I also want to talk about this because I've been holding it in for so long.
First of all, I’d like to start by saying that I’ve got nothing against the actors, this is a critique of the company. I also think that we, as part of the LGBTQ+ community, are allowed to discuss this without being dismissed by others because we’re ‘jealous’.
Ever since I discovered the BL and GL industry, I’ve tried to give most shows a chance, even if the quality doesn’t seem to be that good. In my mind, supporting these shows means eventually the overall quality is going to be better and we’ll get to have more queer shows, which is something that has definitely happened; we’ve gotten more and more, with higher and better quality.
However, there’s also something that is quite obvious; a distinction is being made between shows with main queer characters and shows with main heterosexual characters. This is something I’ve noticed when it comes to GMMTV, which is the company I consume most of the BLS and GLS I watch from.
Where we have good pilot trailers with promising storylines, once the shows are made, the execution and final product seems to not reach the expectations at all. Even though they had the story laid out, something goes wrong more times than it doesn’t. But this happens to BLS and GLS mostly.
Then you have the company giving their best scripts, directors and production companies to non-queer and bromance shows, even though their most popular shows are the queer ones; it honestly feels like we’re going backwards sometimes, as well as back to the terrible idea that ambiguity sells, instead of actual queer representation.
I’ll even go as far as saying that there seems to be a weird definition of what a real actor is; I’ve seen so many people implying that if an actor/actress is mainly playing queer characters, then they’re not that good or their work is to not be taken seriously. And then there’s the same people praising the ones that act in heterosexual and bromance shows, which is a very prejudiced and rooted in homophobia opinion.
Although there are quite a few actors that need to improve their acting, there are also a bunch of BL actors and GL actresses that are really, really good. And a lot of the times these actors are placed in projects that lack good scripts and direction, which is not a synonym of bad acting. That’s the reason why GMMTV needs to start investing more in their queer shows, which do good overall, but would do way better if they were of higher quality.
If I can be completely honest, this is a situation that frustrates me a lot; I know they’re just shows, but are they? At the end of the day, what we’re watching is LGBTQ+ representation, which is so, so important. It makes me really happy that within the BL and GL genres, I can find shows that are silly, romantic, scary, dramatic and so much more, but we can’t be stuck forever.
They also need to improve, and I think that’s the reason why lately I’ve seen so many queer people losing interest in the shows being produced, which is a shame but I can’t blame them.
ellievsbear
origamiaround
kianamaiart
blakekathryn
vaporwave
discoholicmusic
stormborns
andulkaphoto
titsay
