absolutebl:

morathicain:

wen-kexing-apologist:

respectthepetty:

absolutebl:

Originally posted by heretherebedork

Only Friends & Jojo

Genuine answer.

Okay so this question got me invested enough to get off the phone, over to the laptop, and onto hotel wifi, which means typos rather than dictation homophones, but there it is.

I guess what I am saying it…

mistakes will be made

From the tenor of your question methinks you have not watched Friend Zone? It’s a 2 part series. Mostly messy hets but…

Originally posted by mantrisanu

Also a TON of broad spectrum queer rep (lesbian, bi, ace, demi). Real queers, not sanitized for straight consumption.

Because yeah, GMMTV will get messy and go into higher heat levels in a late night way (not in a KP way).

But actually what has most people excited about Only Friends is it being sourced in this man:

Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong

Jojo is a screenwriter (originals) and director, openly gay, multifaceted and a little experimental, naturally talented (on the job trained - he’s an archaeologist originally), and he is behind:

The Warp Effect, Friend Zone and MOST importantly (IMHO)…

3 Will Be Free

There are others too, but for the purposes of this post, those are the 3 that count. I think of him a little as the GMMTV director version of Ohm’s acting.

Jojo specializes in:

1. ensemble pieces,
2. good chemistry (NOT necessarily high heat, so by this I mean actor chemistry with each other all around - couples, cast, team, production)
3. working with and finding actors within GMMTV’s stable who work well together (even if that means busting up a pair),
4. a queer lens,
5. queer rep,
6. and often very messy story (as in he is not invested in the traditional beats of a romance, let alone a BL).
7. AND he can shoot action (this is a specific skill set for directors and it’s NOT easy),
8. thus he will shoot his sex/intimacy & COMEDY scenes as if they WERE action sequences.

This makes his stuff particularly exciting to watch. It’s dynamic, there’s a lot of movement, the eye is caught and dragged places. He doesn’t use dirty/peekaboo framing or central aperture or manga style (not with INTENT the way trained directors do). In fact he does none of those things I harp on about because I like the romance stuff.

He’s not being clever with us. He’s being honest, but still applying skill. His stuff not quite raw, but also not really directed. You can tell he gives his actors a script, throws them together and then instructs them to just BE THOSE CHARACTERS. He has a light touch, he trusts them. He’s not fussy or nit-picky. He’s not doing a million takes to get that sene exactly how he envisions it. His ensemble pieces are just that, group projects.

His eye is wide, even for intimacy, by which I mean: he controls and watches for multiple actors at once when there are a lot of them on screen together, without them feeling stiff.

His style is quite organic but not too gritty.

Originally posted by curlykytta

Struggling to understand what I mean?

For example, watch a Jojo “group of friends chatting” scene where everyone is just standing around then watch the same thing in, say, SCOY. You’ll see what I mean. SCOY is also a very queer ensemble piece, but it will feel quite stiff, unnatural, and “planned” (staged) by comparison.

For the giffers out there you might notice that Jojo’s stuff is particularly difficult to gif cleanly? This is why.

I find him an exciting director. I didn’t cover him in my directors overview because at the time he hadn’t done much BL (and frankly, he still hasn’t). It’s not his focus.

I think Only Friends is actually not likely to be very BL. Queer = yes, BL = NO. He won’t hit the tropes and there is no reason to assume it will end happily for all couples (if any). That’s not Jojo’s point of view.

He doesn’t play our game. As a result, some of those excited by the idea of this show (or excited the general enthusiasm & anticipation around it), may be doomed to disappointment.

Originally posted by hikikomori-yugen

It’s one of the reasons you don’t see me getting excited about it.

I’m a fan of specifically the fluffy side of BL, this will NOT be that. And I can appreciate a director without necessarily liking the stories he tells.

I am industry enough to acknowledge Jojo’s skill (and I LOVE 3 Will Be Free - just not as a BL), but I don’t always like his narratives. No matter how good he is, his stuff is not why I personally watch Thai BL.

It’s GMMTV, so how sexy is it going to get?

Again, see Friend Zone. GMMTV has a late night pantheon, mostly for het, but they will get salacious. Lots of cheating and terrible decisions. There will be no archetypes. Characters will exist in grey areas, even the “good” characters. There will be no paladins in this show. No seme/uke.

To answer this frankly?

Only Friends will get soap opera or telenovella sexy but no more. So we will be in Midnight Chicken territory, not Bed Friends.

I think the words being bandied about:

‘sexy’, 'crazy’, 'problematic’, 'high heat’

are used here on tumblr (and in fandom) as an attempt to articulate expectations set up by Jojo’s style.

Most viewers only react emotionally to the tenor of a director with this set of skills. That’s fine, that’s what the production company wants: A visceral emotional reaction.

But I hope I’ve managed to clarify from a film-critic perspective what’s bringing this sensation about?

Originally posted by piningbisexuals

But ALSO seeing a bunch of, essentially, lower heat pure BL pairs, have to push themselves into messy queer spaces? (Notice GMMTV only let the more established actors into this one? No JoongDunk, no GeminiFourth)

This is probably really what everyone is excited about.

They are gonna see their favorites cheat, sleep around, be gay (not BL gay, but actual gay). Some are legitimately excited about this, some are shipper excited, and the BL-stans who don’t know Jojo are doomed to disappointment.

I’m mostly excited by how messy this is gonna make the fandom.

Su su na.

(source)

JOJO’S WORK IS SEX POSITIVE

Dirty Laundry - trans characters and sex workers saved the day.

The Warp Effect - trans and queer characters throughout with a very feminist lens

3 Will Be Free - poly representation with sex workers involved, and trans character saves the day.

Mama Gogo - older women and men in the sex work industry

Never Let Me Go - light on this but consent was a major plot point

Jojo excels at the community aspect of queer support. We can’t succeed if we aren’t helping each other. He also understands that sex workers are included in that community. And he doesn’t make any of his characters apologize for their identity or career. There are raw moments of honesty in his work that show the piece is made by a member of the community and a feminist.

In all the examples listed in the original ask, sex is a problem because it veers into dub-con territory without treating it as such. In The Warp Effect, that situation was key to the plot and called out. The show even touched on kink. Only Friends will be messy, but the show itself will not be problematic. If anything, Jojo will educate more people about sex, consent, and the negative repercussions that happen when open conversations are not had about it.

We got 99 problems, but Jojo ain’t one.

I trust Jojo.

Gotta reblog this *again* because you are so right, RTP.

I am thinking of @waitmyturtles’s TharnType review around how Mame treats the queer characters here, and I am thinking of my general breakdown of For, By, and About Queers.

I find that many of the shows that stand out to me in the BL sphere are often the ones that fall in to For, By, and About category with many good shows that fall in the By and About category. I also find that many of the shows that are written For, By, and About queers go under-appreciated, and are ones that may make their way on to “shows to watch” lists but aren’t the ones I see being talked about from a historical perspective as influential or subversive (ex: He’s Coming to Me). Even shows that are For, By, and About queers like The Eclipse that may grow in popularity are also subject to the most intense splits/discourse around characters and storylines, especially when they center around morality.

Honestly even typing that up right now I am realizing that I don’t think we talk often enough about how Aof told a traditional romance in ATOTS and did not let the characters kiss until after the credits. Think about who would sit through ATOTS compared to who would sit through the high heat shows.

As @absolutebl and @respectthepetty mentioned in some capacity in their responses here, when queer stories are written by queer people, we are allowed to be human. We are allowed to contradict ourselves, we are allowed to hurt people we love, we are allowed to be imperfect in a way that is compassionate.

When queer stories are written by straight people, when they are written for straight people, especially if they lean darker, messier, more dramatic route you start approaching dangerous territory, because while you can do it successfully, it is also possible to reassert stereotypes and intentionally or unintentionally harm queer people in the process.

As you said RTP, Jojo can be trusted because Jojo is sex positive. He has a power in GMMTV that many don’t have that allows him to push the boundaries of what GMMTV is willing to allow. The Warp Effect involved kink and had *no* sponsors. (honestly to your point from a while back about what BL get popular and how it relates to sponsorship @absolutebl)

Now, I don’t know about the history of queer rights in Thailand, but I will tell you right now that sex workers, especially trans sex workers of color are the back bone of the queer community in the US. Jojo is one of the few people that routinely casts Jennie, and that gives her more major roles.

In terms of heat for Only Friends, my expectations are maxed out at having a level of sex equivalent to what we got in The Warp Effect and I am trying to temper my expectations to be lower than that so I don’t set myself up for disappointment.

Only Friends is being marketed as a queer, toxic, mess and the people who are excited for it are excited for it because we know Jojo’s track record. RTP outlined it above. Only Friends is a show For Queer, By Queers, About Queers and though I haven’t seen all of the shows listed in the initial ask, I don’t know that we can say the same for those.

All of the above YES! Jojo is sex positive and he’s not a shipper and his works are so queer that even if a show doesn’t have a gay couple it FEELS queer. He also has flawed characters all over who are allowed to fuck up and learn (or get worse). There won’t be typical tropes and for sure no soulmates (which will probably piss of some of the shippers who only watch for their ship). If a couple ends up together, it’s because it works for their story AND they worked for it. And we might even NOT want them to, depending on their characters and story but it will make sense (thinking of the Player here).

As an example, in Friend Zone 2 we have the guy who’s been sleeping around most of the time, cheating even and who has been told to be a “better” gay finally let go of his unhealthy devotion to his best friend and find love with one of his former hook-ups. While said friend who’s been held down by everyone’s expectations and the urge to keep a very low profile decided he couldn’t go on like this and ended his first and longest relationship to now find out who he really is, in the end. Those weren’t tropes, they felt real and a bit tragic and good. 

I’d even argue that his shows usually have a happy ending but it’s not a cliche one but one that works for each character!

I personally LOVE Jojo’s stories way more than most BLs and have watched almost all because he manages to make me fall in love with almost ALL characters and I enjoy the social commentary he makes. He somehow manages to collect a group of people who work really well together and then proceeds to include everyone in a way that fits. As said above, he exels in ensemble-shows (especially Dirty Laundry is such a good example for that since it only has 6 episodes and all the characters feel well rounded). That also means his pacing is very different. We often have AHA-moments in his shows when everything he’s laid out before suddenly comes together to make sense (if it’s about a person’s background, decision or reaction, etc).

Anyway, I am looking forward to Only Friends since I’m looking forward to a queer show that has a lot of messy (as in complex) characters who won’t have an easy time finding their way but will learn a few important things on the way (and thereby teach us). I am NOT looking forward to the fandom much during that time because I know a lot of shippers will probably hate it since they would want a typical shipping show where their faves end up neatly paired. And we know how hateful those fans can be *hard side eye*

All in all, don’t expect a Mame show and if you only want to enjoy your ship, maybe skip the show and look at the gifs ;)

Ps. Prepare yourself for wanting to throttle several of the characters in between, even if they’re “good” guy because Jojo also lets those fuck up :P

I love this discussion!