#the eclipse meta

[doublel27]

Thank you to @maybe-boys-do-love , @lungen and @cryptidafter for all of the discussion around Gothic Romance, the history of Gothic as a genre and a mode (gothic architecture, goth music, goth culture) which can be found here.

Diving through that post, and its many links!, I’d love to add another BL title to the vague (and in the true history of library science debated) list: The Eclipse!

The relatively isolated, at least in its mentality, Suppalo with its Draconian codes, stands our looming and haunted castle. The arrival of our mysterious antagonist, or protagonist depending on whose POV we are following sets off a series of events as he tries to unravel the mystery that is Suppalo. The school is haunted by a multigenerational curse that is hunting down students that rebel (aka are visibly and unapologetically queer) and will cumulate in murder during the solar eclipse if the rebellion isn’t quelled.

A core of true believers who are here to protect the student body by upholding the vengeful, oppressive, claustrophobic school rules that demand order and eschew creativity and individuality.

The narrative is haunted, and driven, by the absence of a former teacher who used to be an advisor to the core of head boys. His ties to both our protagonists (and the true antagonist to our love story) are revealed as the series progresses with non-linear flashbacks.

We also get further narrative intrusions through both Dika’s journal and Wat’s screenplay that he plans to enter into a competition.

The isolation and claustrophobia is kept throughout the narrative, so many of the key moments taking place when two characters are alone both in sweepingly empty spaces (empty bleachers, an empty gym, a deserted beach at night) and claustrophobic spaces (between the lockers in the locker room, in the same shower stall, crammed into a tent, tucked in a corner behind a fence, underneath the water). While the school is large and bustling, it often doesn’t feel that way. And sometimes the framing and camera angle also help to play with this duality at the same time. The show also plays with light and shadow in ways that add to the atmosphere.

The claustrophobia is also amplified by the narrative and directive choice to often set the characters in a shot as close to each other as possible. There are regularly wide shots where the pair characters are deep into each other’s personal space when it is very clear they do not have to be. This encroachment is even called out by characters repeatedly.

And in classic Gothic Romance fashion, like two of my favorites, Jane Eyre and Rebecca, respectively. The horror is not supernatural at all, but incredibly, mundanely human—and of course tied directly to the actions of our romantic hero. As Rochester locked up Bertha, and as De Winter shot Rebecca, Akk is the embodiment of the curse who has been attacking his classmates from the start, though he stops as his relationship with Akk progresses (and yet things keep happening to haunt him anyway). Instead of classic Gothic Romance, where the horror is the societal condition of women, here the horror is the societal condition of the LGBTQ+ community.

Missing The Eclipse as a gothic romance I think is what lost a lot of people on this story. From everything I’ve seen, The Eclipse was assumed to be a supernatural thriller type of show, but it’s not and it never was. The curse is a sad, closeted boy driven by a sad, closeted man to enact the horrors of the societal condition on their own people as a punishment for trying to escape. Internalized homophobia is the curse. And the question is can Akk (and Ayan) be saved or will they become like Chadok and Dika. Will love be enough this time?

And if you’re looking for the heroes to defeat the supernatural for their love to exist, that won’t be what you find in this story. It is instead a question of leaving behind the social prison that traps us, and confronting a lover that has upheld those horrors, as much of gothic romances do.

The narrative cannot find peace within the walls of the haunted “castle” that is Suppalo or while its draconian order stands. The truth must be told, the structure must be destroyed—in this case the school leadership exposed and disbanded. Our gothic romantic heroes cannot find their peace within those walls, but outside it. In fact so many of the moments when the characters find peace and connection, it is outside of the walls of Suppalo: at the beach, in someone’s condo, in a tent, in an empty house, on a cliff, in a boat.

[seekingidlewild]

So I’ve been seeing a lot of fun takes about Ayan’s mom being his wingman, and I love them. I love her, and I love that the fandom loves her. But watching those scenes again from her perspective puts a completely different spin on her interest in Ayan’s love life. Because we’ve known for a while that she’s worried about Ayan, but it’s only been in the last two episodes that we’ve gotten a more comprehensive idea of what she’s dealing with as a parent.

This episode finally made it clear just how big a role Uncle Dika played in Ayan’s life. Despite the fact that Ayan’s dad has been out of the picture since Ayan was very young, Ayan still grew up in what was essentially a two-parent household because that household included Dika. So Dika wasn’t just an uncle to Ayan. He was his father figure. He didn’t just spend time with Ayan periodically. He was part of his daily life. And Ayan’s mom wasn’t really a single parent. She had help raising him.

So when Dika died, Ayan lost both an uncle and a father, and Ayan’s mom lost both a brother and a co-parent. Ayan has been living more or less alone due to his mom’s work commitments, and she’s been trying to parent him through telephone calls and video chats. In addition to the stress that would naturally arise from that situation, Ayan’s mom has been living with the knowledge that her brother died of suicide after a long battle with mental illness, and that her son is now battling a similar mental illness. On top of that, her son has also been fighting a lonely battle to discover why his uncle died, uprooting himself from his school and any former social connections in the process. As far as she knows, he is spending every day in the same environment that drove her brother to suicide, with no friends or sympathetic teachers to act as a support system.

It’s no wonder that she’s scared of losing him, too.

And then she comes home from work one day and finds Ayan asleep in bed with an unknown schoolmate sleeping beside him, and they’re holding hands. And then they come down for dinner and it’s so obvious that there’s a strong sense of familiarity and trust between them. And then over dinner, Ayan keeps looking at his schoolmate with so much love in his eyes and generally acting so happy.

Can you imagine her relief? Of course she asked some pointed questions. Of course she teased them and enjoyed Akk’s flustered reaction. Of course she wanted to drive Akk home so she could get to know him a little better and share a few of her fears with him. I bet Akk could have her eating out of the palm of his hand in no time. Not because he’s handsome and she thinks he and Ayan would make a cute couple, but because he makes her son palpably, radiantly happy, and she probably hasn’t seen that much happiness in Ayan’s eyes since Dika’s passing. In Akk, she probably sees an anchor that can keep Ayan grounded in the present instead of lost in the past. Meeting him probably means a lot more to her than Akk can grasp.

[liyazaki]

Akk's "I'm not like you" isn't about internalized homophobia for me. he's saying "I'm not free like you. the world isn't just for me like it is for you." Aye embodies a different way of life- a different way of existing.

Akk looks at Aye like he's a waking dream, a secret wish somehow made real. he's lived in the dark for so long, it became home- and Aye is the blinding, beautiful, inescapable sun.

no wonder he's terrified.

[25shadesoffebruary]

I'm sure someone has already pointed this out. But in this scene, we are literally seeing the eclipse happening in real-time. With Ayan moving ever too slowly into Akk space.

The sun that was shining between them blindly. Gets taken over by Ayan's body in the same way that the moon takes over the sun in the eclipse. Its the way that the sun falls away to let the moon in, surrendering itself.

it's quiet, there is no sound. Just the two of them. In a new world.

[saladbroth]

god it's just. the way they're both trying so hard to be there for each other, to be strong for each other

akk is at his breaking point already during class with teacher waree and goes hurtling past it with that fucker chadok yelling at him and yet he tries to smile for aye and tries to tell him he's okay. that he doesn't need to worry. and he pulls himself back together over and over again, lets himself cry for only a moment before trying to be strong because he can see that aye is barely holding on either. it's worrying how good he is at stopping himself while sobbing and pulling back his shoulders and trying to sound steady

and aye. god. aye is furious and trying so hard to get chadok away from akk and he's terrified because he understands how his uncle was driven to his demise, and i think he really, fully understands what his mother felt like now as well, when she asked him if he was leaving her too. it's the devastation on his face when he looks at akk, who only days ago was smiling and teasing him, kissing his cheek and flirting and being happy, that really just brings this point home. he's trying so hard not to let his grief and his fear and his anger get the best of him because he knows akk needs him, knows that he can't ever forgive himself if he doesn't give akk his all now, if something were to happen to him

it's just. i think they're both trying their best to hold themselves together because they haven't yet learned that they can be weak together, too. "you're allowed to be weak, at least with me" applies to them both at the same time, but it seems like aye and akk think they need to cling to cliff with one hand and each other with the other hand, instead of falling together holding each other

[heretherebedork]

A short evolution of Ayan's threats to kiss Akk through The Eclipse.

[abstractelysium]

(pardon me while I go off for a minute -)

So this moment right here:

"I... I love you."

It's the first time Akk says it to Ayan, and it's HUGE for Akk to finally speak these words aloud. He's been slowly learning the courage to open his heart bit by bit until now, learning the safety and solid footing that Ayan's freely-given love provides him. HUGE character moment, and I love the hesitant joy of this moment - discovering that he both finally has the right words and they are worth being said.

BUT ALSO, metatextually -

the thing that happens when First looks at Khaotung deeply and sincerely and tells him how much their friendship means to him, is that he cries. Like, every time. They spent years alongside each other at GMMTV as friends, hoping to one day work together, and it finally happened in The Eclipse - not only both cast, but as paired romantic leads. The natural chemistry of that long-earned relationship is what makes them so good together in this series. Many recent interviews and fan meetings have seen both First and Khaotung shedding tears when they admit what they mean to each other - and in response, they've started to get hesitant about it. Because it makes them cry almost every time, and, understandably, they don't always want to get super emotional right then and there.

So when I watch this moment, the layers...

Akk fighting past his last bit of reluctance to be honest and vulnerable

Akk overcoming the internalized homophobia for the sake of committing to something better

Akk discovering the joy, the gift it is to tell his boyfriend "I love you" and watch the words be received

Akk thanking Ayan for giving him the time, the space, the patience for his growth, to be able to say these words he's already heard from Ayan

First seeing five years of hard work and hope coming together in his IRL best friend scene partner's eyes

First knowing what these words mean not only for Akk and Ayan but for First and Khaotung

First on the precipice of an expression that taps a deep well of genuine emotion for him when it involves Khaotung specifically

First telling his best friend "I love you" without ruining the take by crying

It's literally all there in a few words, and I see all of that every time I watch this scene... goddamn these beautiful boys and their incredible journey together. I couldn't be more proud of them and grateful that we get to see this.

[bengiyo]

Our Skyy 2 x The Eclipse Characterization and Loving Queer Men

Folks have been posting some excellent rebuttals about Akk and Ayan in response to the question: Are they acting out of character. I enjoyed @respectthepetty reminding us that they’ve always been this way. My fandom soulmate @shortpplfedup has been going off this morning about Akk, Ayan, Kan, and Thua. Fellow clown @lurkingshan has also posted about the lines between actors and their characters. What I want to talk about today is the misuse and abuse of the tools of criticism to just say the vibes were off for you.

I want to get this post out before I watch episode 2: I will say this clearly as we begin: It is completely okay to say that you had hoped for one thing to happen and are disappointed that it didn’t turn out that way. Xiao Zhan gave us the best way to express this:

What bothers me so much about the instinct to deconstruct the characters and accuse them of being out of character for me is that it can be disingenuous to the characters, the actors, and the creative team. With The Eclipse in particular, you can’t watch this show without accounting for the violent response to the Thai student protests or the fact that Golf was unceremoniously ejected from their role in government. Gold has been using their characters as a mouthpiece for their ideas about the intersection of the personal and the political, as well as the role social media plays in protesting and fighting for change.

I was saving some of this for when A Boss and A Babe ended, but I want to also get this off of my chest. I see the debates about whether something is Queer Cinema or Boys Love cycle through once a season, and for me the conversation doesn’t matter. They’re all queer cinema, but they’re not always romances, and sometimes they pull from different film and cultural traditions. The real distinction for me is in the viewers. Ask yourself if you also love queer men (and other folks) when they aren’t being sexy, titillating, funny, or entertaining? Do you love us when we’re ugly, when we’re sick, when we’re old, when we’re being mean or catty? Oliver Sim of the xx recently revealed that he’s been living with HIV since he was 17. He’s “ugly.” Do you love him less now?

I often see viewers recoil from emotionally difficult themes and plotlines in these shows. I don’t begrudge people their needs to engage with content in a healthy way, but I find myself particularly defensive of the pain queer men feel as a queer man. I personally hate being told to smile all the time and present a personable face so that other people will like us more. I don’t want to put the kids through that. They can have messy plotlines that require you to embrace someone else’s complex humanity.

With the Suppalo boys in particular, folks have joked that they’re “my favorite war criminal” and “his rat bastard boyfriend.” These are not necessarily kind people. I call Akk and Ayan “Captain Repressed” and “Mr. Bad Bitch Walk.” These queer boys are messed up, and they won’t be the best communicators for quite some time. They are sorting out themselves and what their relationship will be, and this is the crux of Golf’s messaging.

It’s okay to be frustrated with a plotline, truly. I just ask that you consider if the feeling the show is bringing out in you is an intentional part of the viewing experience before questioning the characterization.