BL bromance shows

Jun 06, 2021 10:13


Recently I started to watch Chinese BL bromance shows. They are based on homoerotic novels, but the romance is reduced to bromance in the web series due to chinese censorship. The producers of the shows work around it. They have become highly popular and they are produced increasingly now. Many are lined up for 2021. I think it is a matter of time when this gets picked up by Netflix with western actors. Although, whether they will bring this level of extremly pretty and stylish young men is doubtful, since western idea of masculinity is still the rugged hero.

The clever thing about this shows is the double layer of bromance, a wonderful, intimate friendship and the queer love story. You see the friendship, but the audience knows it is a romance. That creates a tension field in the story, that feels enticing for the audience. There won't be a kiss, but the languid looks are even better.

One thing that stands out against western TV series is that the heroes are usually very smart and highly educated. One of them is always a highly respected scholar in his field. Something you seldom see in action US tv series. If they have a smart person, they are usually portait as dysfuntional and socially inept or are only a sidekick. Fighting an enemy doesn't mean shoot outs or brutal fights, but tactically out-smart each other. Often symbolized by the game of Go.

Another trope is the "found family". Team mates, adopted kids, friends become a family, who look out for each other.



Unlike the apology-culture in the US, the forgiving-culture is important. Instead of an apology scene for past misconduct, the person feels very bad and is ashamed of himself, but their friends will make a point to forgive them. Hatred and revenge is shown as something that will lead to a dark path and literally destroy you from within.

Draw back is certainly the censorship, which not only includes the BL factor, but also all supernatual things like fairies, gods, magic and all the elements of daoist traditions. These are often removed and replaced with science, monsters and mutants.

Also giving fans an unpleasant surprise, the series adaptions somethimes don't end with a Happy Ending like the books do. In the books the heroes live on a happy, often domestic life and continue their adventures. Sometimes in the series one has to die and the other to live on alone. Not something a BL fan wants to see. Gladly, you can find the novels online or helpful fan pages to tell you The Real Ending and ignore the series ending! :-)

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I started with The Untamed, which seems to be The Best right now. It takes place in a Daoist fantasy world with heroes, who can wield magic. The two heroes are the funny rascal Wei Wuxian and the very stoic, serious Lan Wangj (Spock like). The first episode is extremely confusing, just continue to watch, it gets better and really epic.

It can be watched on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfKhREVFLkQ



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The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty was the next show I was watching. This time no magic elements. It takes place around the court of the Ming emperor and deals mostly with intrigue and mystery. The heroes are Tang Fan, a very smart, scholarly young man, who can be very naive in real world situations and Sui Zhou the stoic leader of a special police force, a warrior and martial arts expert. Together they try to protect the country and the emperor. Helping friend is eunuch Wang Zhi (left in pic)

It can be watched at Rakuten TV: https://www.viki.com/tv/36690c-the-sleuth-of-the-ming-dynasty



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Next was The Guardian. This takes place like present time, but in a fantasy world with monsters and shapeshifters, underworlds and more. The Guardians are a special unit to protect their world from these monsters and to send them back where they come from. Bromance is here between hotheaded leader of the team Zhao Yunlan and the stuffy Shen Wei, a biological engineering professor. Again we have the emotional hero verse the stoic one. A common dynamic in these series.

Both actors became famous and got a huge career boost. The show was very influencal, despite the ending being changed a lot and having a financial crisis in the middle of filming. In this case the whole fantasy world of the original books was replaced with monsters, mutants and aliens.

The Guardian is based on a novel by Priest, who wrote lots of danmei (boys love) web novels as a hobby. Her novels are very sucessful and many are adapted or will be adapted into a series (15 by now). The other very popular one is Word of Honor.

It can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCyPTYxG0s



I love the blue suit

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SCI Mystery is another BL show with only 24 episodes. It is about a special police force that deals with complicated cases, especially about psychological aspects, based in Hong Kong. The bromance is between the athletic lead detective Bai Yu Tong and his childhood friend and famous psychologist Dr. Zhan. It is over the top played and very funny at times. They get away with the gay element by making jokes about it.

The show can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShwKCcKrFGQ



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