HIStory Season 1 - Stay Away From Me
I'm not entirely sure but, after having thought about it, HIStory: Stay Away From Me (HSAFM) was probably the first BL drama I watched.
Summary of the plot: Two guys become step brothers and are forced to live together when their respective parents get married and go on an extended honeymoon. One of them Feng He is sensitive, intelligent, gay and shy, the other Cheng Qing is a very famous star with pretty boy looks who is vain, arrogant and a bully. They don't hit it off and their life together in their flat becomes increasingly difficult. Eventually they each being to see the good points in each other, which soon turns into unanticipated feelings.
I didn't really enjoy this series at the time, though I kept up with watching all the episodes until the end, but I see now that it was probably a really good introduction to BL. It has a lot of the elements of the BL formula and uses most of them well. It's not particularly original or well made, but the production and acting are all fine and the lead guys have a good chemistry.
Cheng Qing's character is very difficult to like or sympathise with, he's just way too obnoxious and treats Feng He like his housekeeper. I realise now that this is a typical template for the dominant guy in BL dramas, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept him. He's a terrible person to begin with, having no redeeming features apart from his stardom and his beauty. Feng He is more sympathetic, and as the story focuses on his perception of what's going on, I learned to appreciate him more quickly. But his passive, sometimes even weak, personality did grate on me at times. Again, I see now this is a BL character template.
And here is where I came up against one of my biggest issues with BL dramas: the total unbelievability of the central relationship, when the characters initially hate each other. When people are so different that they actively detest each other, they distance themselves. Emotionally and physically. They will possibly never want to see each other again. Granted, the premise of HSAFM is that they can't distance themselves, being trapped in their flat together, but that doesn't necessarily mean that living together is going to cure them of their hate. Quite the opposite, in fact. Some low-key young-hearts attraction at the outset is a nice way of stirring things up in the audience and setting the characters on their path to love, but it defies logic.
Perhaps I'm being too judgemental. This 'hate turns to love' device is so common in literature and all the arts that it's just accepted as natural. But if it's going to be used, in my opinion, it needs to be handled very carefully. (Read 'Pride and Prejudice' for the best example of how to write about how hate/pride/prejudice turns to love.) My issue with this plot device as it relates to BL is that the 'turning point' is almost always poorly written and managed. HSAFM is a good example of that failure, in my view. It's just not convincing, not matter how adorable the characters have become by the stage they are falling in love. (And Feng He is indeed adorable.)
If anyone knows of a drama that manages to pull off the 'hate to love' switch, please let me know!
I have to say that I also loved my introduction to "rotten girls" / fujoshi in HSAFM. Feng He's friend Meng Meng was a delight, really funny. I loved watching her daydream about Feng He having a relationship with Cheng Qing, and inadvertently planting ideas into her friend's head. Writing about what he tells her is going on at home, and how awful Cheng Qing is, earns her thousands of readers online! I had no idea that girls reacted in this way to Yaoi / BL, but apparently that's a very large part of the reason for its existence! It's such an odd concept, I still don't really understand why girls would be so fascinated by gay love and sex, to the point where they buy yaoi manga or write fan fiction or have exciting daydreams about it. I'll need to read more about it, and perhaps write about it further some time.
Humour is a strong point in the story. It can be quite funny at times, such as when Cheng Qing freaks out in the lift and grabs onto Feng He, and anything to do with Meng Meng. The ending is very sweet without being a sugar overload.
Rating: 12 out of 20. Worth watching.
Ending: Happy
Summary of the plot: Two guys become step brothers and are forced to live together when their respective parents get married and go on an extended honeymoon. One of them Feng He is sensitive, intelligent, gay and shy, the other Cheng Qing is a very famous star with pretty boy looks who is vain, arrogant and a bully. They don't hit it off and their life together in their flat becomes increasingly difficult. Eventually they each being to see the good points in each other, which soon turns into unanticipated feelings.
I didn't really enjoy this series at the time, though I kept up with watching all the episodes until the end, but I see now that it was probably a really good introduction to BL. It has a lot of the elements of the BL formula and uses most of them well. It's not particularly original or well made, but the production and acting are all fine and the lead guys have a good chemistry.
Cheng Qing's character is very difficult to like or sympathise with, he's just way too obnoxious and treats Feng He like his housekeeper. I realise now that this is a typical template for the dominant guy in BL dramas, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept him. He's a terrible person to begin with, having no redeeming features apart from his stardom and his beauty. Feng He is more sympathetic, and as the story focuses on his perception of what's going on, I learned to appreciate him more quickly. But his passive, sometimes even weak, personality did grate on me at times. Again, I see now this is a BL character template.
And here is where I came up against one of my biggest issues with BL dramas: the total unbelievability of the central relationship, when the characters initially hate each other. When people are so different that they actively detest each other, they distance themselves. Emotionally and physically. They will possibly never want to see each other again. Granted, the premise of HSAFM is that they can't distance themselves, being trapped in their flat together, but that doesn't necessarily mean that living together is going to cure them of their hate. Quite the opposite, in fact. Some low-key young-hearts attraction at the outset is a nice way of stirring things up in the audience and setting the characters on their path to love, but it defies logic.
Perhaps I'm being too judgemental. This 'hate turns to love' device is so common in literature and all the arts that it's just accepted as natural. But if it's going to be used, in my opinion, it needs to be handled very carefully. (Read 'Pride and Prejudice' for the best example of how to write about how hate/pride/prejudice turns to love.) My issue with this plot device as it relates to BL is that the 'turning point' is almost always poorly written and managed. HSAFM is a good example of that failure, in my view. It's just not convincing, not matter how adorable the characters have become by the stage they are falling in love. (And Feng He is indeed adorable.)
If anyone knows of a drama that manages to pull off the 'hate to love' switch, please let me know!
I have to say that I also loved my introduction to "rotten girls" / fujoshi in HSAFM. Feng He's friend Meng Meng was a delight, really funny. I loved watching her daydream about Feng He having a relationship with Cheng Qing, and inadvertently planting ideas into her friend's head. Writing about what he tells her is going on at home, and how awful Cheng Qing is, earns her thousands of readers online! I had no idea that girls reacted in this way to Yaoi / BL, but apparently that's a very large part of the reason for its existence! It's such an odd concept, I still don't really understand why girls would be so fascinated by gay love and sex, to the point where they buy yaoi manga or write fan fiction or have exciting daydreams about it. I'll need to read more about it, and perhaps write about it further some time.
Humour is a strong point in the story. It can be quite funny at times, such as when Cheng Qing freaks out in the lift and grabs onto Feng He, and anything to do with Meng Meng. The ending is very sweet without being a sugar overload.
Rating: 12 out of 20. Worth watching.
Ending: Happy
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