasons for having BL just for the sake of it.

If this is the way HIStory has progressed, then perhaps it would be better if it ended. Oh, wait. Next time (HIStory5), it's Sci-Fi, even? Great. That won't get Dropped by me. That's straight to Not Interested.

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DISRESPECT TO LGBT COMMUNITY

Im a newbie when it comes being a bl fan. Im starting being a fan of bl just last year when ive watched Gaya sa Pelikula (Like in the movies) that bl drama was fantastic !!! Im a closeted gay for 10 years until now because i was born in a conservative christian nation so i cant easily open myself to my family, just only to my closest friends sadly. This my 1st BL drama ive rated with a low rating but to be honest im being generous here becoz atleast they made efforts in the music and production as well . For real i would rate zero for so many reasons:
1. Rape
Yeah i get with Ye Xings brother that he loves he loves him so much since 10 years old but why would you do such a DIRTY and NASTY way youll get your older bother dunk and get fucked him so bad without even a CONSENT with him THIS SO FCKING DISRESPECTFUL. If im his younger brother i would just confess him that i like him more than being brothers and i will pursue him in a ROMANTIC WAY just like me back even though its an unrequited love not drugged him or drunk him like that and then rape him. ALSO he FCKING RECORDED HIM WHEN THEY ARE DOING SEX and show it to his PARENTS LIKE WTF who would do such a dumb think just to say i did that becoz blah blah blah HELL NAH ???? ARE YOU FCKING KIDDING THOS THE WORST HISTORY series ive ever watched in my entire life. I regret watching it fcked !!!!
2. QUEER FCKING BAITING
Im tired of BL dramas and also other dramas that are using third sexuality just to get ther attention to that person they love(straight romance ) or just make fun of it. ITS NOT FCKING FUNNY and i dont like it. Why would XLC pretend to be gay just to be close for his first love LIKE WTF ARE YOU KIDDING ME HELLO??? ITS 2021 ALREADY we are trying to represent the PERFECT REPRESENTATION OF LGBT HERE not make fun of it YIKES!!!!
3. BAD ACTING AND WORST PLOTLINE
The actors i admit are very good looking but that doesnt mean they are really good at acting NO HELL NAH WORST than any other bl dramas out there, its like those straight bl actors like they are forcing themselves to become gay and have chemistry to each other its fcking FAKE AND RUSHED and the STORYLINE ITSELF IS TRASH this drama should have not been released or should have been put in the drafts tskkkk. Its getting on my nerves!!!!
Atleast the OST and music here is good yess please !!! Thank god Taiwan released "We best Love" its still one of the BEST BL DRAMAS THIS YEAR!!!! Im really dissapointed with this bl series its not my cup of tea to watch and ots really painful and gutted tskkk. I regret watching it!!! PLEASE DONT WATCH IT IF YOUR NOT MATURED ENOUGH!!!! 18+++++++++++++ only

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NICE STORY AND SUPER NICE ACTING

I am surprised to find so many negative reviews of shocked people who are part of this BL world... It's like listening to religious fundamentalists ... Stepbrothers have nothing to do with their parents love life. One day, they move with their Mom/Dad to their step-dad/mom. They have nothing to do with this new step-family. There are no common genes ... so what's the fuss about that??? Obviously this is a new theme in the BL dramas (the wonderful Addicted, the so-so Brothers, etc ...). If I had been Fu Yong Jie I would have been at Ye Xing Si's feet. He is so damn cute!
All he actors are handsome and good, especially Charles Tu (Xiao Li Cheng): he is so lively, so funny and SO charming...
I have still some episodes to watch but so far this series is excellent.

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R*pe romanticization in 2021? Say it ain't so!

I decided to drop this show after episode 6, with the r*pe. I did check reviews and comments afterwards to see how the show handles it, and it's exactly the way I would not want to watch. I'm quite surprised because the previous History series have been pretty good. This, though--what the hell were they thinking? I think if there had ever been the possibility of a History series without a happy ending, this should have been it.

Having watched a ton of LGBT+ media (especially the older ones lol) and BL shows, I'm no stranger to darker themes. But the stories we tell and consume are evolving along with our society. This feels like a wasted opportunity, and a pity since I actually thought the main actors were well-cast with the exception of Yong Jie.

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