The growth of BL genre

 

               The growth of BL genre

Bl stands for boy’s love is a kind of genre which consist the romance between boys and the movies or the series roam around the love of boys with the boys. Bl genre got emerged due the manga as it has directly or indirectly helped bl genre as one of the interesting genres in the present time. Bl movies or series are more focused on male- male romance as main leads are always males. Kaze to ki no uta is known as first bl manga which was written by Keiko Takemiya is the Japanese manga series which was published between 1976 -1984. Keiko Takemika wrote Kaze to ki no uta to which was not sure to be popular but it gave her the good response from the audiences. Writing about Bl or Gl was bit risky at 90s as production companies rarely accepted such genre or concept and audience perception was not so free as of now.

 

Bl genre is one of the most viewed genres in the present time as people are more to support LGBT in general term and bl is also the form of act which present the love between two male leads and tries to convey the message that love doesn’t affect gender because mutual feeling of two persons matters the most when it’s about affection. Likewise, Gl is similar to Bl thought Gl genre has not been so popular in compare to Bl but both genres present the romance between same gender and the stories are about them, their families, laws, society and so on. In many countries same sex marriage is taken legal whereas some countries have not given rights to such marriage. As the world is emerging day to day right to all types of marriage might be given in the days to come.

 

Bl in Asia

Thailand has been one of the countries which has many production companies who are giving many bl series so far. Fujimoto Yukari is the Japanese manga author and she said that bl came into existence since 2013 and the bl series named SOTUS was the biggest in the year 2016. Bl actors from Thailand are gaining popularity in the world due to their acting, look and so on. GMMTV, Wabi Sabi, Be on Cloud, Domundi etc are the some of the bl production houses which has produced many series and GMMTV might be the one which is producing most of the series for now with high rating too. Although Thailand has been more flexible upon the LGBT, Bl Gl and other issues related to gender but it has not yet made a law for same sex marriage which means there isn’t any rights which are to be given to the person who marries with the same gender but let’s hope there might be a law in the days to come and won’t be biasness to LGBT+ society as they can lawfully get rights which they are hoping for. Many people might not have seen bl or gl genre to understand the concept or why such genre is still underrated. Now, let’s talk about some of the Thai bl series which has been produced and available till now:

1. Kinnporsche
2. Not me
3. Bad buddy
4. Together : the series and still together
5. Tharn Type: The series season 1 and 2
6. Cutiepie 1 and 2

 

Similarly, beside Thailand other countries like Korea is producing bl series in the same way and most of the Korean series are mostly shorter in compare to other Countries BL. Long Time No See is the first south Korean bl drama from the year 2017. It has not been long that Korea has started to adopt bl genre but viewers are interested towards this genre. Kpop can be one of the reasons of attraction in Korean movies, music videos, series and now bl as well. Korean bl is gaining popularity nowadays and bl is just like other Korean drama except for the lead actress there is two leading actors and the story portray the love and romance of two male respectively. Some of the Korean bl drama:

1. Semantic error
2. Cherry Blossoms After Winter
3. A shoulder to cry on
4. First love again
5. Mr. Heart
6. Light on Me

 

In the same way other Asian countries are slowing trying to adopt bl genre although there aren’t many production countries. Adopting bl genre by any particular countries can also be depend upon viewers point of view because producing music videos, movies, series cost a lot and if the rating could not reach the expected range then it will obviously a huge loss. Ideologies, preconception and understanding of male- male romance in negative way is another reason which is arousing doubts on Bl genre production. Despite the risk any Asian countries are somehow managing to release boy romance. Countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, etc are some of the countries that has been releasing bl comic, movies, series and even bl related games as well. Beside Asian countries, western countries are preferring bl genre though they don’t make such content more like the other genres.

 Bl genre topic might be incomplete without talking about the actors who has acted in various series as the main lead and who are remembered and well known as the bl couple even in present days. Nanon Korapat and Ohm Pawat, Off Jumpol and Atthaphan Phunsawat, Mile Phakphum and Apo Nattawin, Boun Noppanut and Prem Warut, Zee Pruk and Nunew Chawarin, Tay Tawan and New Thitipoom, Bright Vachirawit and Win Metawin, Book Kasidet and Force Jiratchapong etc are some of the Thai actors re-known as bl couple as well. In Korea, actors acted in dramas like semantic error, A shoulder to cry on, cherry blossoms after winter and so on are liked by audience whereas they are represented as a bl couple similar to Thailand.

 

Hence, bl genre is the portray of love- hate relation, romance, family issues, understanding of society along with two male actors in order to present the affection between same gender, how they try to deal with family and society and so on. Bl genre can simply taken as the source to change the stereotype over the understanding homosexual love and affection. Many countries have open up with LGBT+ topic and content but there are some countries which either doesn’t law related to homosexual marriage or doesn’t prefer such content to be presented as movies, series, game and so on. Even the affection between same gender is seen in an awkward way and on the other hand same people couldn’t talk with their family about themselves being gay or lesbian as they get scare of the consequences that they might have to face. Very few might get support from their family which is the situation of many countries. In order to support LGBT+ every year pride day is celebrated to raise awareness to stop discrimination over LGBT+ and decrease biasness too. Hope there won’t be any restriction of law based on gender for everyone to have equal rights and people live in harmony without any dispute in the days to come.