I cannot believe I am writing this
See, there is this German daytime soap called Verbotene Liebe. It's really, I mean, it's a soap opera. It's cheesy, with ridiculous plot twists and wooden actors and... I simply do not watch soaps, ever.
But guess how I spent pretty much my whole afternoon and evening yesterday? Right, I watched Verbotene Liebe on youtube. This is all frogspace's fault. God damnit.
Okay, so what the hell am I on about? Verbotene Liebe has a gay romance subplot, and it is delicious. Meet the happy couple.
[icons by frogspace]
Oliver, also known as Olli, on the left. Christian on the right side.
Olli is out and proud. Christian is the hetero jock type. They become roommates. Sparks begin to fly, while Christian is all 'sparks what sparks?'. Sooner or later Olli falls in love (and he is nothing if not persistent); Christian goes through a loop of angst, denial, angst, repression. It is glorious. Christian hits my slash buttons like you wouldn't believe.
There is an angry conflict that ends with a very one-sided kiss, hilariously enough it's because Christian thinks Olli is after his girlfriend. [German] [subtitled] (this kiss is laughably fake, though)
There are dreams of longing followed by angst and denial. [German] [subtitled]
And then The Kiss. Holy mother of god. Their faces! The tenderness! The passion! The longing! Jesus. Here be caps.
They have sex. Cue Christian having a tiny meltdown and declaring it all null and void just to go apeshit when he sees Olli with another guy in a club.
And what follows? See for yourself. Nngh. [German] [subtitled]
Okay, I cannot resist. Just look at them!
There is also AfterElton's commentary on the current state of the pair, complete with pictures.
I have to admit, I am all about Christian. Watching him go through the dawning realisation that he may be attracted to Olli, and then finally giving in to his desires when he just cannot deny himself any longer is so emotionally satisfying. The whole plotline feels realistic, there's nothing stylised about it. Their emotional moments are beautifully staged and shot, down to the background music. It's like a slash story brought to life.
I cannot believe I am gushing about a German soap opera. I usually barely know the names of that type of show. I am a complete snob when it comes to romance novels and soaps and the like. I'd have laughed in your face only one month ago if you'd told me I would make this post. /o\
If you are German, you can of course watch the whole show on TV. But the whole reason German soap operas have gathered international followers is the fact that helpful souls uploaded clips to youTube, and even provided subtitles.
The playlist currently consists of 43 clips with a duration of five to ten minutes each: [German] [subtitled]
In order to whet your appetite, songvids that provide you with a cliffnotes version of the budding relationship.
Tenderly (the prettiest)
Hals über Kopf (German song)
Everytime We Touch (my favourite, gives me goosebumbs)
What Hurts the Most (UST galore)
One More Try (Christian: angst bunny)
Breathe You (kissing!)
Do I have your attention? Good.
A post about the whole phenomenon of German soaps and their international fandom, including links to vids and pictures, etc, by frogspace (cursed be her name). [German]
There is much insanity going on in this thread here. Jail-AU! Cruiseship AU! Eee! [German]
ninamalfoy wrote meta about Christian [English]
lobelia321 wrote RPS fic! Stiff nipples [English]
Iconses by frogspace
frogspace is collecting VL posts in her memories.
I conclude: \o/
PS. I just watched the new clip. OMG I *heart* Christian. I just about bit my tongue off I was laughing so hard, and then he goes and is all adorable. Eee!
Judith (female roommate) talks about her male co-workers gawking, staring at her ass and making lewd jokes. And then Christian's all, "Yeah, I know that from boxing. That's what's going on in the showers."
Cue me falling over laughing.
PPS. Caps!
ETA 19.04.08:
We also have a community now: seifen_slash. [English mostly]
More icons: here, here, here and here.
A complete list of youtube songvids, compiled by mos_self . [English]
A ship manifesto: OMG, it's ze Germans! GET IN THE CAR!!! by diglossia [English]
lobelia321 is pondering the "mystery of the oranges", with bonus crack fic. [English]
More fic! The angst and the intricacy by lobelia321 [RPS]; Enough by out_there [FPS]. [English]
Brilliant meta entry by frogspace: Gefilmter Slash. About why Olli/Christian feels like "every slash story ever written". I translated the whole thing here for the non-Germans. [German/English]
But guess how I spent pretty much my whole afternoon and evening yesterday? Right, I watched Verbotene Liebe on youtube. This is all frogspace's fault. God damnit.
Okay, so what the hell am I on about? Verbotene Liebe has a gay romance subplot, and it is delicious. Meet the happy couple.
[icons by frogspace]
Oliver, also known as Olli, on the left. Christian on the right side.
Olli is out and proud. Christian is the hetero jock type. They become roommates. Sparks begin to fly, while Christian is all 'sparks what sparks?'. Sooner or later Olli falls in love (and he is nothing if not persistent); Christian goes through a loop of angst, denial, angst, repression. It is glorious. Christian hits my slash buttons like you wouldn't believe.
There is an angry conflict that ends with a very one-sided kiss, hilariously enough it's because Christian thinks Olli is after his girlfriend. [German] [subtitled] (this kiss is laughably fake, though)
There are dreams of longing followed by angst and denial. [German] [subtitled]
And then The Kiss. Holy mother of god. Their faces! The tenderness! The passion! The longing! Jesus. Here be caps.
They have sex. Cue Christian having a tiny meltdown and declaring it all null and void just to go apeshit when he sees Olli with another guy in a club.
And what follows? See for yourself. Nngh. [German] [subtitled]
Okay, I cannot resist. Just look at them!
There is also AfterElton's commentary on the current state of the pair, complete with pictures.
I have to admit, I am all about Christian. Watching him go through the dawning realisation that he may be attracted to Olli, and then finally giving in to his desires when he just cannot deny himself any longer is so emotionally satisfying. The whole plotline feels realistic, there's nothing stylised about it. Their emotional moments are beautifully staged and shot, down to the background music. It's like a slash story brought to life.
I cannot believe I am gushing about a German soap opera. I usually barely know the names of that type of show. I am a complete snob when it comes to romance novels and soaps and the like. I'd have laughed in your face only one month ago if you'd told me I would make this post. /o\
If you are German, you can of course watch the whole show on TV. But the whole reason German soap operas have gathered international followers is the fact that helpful souls uploaded clips to youTube, and even provided subtitles.
The playlist currently consists of 43 clips with a duration of five to ten minutes each: [German] [subtitled]
In order to whet your appetite, songvids that provide you with a cliffnotes version of the budding relationship.
Tenderly (the prettiest)
Hals über Kopf (German song)
Everytime We Touch (my favourite, gives me goosebumbs)
What Hurts the Most (UST galore)
One More Try (Christian: angst bunny)
Breathe You (kissing!)
Do I have your attention? Good.
A post about the whole phenomenon of German soaps and their international fandom, including links to vids and pictures, etc, by frogspace (cursed be her name). [German]
There is much insanity going on in this thread here. Jail-AU! Cruiseship AU! Eee! [German]
ninamalfoy wrote meta about Christian [English]
lobelia321 wrote RPS fic! Stiff nipples [English]
Iconses by frogspace
frogspace is collecting VL posts in her memories.
I conclude: \o/
PS. I just watched the new clip. OMG I *heart* Christian. I just about bit my tongue off I was laughing so hard, and then he goes and is all adorable. Eee!
Judith (female roommate) talks about her male co-workers gawking, staring at her ass and making lewd jokes. And then Christian's all, "Yeah, I know that from boxing. That's what's going on in the showers."
Cue me falling over laughing.
PPS. Caps!
ETA 19.04.08:
We also have a community now: seifen_slash. [English mostly]
More icons: here, here, here and here.
A complete list of youtube songvids, compiled by mos_self . [English]
A ship manifesto: OMG, it's ze Germans! GET IN THE CAR!!! by diglossia [English]
lobelia321 is pondering the "mystery of the oranges", with bonus crack fic. [English]
More fic! The angst and the intricacy by lobelia321 [RPS]; Enough by out_there [FPS]. [English]
Brilliant meta entry by frogspace: Gefilmter Slash. About why Olli/Christian feels like "every slash story ever written". I translated the whole thing here for the non-Germans. [German/English]