MianhaKdrama

The photoshop of Theo's face is really annoying. It's excessive!

Uhm Jung Hwa ?

@matildaelaine @aiwriter123 Yes I assumed the storyline from the trailer and of course I could be wrong. Maybe the story isn't about who the anonymous suitor is (it seems it's not Akk) but still I think it wasn't a smart choice to make Akk's feeling for Theo this obvious from the start. Anyways,I shouldn't assume things and should keep watching to see if they've a surprise in store :-)

And what makes it a LGBTQ+ drama?

That's what I said on a previous post but boy you better not point out the series flaws if you want to live... It's not possible to discuss the quality of the narrative when people are raving about the seriousness of the plot and the flag scene ...

People glossing over this scene like it never happened just because "Not Me is so great! It has a serious plot unlike other BL"*facepalm*. I see no one saying it's quite problematic for the romance to come...

Obviously you gloss over some points you don't like : I've said several times the rhetoric is correct or at least was correct in the past but I'm stating we can't keep using it to lump together all BL since a lot of them are good quality nowadays.

"Anyway your entire argument about bl and lgbtq if you go by semantics makes no sense because essentially every bl IS lgtbq."
Well, thank you, that's exactly my point! I said there's no need to distinguish BL to LGBTQ+ but some of you do it to put their favorite series on a pedestal. As if you're ashamed to like BL so you need to dress it up as something better. So I was merely stating that if we want to play the snobbish game you'd loose because a lot of your favorite series aren't LGBTQ+ according to the definition.

Also, LGBTQ+ isn't the "good" representation of the queer community but the fair and realistic depiction of queer people. Did Queer As Folk show a good representation of queer people? Not really, many gays were outraged with some behaviors and arguments portray in the show but it was a fair and realistic representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

I'm using semantics because I'm tired of people using words left and right without knowing what they're talking about.
Not Me did indeed show the representation of thai queers in episode 7 and that's good and it should be praised. That being said it still doesn't make it a LGBTQ+ drama despite what you want to believe. You all can say Not Me is superior too other BL because *insert arguments* but it still doesn't conform to the definition of LGBTQ+ content.
We can have great BL with good queer representation and not try to pass it as something more. There's no competition to win the LGBTQ+ tag! You can't pick and choose what is LGBTQ+ and what is not to fit your narrative.
Trying to separate your favorite BL to those you deem mediocre and calling them LGBTQ+ make you look like a bunch of kids trying to look good.
That's the point of my post if you didn't get it. I'm not here to discuss once again the fetishization of the queer community by "horny women"... This rhetoric is getting old.

BL has evolved since the 90s. The fans who might have fetishized gay love at that time aren't the same fans nowadays so we should stop using this rethoric. Many hardcore yaoi are released every month so it's not like women are out of content. If we watch BL series it's certainly not to fetishize gay love.
I do agree there are still bad BL series out there but it shouldn't tarnish the effort being made by the BL industry.

No, straight guys consume lesbian porn. I don't see them watching lesbian comedies or romances. Let's be honest here.
The comparison you made is problematic because it equates BL with gay porn which is absolutely wrong. We don't watch BL to get excited, come one.

In my opinion, TharnType, What The duck and Bad Buddy are not LGBTQ+ and I think no one ever said that. In TharnType, Type struggles with his sexual orientation and homophobia because of his childhood trauma but I'm not sure it's enough to put the "LGBTQ+" tag on this series.
In the same way, Not Me can't be called LGBTQ+ just because of queer rights discussion in episode 7. It doesn't work like that. It's like saying a straight movie is LGBTQ+ because the main character goes to a gay pride...
Some series we can without doubt call LGBTQ+ because queer themes are central to the story :
- I Told Sunset About You = coming of age, struggle with sexual orientation
- Right or Wrong = struggle with sexual orientation, gay parenting
- Gaya Sa Peluka = struggle with sexual orientation, coming out, family pressure
- Papa & Daddy = gay parenting, gay marriage

Think about it from another angle: lot of women (not just straight women) usually love romance. We get it from straight AND queer romance. We don't care about sex, we don't even need to see it on screen. What we want is a realistic depiction of a relationship between lovers : affection, intimacy... Watching BL is not fetishizing gays since we expect the same from straight series. For example, when I watch a kdrama, I want the couple to be sweet and lovey dovey. And if they include sex (again, not necessarily on screen) I like it even more because it's the real life. I'd say what's problematic is not watching a show because it doesn't represent your sexual orientation or identity. Like straight guys who don't watch rom-com because it's too sweet or don't like to watch gay series because "no homo".

BL has evolved since 90's. Series like Bad Buddy, ATOTS, Right or Wrong and such don't follow old problematic formulas. We need to acknowledge there are all kind of BL out there. BL means gay romance and said romance can be incorporated in any genre : science-fiction, horror, detective, rom-com... We should stop bashing light/rom-com series while praising the ones with serious plots. You can favor one kind of stories or you can like both but no need to shame some people in the fandom.

Acccording to studies on queer fictions, to be considered LGBTQ+ a fiction should feature a main queer character within a story focusing on themes such as coming out, sexual orientation, sexual identity, legal rights for queer people in a fair and realistic light.
Now using this framework, do you think Not Me is LGBTQ+? Is White gay (or Sean)? Does the plot center on one of the themes cited above? Is the overall plot realistic ?
Now let's talk about Life Love On The Line where the MCs are a gay couple. Despite being together for years, one of them struggles with his sexual orientation, gives in to societal pressure, breaks up with his bf to marry a woman. At the end, he sets himself free, comes out to his parents and reunites with his bf. They even got married. We can clearly see the LGBTQ+ themes but surprisingly I don't see people saying this series isn't BL...

Trying to set apart BL from LGBTQ+ doesn't make sense especially today with the evolution of the BL industry, there is some overlap between BL and LGBTQ+.
Since Not Me will have a romance with White & Sean and DanYok, we can say Not Me is a gay romance with a political theme. And Life Love On The Line is a gay romance with LGBTQ+ themes.
So to all the snobbish fans out there, saying one series is BL doesn’t make it trash and emphasizing that one series is LGBTQ+ doesn’t systematically make it great.

Unpopular opinion but I really need to point out fans are becoming snobbish in the fandom. Every time a new series comes out there's this discussion whether it's a BL or not, whether it's so great it shouldn't be called a BL. What's the point of this debate? You know you can love a drama without denying it's BL? We're in 2022, BL isn't an insult or it shouldn't be anymore because nowadays not all BLs are about rom-com and toxic stereotypes.
You're all here saying Not Me isn't BL but LGBTQ+ and I'm wondering if you even know what LGBTQ+ content is. Do you even know what make a series a BL versus LGBTQ+ ? Does one episode with queers people at a protest make Not Me a LGBTQ+ drama?
Well I get it if you don't want to call Not Me a BL because you deem it superior to other BLs but please explain to me how Not Me is LGBTQ+?

Well, that was the weakest first episode I've ever seen. It has no wow factor, no surprise, no excitement. It took me 1 day to finish the episode because I wasn't into it. Here the issues I have with Enchanté :
- As a French, I don't like when the character has lived in France and comes back in their country but still speaks some french. The accent is embarrassing and the french culture portrayed is always outdated. To be honest, I also have this issue when they incorporate english because the actors and extras rarely have good accents.
- I like the "childhood friends turned to lovers" trope but it has to be done properly. Thai dramas always choose to skip the childhood years but then use tone of flashbacks to justify to viewers the romance resulting from said friendship. It's not always a good idea. The flashbacks should be used sporadically and fittingly to explain something happening on our timeline. Like in Bad Buddy and Lovely Writer. Here, in Enchanté, episode 1 has too many flashbacks and none of them were essential. They should have narrated their childhood in linear fashion.
- I don't understand the narrative choice. They made it too obvious Akk has feelings for Theo. It's a harem drama but we already know AkkTheo is endgame so why should we watch the series? When I saw the trailer last year I thought Akk would be just a friend giving Theo advices and helping him find his lover and with the story progression we would find out he's the anonymous suitor. But from the start we can guess he likes Theo, there's no surprise!

You totally got it. I couldn't have said it better. Thank you.

Merci, c'est exactement ça!

DanYok is the 2% that's not political.
My comparison with detective shows wasn't to highlight the non existing detective skills of White. It was merely an exemple to explain it is possible to use multiple narrative technics to elevate a story.
When I think about BL I don't think about rom-com like Bad Buddy because I don't have preconceived expectations regarding BLs. There are all kind of BL out there, it's not all about comedy. BL just means gay romance. Therefore Not Me is a BL with a political theme.

Yes. Same for the anti-capitalism speech but with product placements. How to lessen the power of the conveyed message...

Well, I'm an activist (environmentalism, feminist, LGBTQIA+, anti-animal cruelty) so I do talk like the characters in Not Me lol. But Not Me isn't a lecture at Uni nor is it a documentary. It's a fiction that needs to be energetic and engaging. We don't need to see the characters preaching at each other. Because at this point, they should know what they're fighting for already. They've been together for a while so it's quite puzzling to watch them recite in every dialogue why and how capitalism and corruption are the devils of society.