Lovesick, The Series

Adapting Japanese ‘Boys Love’ to Thailand and the creation of a new genre of queer media

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7517048
AutoresThomas Baudinette (0000-0002-4095-5923, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, Department of International Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen27
Número2
Páginas115-132
Fecha de publicación2019-04-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSouth East Asia Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0967-828X • E-ISSN: 2043-6874
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0967828x.2019.1627762
OpenAlexW2953614987
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas39
Referencias citadas19

This article explores the adaptation of Boys Love (BL), a Japanese genre of homoerotic media produced for heterosexual female audiences, to the Thai mediascape through an analysis of Lovesick, The Series (2014). This lakhon represented a watershed moment in representations of queer sexuality in Thai mainstream media, inaugurating a new genre of media known as series wai. Through an investigation of the narrative of the first series of Lovesick, this article shows how the narrative conventions of Japanese BL are ‘glocalized’ to conform to the heteronormative narrative focus of typical lakhon. The article argues that the series’ ‘wavering’ narrative focus between queer and heterosexual romance and its characterization of its male protagonists as stereotypical heterosexual men (phu chai) responds to the need for lakhon to privilege heteronormative romance. But the article also reveals that Lovesick sits within a broader social process whereby Japanese popular culture has come to influence Thai conceptualizations of sexuality. The article thus also shows how the lakhon educates its users into the affective reading practices of Japanese BL fans, introducing queer readings into the Thai mediascape. Overall, the article charts the historical development of a new, affirmative representational queer politics in the Thai mediascape

Art · Human sexuality · Lesbian · Literature · Mainstream · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing · Queer · Romance · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising