#wankim

[sapphicpinkyverse]

Gl's Couples | Wan & Kim

[latrevotinalitheia]

[blobm0nster]

[thai-gl-polls]

Best Thai GL Couples: Main Couple Round 1

Choose the best couple:

Loft & Pure (Roller Coaster)

Wan & Kim (My Marvellous Dream is You)

Voting ended onFeb 25

[hallowpen]

There was a lot of destructive criticism surrounding My Marvellous Dream is You, but I actually thought the series was quite good despite its shortcomings. I'm a lot more forgiving than most when it comes to Thai GL series, and that will have absolutely affected my viewing experience. But... every time I would see a comment that just read "This is boring/terrible/stupid" without ever elaborating, I felt very much like Khun Pu's character from Be My Favorite hehe

*WARNING*: There will be minor spoilers for the final episode of My Marvellous Dream is You, should that be something you wish to avoid.

I will be the first to admit, that I was very skeptical about this series in the first handful of episodes. So let's just get my personal negatives out of the way first... I think, by now, it's no secret that I do not support where a lot of Thai GL adaptations source from. So, this series already had an admittedly disadvantaged subjective expectation from the get go. It wasn't really surprising to see pacing issues within the first 5ish episodes, that seems to be a common occurrence in Thai GLs produced by IDOLfactory. Whether that is a result of the novels the series have thus far been adapted from OR from a choice in direction is up to you. I, personally, think it's a bit of both. Where I believe certain productions struggle in letting their narratives breathe, I find the complete opposite problem to be true with IDOLfactory. There were a lot of plot points that needed restructuring or to be removed entirely in order to have a stronger cohesive story that focused on the main characters' relationship more so than it did.

Now, while I stand behind my opinion that the series could have benefited from tighter and better organized storytelling, a lot of the groundwork was there to make a decent character driven narrative. And that's what I've chosen to focus on. Wan and Kim are both deeply flawed characters. There were so many inferences to be drawn from character relevant visuals and their joint backstory that truly informed their current dynamic.

The👏🏾character👏🏾focused👏🏾visuals👏🏾in👏🏾this👏🏾show!!!

One of the most interesting parts of watching a series, for me, is having to pick up on certain character cues in order to understand and delve deeper into the core of their behaviors.

Wan and Kim share a trauma, and it's easy to see how they both became so dependent on one another to fill the void their fathers left.

In flashbacks, Wan is presented as egoistic and headstrong since high school. She is also shown to be extremely protective of Kim before she even realizes her feelings. Kim, on the other hand, is a bit more sensitive. She cherishes Wan's attention and affection to a point where she would be willing to play a little dirty in order to keep it for herself.

All of these emotions become heightened once they are forced into adult life with adult problems. Wan is struggling with her mental health. While trying to balance fame and the repercussions her actions might have on her career, Wan must also deal with her mother's alcoholism... which has essentially caused her to check out from Wan's life. Her need to have Kim by her side, and never leave her, has become less protective and more possessive. Kim's desire for approval and affection has led to an over devotion of herself to Wan and constant worrying about disappointing her mother. She's neglected her own wants and needs for so long, that she's afraid putting herself first would be considered too selfish...too much like her dad. Her mother's cancer diagnosis further pushes Kim to continue to place her mother's wishes over her own desires. Even though comments about Wan and Kim being 'annoying' or 'frustrating' were aiming to be negative... they weren't exactly wrong. The audience was supposed to feel that way. Heck, even the surrounding characters called out their behavior on more than one occasion. Because in an effort to not lose one another, Kim and Wan fell into a cyclically unhealthy dynamic where their actions and reactions were actually pushing each other away. Their inability to communicate their true feelings to each other beyond their (unbeknownst) shared dreams prevented them from making any true progress toward a romantic relationship that they both so desperately wanted, but were each terribly afraid to pursue. Their feelings for each other were put up against the reality that their love being unreciprocated could spell the end of their relationship altogether. There was an added pressure of being unfairly compared to their fathers, where any romance between them might be found 'unacceptable'. Couple that with societal views of same-sex relationships, and you can understand why these two were so hesitant to reveal their truths.

(Quick sidenote: I did not agree with the idea that what Kim and Wan did was exactly the same to what their fathers did. They did not leave and abandon their families. Marwin didn't make it easy for them, and given the glimpse we saw into his family's cruelty, it made all the sense in the world to have him react in the way he did. Kim and Wan were at least willing to stay and face the hard consequences of their choice, no matter the outcome.)

I think them having to work through all of their issues made the moment of Kim and Wan finally deciding to be together that much more satisfying... And that was the point Kru A was trying to make when he explained his direction for their relationship on social media after hearing viewer feedback (He was subsequently rudely criticized by interfans for that decision, to the point where he alluded to the fact that he might take a break from directing... but that's a whole other discussion).

That final scene of them being married purposely not clarifying whether it was in a dream or in reality alluded to the fact that their shared dream world and their real life were no longer at odds, finally. I thought it was very fitting.

The frustration caused by KimWan's lack of communication reminded me of a similar dynamic between Team and Win in Between Us, a series that suffered from a lot of the same problems (not enough focus on the two leads and irrelevant plot points). However, those characters and the actors that portrayed them didn't receive even half the amount of negative reactions. They existed, trust me, but there were a lot of positive reviews to balance it out. I'm not going to get into what that means, because I think you can make the inference for yourself.

All in all, I don't think this series deserves to be completely written off. Is it perfect? No... but an effort was made, and it wouldn't hurt to make the effort in return to understand the vision. Fay and May did an incredible job for their first go around as main leads. And I hope they get the chance to develop their craft further.

[overthinkthis]

Final thoughts on MMDIY

This is not going to be a review because I don't really do that kind of thing, but I do want to write about the point that I loved most about this show. I know it's not perfect but I will forgive a lot of wobbles in plot or editing when a show emotionally resonates with me or makes me feel seen in a way other shows don't. And the way queer struggles were portrayed in mmdiy definitely did that.

Neither Wan nor Kim are out as queer but it's like they're living in an open closet. It should be obvious to everyone (even themselves) that they love each other and yet, for the longest time they seem unable to make that last step and confess their love, even though they both desperately want to on some level.

We do get some explicit homophobia with regard to Wan's career but it very quickly becomes obvious that that isn't the actual problem. Wan is very well able to stand her ground when she is attacked directly, we see that with Jessie and with Marwin's family. She is ready to confess to Kim, plans to do so multiple times. Why is it so hard to make that last step?

I do not know what the creators of the show were trying to say, but what I feel when watching the show, is the impact of the invisible homophobia and misogyny woven into all of society. The kind that isn't openly hostile but consistenly equates happiness for women with straight marriage and queerness with being miserable. We can write essays about comphet, but to me, this show gives a good take on what it actually feels like to be pressed into this expectation (although, I should probably say that I come at this from the perspective of a trans guy, not a lesbian - I still think a lot of the feelings are similar).

I love the conversation between Wan and Kim and the end of ep 9, where Kim tells her that she is going to marry Marwin. She basically admits that she doesn't love him, but she is still going to marry him because her mother wants her to.

And we know her mum isn't really trying to control Kim or make her miserable - quite the opposite. All she wants is for Kim to be happy. She should probably know better - given how her own marriage ended - but the idea that marrying the 'perfect' guy is the pinnacle of female happiness is so ingrained in society that it's understandable why she still falls into this trap. I really like that they show how suffocating a parent only wanting what's 'best' for their child can be.

I love that this show made Marwin someone who looks like such a good catch. I mean, there were some red flags from the start, but at a time where Wan was more controlling and aggressive, he genuinely looked like the better option. Gentle, patient, rich (some people even commented that the show made them ship the straight couple). The kind of guy that would be endgame in every second cheesy het romcom.

The people around Kim can kind of feel that he isn't right for her (even Marwin on some level does) but they still all enable her terrible decision to marry him. Which is another aspect I like about the show: The conflict is only resolved when Wan and Kim choose each other.

Women are constantly discouraged from going for what they want, especially when it causes other people distress, but the show clearly says: They make this choice for themselves, even though it hurts people, and that is how they get their happy ending. Not by being perfect all the time, not by caring about everyone else's feelings, but by choosing what they want for themselves.

And yes, obvisouly the whole thing could have been resolved earlier with less people getting hurt. But in another sense it couldn't, because they weren't ready. It's easy to blame Kim and Wan for not being more honest earlier on, but we can't do so without acknowledging the silent (and sometimes very loud) pressure to conform to heteronormativity.

I know some people didn't like this show very much and I do hope you all get all the kinds of GLs you're longing for soon. But imo it shows important aspects of queer experiences that we don't see a lot. And I'm really glad it exists in the way it does.

[wayoblew]

we get this!!!!! and people actually complained. this is CINEMA!

[miss0atae]

Dreams and love connection in recent Thai QL Series :

I've recently started watching I Saw You In My Dream and the premise of the story is about a young man called Ai who acquire the power of prophetic dreams. With these dreams he can see what will happen the next day. This new power is going to change the dynamic of his relationship with his neighbor, Yu. There is indeed a recurring character in his dreams and that's Yu. These dreams will create a change in how Ai is viewing his relationship with Yu.

I Saw You In My Dream isn’t the only recent Thai QL series I’ve watched with dreams as a literary/cinematographic device. The GL series, My Marvellous Dream is You has also use it, too. Wan has always been able to see her best friend now lover, Kim, in her dreams. I felt like the Dream Land, as I called it, has always been a representation of Wan’s mental health and a tool for her to navigate her relationship with Kim.

Also, If you're watching Century of Love, you may have noticed how San always get wet dreams of Vee . It is used to reveal how he is unconsciously having feelings for Vee, despite rejecting him in real life because he doesn't look like the woman he fell in love a 100-year ago. Are the dreams only something coming from his subconscious or is it a dream send by the goddess to guide him… it's up to the viewer to make their own choice.

There are probably other recent Thai QL series using dreams as a literary/cinematographic device. However, I decided to focus only on these three for several reasons: I'm currently watching them, they are the ones that inspired this post and they fit one specific criteria. I want to develop the idea of dreams as a “magical” tool. It's useful to know I'm usually drawn to fantasy setting in stories. I especially like when the fantasy aspect produces a form of hesitation between the supernatural and the natural, the possible and the impossible, and sometimes between the logical and the illogical (not my words, I quoted Tzvetan Todorov). I believe the uses of dreams in the Thai QL series I mentioned, fall into this category.

Why is it fascinating when a work of fiction uses dreams? I think it's because they are a part of every-day life for most of us. Dreams have always been a source of inspiration or reflection. Traditionally they have been considered as a way of freeing oneself of time or space, to be able to talk to supernatural creatures or ancestors, a tool to heal or to access knowledge. There is also a more rational and scientific view of dreams. However, there is still this wish to know the meaning of the dream or why they exist and to what purposes. That's why it is always interesting to add dreams in work of fiction. They serve different purposes and can add so much more in a stories.

The way they are represented in work of fiction depends on the characters who get to have dreams and how it affects them. Here I'm going to solely focus on Ai, Wan and San.

Ai has prophetic dreams that focus on his neighbor Yu. Usually prophetic dreams provide foreshadowing. In this situation they are also going to influence Ai's reaction around his neighbor. Ai and Yu doesn't have the best relationship. Ai is often teased by Yu and he doesn't like it that much. The synopsis of the series also describe them as “star-crossed haters since childhood”. I found that it was a bit too much because I didn't feel like Ai really hated Yu. He hated his actions maybe, but Yu was an every-day part of his life. He was often at his home and they did so many things together. Anyway, it's only been two episodes, but Ai made several dreams of Yu. They are usually about an incident that would happen to Yu: he gets injured by using a knife, he gets hit by a car or he is hurt by a knife blow. Ai won't believe that these dreams will be real until Yu get injured by the knife almost like in his dreams. Then, he will try to prevent the terrible incidents that could happen to Yu. His dreams force him to care about Yu and to spend a lot of time with him when he previously avoided him. However, his dreams are not only about bad events his neighbor may have, he also gets a dream where he is kissed by him. In his dreams he gets to experience to feel like he is on cloud nine. It's a scenario he never imagined and it influences his reaction around Yu. The synopsis made us feel like all the care he will provide to Yu will make Ai see him differently. Also, as he is also experiencing love in his dreams he may feel the drive to feel it in reality too. Dreams here are a driven force and essential part of the story.

Wan is more a dreamy sort of person than Ai. When he rejected at first the possibility of his dreams to be true, she just rolls with them. She accepted that they are a part of her that she can use to get connected to Kim. In her dream she has her own land where she can escape reality and be free from the decorum of society in real life, but also she can be herself. I always felt like Wan has some sort of internalized homophobia and that's why she never tried to express her strong feelings to Kim. I imagine it was because of her personal life story as her dad abandoned her mom and her to be with a man. Her mother reacted really badly and she may have feared about coming out. It was only in her dreams that Wan could do all the things she wanted with Kim. That's why she was so casual about them. When she was talking to her friend about how she always used them, you could see how she accepted the power of her dreams and never really questioned why her or why she was having them. You have to know that, she seems to have a certain control of her dreams as her actions on her Dream Land have a repercussion in real life. However, in her series Wan isn't really using her dreams that much. They always felt disconnected from the story of the series which I always found quite disappointing because they were the reasons why I was so hyped by the series at first. It was used quite a lot in the series, but it was never the plot device I thought it would be. The story could have worked without them, but they were one of my favorite parts of the story.

San is a hard-nosed character who feels like he is a very prudish person who’s disturbed by the most erotic dreams of Vee. It doesn’t sit well with San, at first, because he strongly rejects the idea that Vee could be the reincarnation of the woman he considered as the love of his life. He has been living for 100 years suffering each night to get the chance to find her again after she was killed. To be able to stay alive and young looking until he finds her, he made a deal with a goddess to cherish and love the reincarnation of his previous lover. Vee is supposed to be this reincarnation (I still believe it would be great if it’s the case) but he is no woman and he is not a copy carbon of how Vad / Wat was acting in the past. That’s why San reject him. However, in his dreams his reluctance to accept Vee are not to be seen. Even if Vee isn’t his previous lover, he is still having erotic dreams of him. It’s really Vee and not Vad / Wat that San imagine in his dreams. The overwhelming pleasure he gets isn’t induced by an oneiric Vad / Wat. He sees only Vee. The first dream is an erotic dream free from the old conception of life San may have. In the second dream, Vee is represented has a nine-tailed fox, a mythical fox from Chinese mythology. A nine-tailed fox possesses magic powers and are usually mischievous, tricking other people, with the ability to disguise themselves as a beautiful man or woman. This time Vee is the temptation San is trying to avoid. This dream shows him that he is struggling in vain. He already has feeling for Vee even if he can’t really understand them, yet. Dreams in this series show something about a character they aren’t aware of. One of them is also showing symbolism. As for now, the series didn’t go overboard with them.

I may have to update this post later when I’ll get the new episodes of these series.