#yaoi trope

[dying-pen-offical]

Yaoi tropes for writers part THREE:

Do NOT copy and paste the white boy.

[chicademartinica]

The “our actor playing the uke/bottom/feminine/sub coded character is actually taller and/or older and/or traditionally masculine OR as masculine, muscular and tall than our Seme/top/dom coded actor SO THIS IS THE SOLUTION” hair color.

Japan it’s your fault

[absolutebl]

Whipping Boy Trope (Utsukushii Kare example)

Okay, since it’s been such a long time, and I’ve never really done a post on it, shall we talk about the whipping boy trope? 

In a Nutsack: 

Dominant personality turns the secondary personality into his butler or secretary or bodyguard or errand boy (or all of the above) demanding absolute loyalty. It’s an owner/pet kinda thing or, to put it in kinkster terms, a service submissive dynamic. 

There’s an identity transference and obsession that’s why this is called “whipping boy.” After all the original presence was that the two boys be brought up together so that it would emotionally hurt the prince when his friends is beaten in his stead. This is why the prince loves the whipping boy to an excessive degree, it’s because he sees the whipping boy as an extension of himself.  

In traditional yaoi the whipping boy can be either the attack dog (and thus the seme character - yes, the SEME) or (more common, especially in Chinese BL) the household servant uke who grew up with “the young master” as his subordinate companion (hence “whipping boy.”) 

In both cases, the master character is actually the one who becomes addicted to (and obsessed with) the slavish devotion of the other boy. For example, heaven forbid anyone else EVER try to boss his boy around except him (we had this plot point drop beautifully early on in Utsukushii Kare). 

There’s always EXTREME possession with this one. Which becomes the pivot point for a power shift around sexual submission. 

If the whipping boy is the uke, he will eventually attempt to break away and form his own identity which will cause the master to realize what he really wanted all along (a relationship, sex). The seme will go mad with separation and hunt tirelessly for his boy. The uke will not be successful and will drift either into self destruction or depression as he is unformed and identity-void without his master. (I don’t write this trope, the yaoi gods do.) 

Watch Chinese BL Irresistible Love: Secrets of the Valet for the pitch perfect execution of the uke as whipping boy. 

If the whipping boy is the seme, he is the one obsessed and will eventually be pushed too far into his need to protect/care and attempt to take the uke, almost always sexually. (But sometimes it’s kidnapping or a suicide pact because... ya know, emo to the nth degree.) 

Utsukushii Kare is a seme execution (attack dog), which is AWESOME, since I’ve never seen it in a BL before (just in ninja and yakuza yaoi).* We only see the actual attack dog activated once, but we see it paralleled in the fact that K cannot STAND it if anyone (else) talks badly about H. But he does it so often "you’re disgusting” becomes an endearment. 

I’m so familiar with this tope I was a little surprised that anyone thought K was the seme at any point. H does literally ALL the pursuing. K is always waiting for H to tip him off the pedestal and take what they both want. It’s warped (in the best possible way) but it’s still a very traditional seme/uke pairing. 

Other BLs that Employ Whipping Boy 

Or at least some aspect of this kind of obsessive love and the slightly sinister aura as Utsukushii Kare. There’s a lot that combine this trope with dark BL themes and sad endings, I have not included those because i don’t like them, but you can read about them here. 

Like Love 1 & 2 (China 2014) - rich/poor jock/nerd 

Irresistible Love 1: Secret of the Valet & Irresistible Love 2 Uncontrolled Love (China 2016) - classic uke whipping boy (warning two versions of part 2 only one of which as an HEA, trigger for mutilation) 

Legend of Long Yang (China 2017) - rich/poor, historical, actual whipping boy (HEA comes after credits) 

River Knows Fish Heart (China 2019) - obsession, power differential, somewhat ambiguous ending 

HIStory: Obsessed  (Taiwan 2017) - rich/poor, jock/nerd, fated mates, and it’s all in the title 

Where Your Eyes Linger (Korea 2020) - attack dog variant, extremely good 

Golden Blood (Thailand 2021) - rich/poor, attack dog variant, a little odd since Thai BL leans so much brighter and lighter and that counteracts the sinisterness, but it’s actually an extreme version of whipping boy: the bodyguard character is rescued off the street as a child solely to be a  blood donor and protector 

Love By Chance 2: A Chance at Love (Thailand 2020) - minor side couple TulHin are classic whipping boy, and TinCan certainly had a bit of rich//poor obsession 

The Untamed has some attack dog elements, but it’s a huge buy in for a non HEA bromance.

More? 

A few that are not quite whipping boy but you still might enjoy for the slightly creepy sinister aspects that go with this trope. Also these all have that obsessive edge of codependency that is endemic to whipping boy. 

Addicted (China 2016) - rich/poor, kidnapping for love

Candy and Kiss (Japan 2015) - a super shy soft version, extrovert/introvert 

Given (Japan 2021) - rockstar romance, v emo

Long Time No See (Korea 2017) - two attack dogs, fantastic 

Color Rush (Korea 2021) - so creepy good, possibly my favorite BL. socially codified but also vilified codependency 

HIStory Stay: Away From Me (Taiwan 2017) - obsession and stepbrothers codependency 

HIStory 4: Close to You (Taiwan 2021) - side stepbrothers pairing, trigger for stalking and rape 

Post dated beginning of 2022, not responsible for whipping boys that come after that date. Check the comments for recommendations. 

NEW ADDITIONS 

Never Let Me Go

HIStory5: Love In The Future

Oh! My Sunshine Night (sides - I LOVE THEM SO MUCH)

I Will Knock You

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[dying-pen-offical]

Yaoi tropes for writers part four:

(^ @killer-offical )

NO MORE SKINNY WHITE BOYS. Please.

[dying-pen-offical]

Yaoi tropes for writers and artists part five:

Don't give me the same body type over and over. No.

Do NOT make every yaoi couple "strong super buff guy × tiny petite man" no. No. Nuh-uh. GIVE ME VARIETY. *slams fists on table* MAKE BOTH OF THEM SHORT.

MAKE THEM EQUALLY BUFF AND SHORT, SURE, BUT GIVE THEM SOME PERSONALITY. *screams*

[dying-pen-offical]

Yaoi tropes for writers part eight:

Why are they not both smart? Make them both smart.

You can make their personalities wildly different, one careless and the other careful, but they're still smart. Let them be smart.

He's not dumb just because he's having fun.

[chicademartinica]

i am loving how kinky the never let me go our skyy eps are shaping up to be, as well as your commentary😂 those power dynamics are great. question though, when you mentioned ‘spit in my mouth khun neung’ is that a reference to a particular thing he said in the show, or just a joking line?

It’s a yaoi joke lol but I am dead serious !!! I use this expression in my notes because to me NLMG has a lot of elements of whipping boy romance and erotica. (The fixation on Palm’s back ?!!) It eroticizes the power imbalance, Palmnueng works because they are turned on by it.And Our Skyy flips the dynamic but they are STILL super turned on by it. Palm is SO HORNY IN OUR SKYY FAM !???

Coincidentally, I was watching it at the same time as Japanese BL (the end of the world with you, my beautiful man 2, Jack O’frost) who were WILDING (its Japan) with the spit/lick in my mouth” and power play tropes. Japan will put it on screen and push your limits, NLMG suggests it. But Our skyy 2 ??

They whipped the whipping boy fam ?!!!!

It’s also in how the couple is shot. Palm is taller so when he wants to look at Nueng he bends and talks right in his face and Pondphuwin do A LOT of lips staring/sharing breath acting. So no I’m not joking ! Palm is always giving “spit in my mouth khun Nueng” even if he is taller, stronger and seme/top coded !

[absolutebl]

“I have loved you since before i knew what it was to want.” 

BL trope du jour 

Childhood Crush

Lovely Writer (Thai)

History 4: Close to You (Taiwan)

We Best Love (Taiwan)

Where Your Eyes Linger (Korea)?

Love Stage! (Japan)

Irresistible Love (China) 

Word of Honor (China) 

Minato’s Laundromat (Japan) 

Dear Doctor, I’m Coming For Your Soul - sort of, it’s paranormal and complicated (Thailand)

Mr Cinderella (Vietnam) 

Together with Me (Thailand) 

Cutie Pie (Thailand) 

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan) 

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korea) 

Enchante (Thailand) 

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan)

Minato’s Laundromat (Japan)

With the possible exception of Where Your Eyes Linger (which I watched a long time ago and can’t really remember) all of the ones I screen capped actually depicted the younger selves on screen (with one or both protags recast with child actors). Characters that started pining in high school or university not included (like Star in My Mind, Bad Buddy, or Plus & Minus). 

This is a contentious one (it touches on taboo for a lot of people) and I think the source is not BL. It is in yaoi but mainly coupled to the stepbrother trope, and even there it’s not all that common. So I hesitate to call this a yaoi trope. 

Early live action “seed” yaoi adaptations out of Japan sometimes had this trope but didn’t actually depict the childhood, only referenced it (Takumi-kun & Forbidden Love come to mind). Thailand still does this, but often for side dishes like TulHin in A Chance at Love. 

This is one we occasionally see in western het historical romances from the 1980s and earlier, sometimes coupled with an arranged marriage. But usually the two child characters are depicted hating each other, not actually falling in love (or starting to). 

It is a Thing in het Asian romance dramas too. I think it has a lot to do with a prevailing culture concept that to know someone first means not only to know them best (or better than others), but to have a greater right to their affection and attention. 

The "I liked him first = I have a prior claim" idea. To have known a lover in childhood gives priority and preference to the nature of your affection (something cherished over time and having weathered the slings and arrows of puberty and adulthood). 

We love a piner. The longer the better. Who has had the crush the longest carries a ton of weight in a crushers right to the crushie - so far as the narrative is concerned.

We can actually see a form of this in fandom and fan behavior. The idea that somehow having discovered a band, or having liked that one Kpop group, longer than some other fan (or before they became famous) somehow makes you a better/superior fan, just because of longevity.

Back to childhood crushes in Asian dramas.

The burden of affection conferring obligation on the one who's being adored is also quite a common. In other words, "I like you, therefore my feelings for you are now your responsibility."

I have theories this has to do with the importance of filial love in collectivist cultures conferring higher value on longer term affections. But also that affection carries with it an obligation of physical care of the kind that adults might give children (from wound tending, to feeding, to sponge baths and beyond). Romantic intimacy is tied to what we (the west) would often think of more as expressions of parental affection. Therefore to tie romantic interest into childhood, in the form of a childhood friendship or crush, meshes extremely well if your concept of “what is romantic, or what comprises romantic gestures” is also somewhat... parental.

In BL we see this manifest as the seme often being the one with the long cherished (and acted upon) crush. The seme will also be handed the lion's share of the parental gestures of affection and care.

But it's not actually that uncommon in the western world either. There is this idea amongst friendship groups that "I liked him first, therefore you can't like him" - calling dibs. This is particularly common in early romantic relationships and younger friendship groups.

To have done a thing first carries tremendous weight of importance in the human psyche. We see "first by virtue of time" (as opposed to first by virtue of ability) cross culturally. It's like birth order. It's a status that anthropologists would call ascribed status (rather than achieved). I hope you can see how it might be particularly important in Asian cultures where to be older is to hold higher status no matter what, see linguistic honorifics.

To have loved longer, under these circumstances, is to hold higher status as a lover.

I have seen one drama face up to and challenge this notion: Thumping Spike. It's a noona romance and the guy who wins the girl is NOT the one who has had the childhood crush. He challenges the one who does have it, by saying something like, "if we valued love by who loved the longest, I should be married to the local grocery lady."

All of which is to say, it's so common a trope it's been called out for its own tropeiness.

Updated Sept 2022, not responsible for childhood pining after that date. 

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