Heterosexual Reading vs. Queering Thai Boys' Love Dramas among Chinese and Filipino Audiences
Publication Description
Over the past decade, Thai boys' love (BL) series,[1] which typically portray two young men as the focus of a love interest, have been a phenomenon throughout Asia. Originating from Japanese yaoi manga translated into Thai in the 1990s, the Thai BL genre has expanded from manga to novels, fan fictions, films and live action TV series. This paper focuses on Thai BL series whose stories depict homoromantic or homoerotic relationships between young male couples, which have become popular throughout Asia.Since its inception in 2014, enthusiastic fans in many different linguistic communities have worked to provide subtitles to BL content and helped to popularise Thai BL series. Thai BL actors have gained a large following among mostly heterosexual women, not only in Thailand but also in China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and even Latin America.