This review may contain spoilers
to every kind of love and faith
we needed this. society needed queer people in love, with religion being shown for what it should be and what it represents.
this was in every way a show that a lot of queer people needed. there are very little representation of religious trauma in queer media and this did it incredibly well.
first, I want to say all compliments to the casting and acting Gemini and Fourth did an actually phenomenal job. I was sobbing every episode it was like actually kind of bad. The way they portrayed kids falling in love, in a world that doesn't accept them was really beautiful and felt so real. and unfortunately happens to kids everywhere.
as someone who grew up religious specifically Christian, all the religious symbolism was making me geek out the entire time. the cinematography was absolutely beautiful and there was so so many small things that you picked up on being hints to religion or hints to certain themes. The way that they portrayed Barth as being kind of the symbol of sin and going away from God and Kongdech as the symbol of faith, I thought was really really smart. AND THE APPLE, and that one scene that made an ode to the painting of the 'creation of man' it was the best thing ever.
My only complaint was that I was really disappointed to see that it was only six episodes. just with the budget and people that I know GMMTV has. I think we could have had a really good fleshed out 12 maybe even 16 episodes series about these characters. of course this topic is very sensitive and is going to offend a lot of people no matter how you do it. I think at times it did feel like they were pulling punches a little bit. I think a true big statement would be really seeing a series that's long and emotional and even more intense. Cause from the original pilot episode a lot of people thought it would be more intense and it was kind of made a bit more happy. and yes, there was a lot of really really intense things in this show already. I just think a lot of queer people kind of saw the shorter episodes and really happy ending as a cop-out.
now let's talk about the ending. I'm not mad about it. it just does feel very sunshine in rainbows. I think of course it is possible for for a queer person to have that experience with the religion and be that welcomed by a church. but a lot of people didn't have that experience. it does kind of feel like they were scared to have these characters either deconstruct or have characters throughout the show that just straight up don't accept Barth and Tanrak for who they are. I think they were little scared to have religon or a church viewed in a bad light. They could've had a conversation on how churches often represent a hateful and manipulated version of God. And a million other yes, tough conversations on how so many (not just queer) people feel about the way people have used religion to justify and treat people horribly. it was a beautiful ending but it did feel a bit cookie cutter at points and bit unrealistic.
BUT I think this is an incredible starting place for future queer media that involves religion. I think this is a perfect example on symbolism and making a quality piece of queer media.
this was in every way a show that a lot of queer people needed. there are very little representation of religious trauma in queer media and this did it incredibly well.
first, I want to say all compliments to the casting and acting Gemini and Fourth did an actually phenomenal job. I was sobbing every episode it was like actually kind of bad. The way they portrayed kids falling in love, in a world that doesn't accept them was really beautiful and felt so real. and unfortunately happens to kids everywhere.
as someone who grew up religious specifically Christian, all the religious symbolism was making me geek out the entire time. the cinematography was absolutely beautiful and there was so so many small things that you picked up on being hints to religion or hints to certain themes. The way that they portrayed Barth as being kind of the symbol of sin and going away from God and Kongdech as the symbol of faith, I thought was really really smart. AND THE APPLE, and that one scene that made an ode to the painting of the 'creation of man' it was the best thing ever.
My only complaint was that I was really disappointed to see that it was only six episodes. just with the budget and people that I know GMMTV has. I think we could have had a really good fleshed out 12 maybe even 16 episodes series about these characters. of course this topic is very sensitive and is going to offend a lot of people no matter how you do it. I think at times it did feel like they were pulling punches a little bit. I think a true big statement would be really seeing a series that's long and emotional and even more intense. Cause from the original pilot episode a lot of people thought it would be more intense and it was kind of made a bit more happy. and yes, there was a lot of really really intense things in this show already. I just think a lot of queer people kind of saw the shorter episodes and really happy ending as a cop-out.
now let's talk about the ending. I'm not mad about it. it just does feel very sunshine in rainbows. I think of course it is possible for for a queer person to have that experience with the religion and be that welcomed by a church. but a lot of people didn't have that experience. it does kind of feel like they were scared to have these characters either deconstruct or have characters throughout the show that just straight up don't accept Barth and Tanrak for who they are. I think they were little scared to have religon or a church viewed in a bad light. They could've had a conversation on how churches often represent a hateful and manipulated version of God. And a million other yes, tough conversations on how so many (not just queer) people feel about the way people have used religion to justify and treat people horribly. it was a beautiful ending but it did feel a bit cookie cutter at points and bit unrealistic.
BUT I think this is an incredible starting place for future queer media that involves religion. I think this is a perfect example on symbolism and making a quality piece of queer media.
Was this review helpful to you?
