The Effect
Let's say this right up front. I ended up hating this program. 2019 Thai BL series The Effect is not going to please everyone. It's not your typical BL, to put it mildly. You can see what it was trying to do, especially in its really fine first episode, but the end result is a complete failure. Some might appreciate it, some might even admire it, but for me, this is a BL program that's so wrong-minded, it's utterly despicable.
SPOILERS WARNING: I'm going to give away everything about the story in this series, mainly so that I can make a point, but also because I want to put off as many people from watching it as possible. I make no apologies for that.
Summary: Shy new university student Shin meets the kind and popular senior Keng, and over the coming weeks, the two become close. Keng is the obvious instigator of the closeness, and it draws the attention of his jealous friend and admirer Maan. When Maan anonymously releases some compromising photos of Shin and Keng on social media, a firestorm of innuendo and gossip erupts right across the university, and almost all of it is aimed at Shin. As the social media vilification and pressure mount up, a horrified Shin finds that he is unjustly trapped on all sides, especially by Keng, whose intentions are becoming more obvious. When Keng decides to come out as gay, Shin's reputation is unintentionally damaged even further and almost everyone turns against him. As their friendship deteriorates and Shin tries to isolate himself, Keng becomes psychotically enraged and rapes Shin. Shin tries as hard as he can to put the rape behind him, so when Keng's parents offer money for his silence, he accepts, despite his family's objections. Keng persists in trying to convince Shin that he loves him, but even his tearful apologies are tinged with undercurrents of violence and anger. When the trauma and pressure become too much, Shin tries to take his own life.
It's hard to know where to begin with this series, so let's just start with the good news first. Episode 1 in this short series is really very good. Shin's loneliness is touchingly portrayed, and we feel it deeply on his behalf. We're so glad when he finally makes two friends, bookworm nerd Pramote and brash womaniser Bright (Love By Chance alum Yacht Surat in another eye-catching secondary role). There are plenty of sweet BL signposts, especially in Shin's genuinely respectful admiration of Keng as a top student who's also the university ambassador. When he finally meets Keng, he (and the audience) are well and truly primed to like him - and Keng's generous, friendly behaviour to Shin certainly justifies the admiration. Even better, we get to see that Keng is obviously attracted to Shin. The implication that he is gay is almost breathtakingly direct - this simply never happens in BL so explicitly. There's none of the tiresome "I'm not gay, I just love this man" trope that Thai BL seems to prefer. This alone gave me high hopes for what was to come.
But its greatest achievement is its depiction of the wide-ranging devastation of homophobia when it's amplified by the free-for-all soapbox of social media. This gives it a much more serious tone than standard BL. The toxicity of online posters' opinions about Shin and Keng is brutally shocking. No one is interested in the truth, their sole interest is to spout virulent hateful opinion with no basis in fact. It's no wonder Shin withdraws into himself and feels guilty for dragging Keng into his downward spiral. The best scene in the series sees Bright being confronted by some friends, who, out of "good intentions", advise him to give up his friendship with Shin (who people see as dishonest and the true destroyer of Keng's reputation) before Bright's own reputation is ruined by association. For a second, you wonder if Bright will fold under the pressure, but Bright's highly incensed indignation and rejection of his so-called friends is thrilling to watch. His angry retort "What if I was in Shin's situation, would you turn away from me, even though I'm your friend?!" is the line of the series, and it's so satisfying to witness as his friends squirm uncomfortably.
Moving towards an explanation of the negatives of this series is not something I'm keen on doing, but it needs to be done. This is going to end up reading like a lecture, so you might want to reconsider reading any further if a serious discussion is not what you're looking for in this review.
It's not really worth looking more closely at the suggestions of mental illness or trauma suffered by both lead characters, as they are only dealt with in passing and not in any meaningful way. Shin's suicide attempt is pointlessly shown in detail, which is reprehensible.
My adverse reaction to the way BL mismanages the theme of rape and sexual assault has been brewing ever since I first saw it in a series that presented it as a valid method of bringing characters together as lovers. The Effect integrates its BL story into its theme of rape in such a way that I can't keep silent on this topic any longer.
From the perspective of the story, it makes no sense that Keng raped Shin. There was no reason for it, apart from Shin rejecting his love. If we take that as the reason, then we can only view the rape either as a psychotic break or as Keng's desperate attempt to regain control of his life by violently overpowering the man he professed to love. I don't want to be in a position where we need to make sense of, or explain, Keng's behaviour any more than that, so if we leave it at that, it might go some way towards understanding why the writers made the decisions they did. The fundamental question that arises at this point is at the heart of the issue of presenting rape in a BL drama. Does the story want to depict the rape candidly in order to show the perpetrator's behaviour as criminal, or does it want to use it as a sexual plot device to bring the men closer by realising their feelings for each other?
I think the crux of the response here, in as far as it relates to The Effect, lies in the depiction of Keng as an 'out' homosexual.
As the most loved and watched gay drama product in the world, productions of Boys Love have their part to play in calling out homophobia, not exploiting it. I would even call it a duty and a responsibility. Homophobia arises out of cultural hatred, fear, ignorance of LGBTIQ+ people. BL exploits rape and sexual assault for dramatic effect, largely for the titillation of its audience. It ostensibly rejects homophobia but BL treads a fine line between perpetuating it or reinforcing it when it decides to aim for fan-friendly sexual suggestiveness over responsible ownership of its story. The dark side of BL is that it only wants to show a sanitised version of gay love. Rape is perversely considered to form a part of that version because of the way it can be used to push the love story forward. Programs like The Effect think they are addressing the imbalance, but such poor narrative decisions mean it oversteps the mark and stumbles into a dark space where homophobia consequently wins. After starting so strongly, the narratorial decision to bring about Shin's rape is a catastrophe that lays waste to all its good intentions and, worst of all, it will do nothing but reinforce the view that homosexuals are bad people, especially if they are 'out' or definitely no longer bisexual or 'questioning'. Cause You're My Boy is a great example of how to depict the destructiveness of homophobia and your characters' strength in resisting it. The Effect takes the opposite tack and shows what happens when your characters don't resist it and then succumb to it, but it goes too far by making its characters part of the problem. By doing so, they perpetuate some awful stereotypes that can end up killing people. Other BL programs using sexual assault and rape as a narrative device for bringing their characters closer together equate its violence and violation with frustrated love and rejected affection. The most obvious examples I've seen are History: Obsessed, Waterboyy The Series, Love by Chance, Heroin/Addicted and the truly awful Beloved Enemy. The Effect also does this but it is even worse because it thinks it's actually doing the right thing and exposing the true meaning of homophobia. It is, but not in the way it thinks it is. The Effect actively turns it audience against its 'out' gay characters by making them the villains. What could possibly be worse, this program says, than an unapologetically out gay man? This is so profoundly irresponsible and unethical that I can't recommend that you watch this program in good conscience.
In the final scene of the series, taking place five years after the rape, Shin sees Keng on the other side of a busy street. Keng sees him too. They stare long and hard at each other. Then, in slow motion, they both step onto the road at the same time, into oncoming traffic. There's the sound of multiple cars skidding. The screen goes dark. It doesn't matter if Shin is gay or not; the series leaves that question unanswered. It doesn't even matter whether they both die or not. What seems to matter here is that there's a possibility they have actually loved each other all along. As you stare at your dark screen in disbelief, feeling a stone sink into the pit of your stomach, you ask yourself in abject horror, "What the fuck have I just watched...?! Why is this even called a BL drama...?!"
Rating: 5 out of 20
Ending: Bad
Best scene: Bright's scathing indignation when his university friends tell him to give up his friendship with Shin.
Let me hear your thoughts on this series and your reactions to its story choices in the Comments. It's something that deserves a proper discussion and as many opinions as possible.
SPOILERS WARNING: I'm going to give away everything about the story in this series, mainly so that I can make a point, but also because I want to put off as many people from watching it as possible. I make no apologies for that.
Summary: Shy new university student Shin meets the kind and popular senior Keng, and over the coming weeks, the two become close. Keng is the obvious instigator of the closeness, and it draws the attention of his jealous friend and admirer Maan. When Maan anonymously releases some compromising photos of Shin and Keng on social media, a firestorm of innuendo and gossip erupts right across the university, and almost all of it is aimed at Shin. As the social media vilification and pressure mount up, a horrified Shin finds that he is unjustly trapped on all sides, especially by Keng, whose intentions are becoming more obvious. When Keng decides to come out as gay, Shin's reputation is unintentionally damaged even further and almost everyone turns against him. As their friendship deteriorates and Shin tries to isolate himself, Keng becomes psychotically enraged and rapes Shin. Shin tries as hard as he can to put the rape behind him, so when Keng's parents offer money for his silence, he accepts, despite his family's objections. Keng persists in trying to convince Shin that he loves him, but even his tearful apologies are tinged with undercurrents of violence and anger. When the trauma and pressure become too much, Shin tries to take his own life.
It's hard to know where to begin with this series, so let's just start with the good news first. Episode 1 in this short series is really very good. Shin's loneliness is touchingly portrayed, and we feel it deeply on his behalf. We're so glad when he finally makes two friends, bookworm nerd Pramote and brash womaniser Bright (Love By Chance alum Yacht Surat in another eye-catching secondary role). There are plenty of sweet BL signposts, especially in Shin's genuinely respectful admiration of Keng as a top student who's also the university ambassador. When he finally meets Keng, he (and the audience) are well and truly primed to like him - and Keng's generous, friendly behaviour to Shin certainly justifies the admiration. Even better, we get to see that Keng is obviously attracted to Shin. The implication that he is gay is almost breathtakingly direct - this simply never happens in BL so explicitly. There's none of the tiresome "I'm not gay, I just love this man" trope that Thai BL seems to prefer. This alone gave me high hopes for what was to come.
But its greatest achievement is its depiction of the wide-ranging devastation of homophobia when it's amplified by the free-for-all soapbox of social media. This gives it a much more serious tone than standard BL. The toxicity of online posters' opinions about Shin and Keng is brutally shocking. No one is interested in the truth, their sole interest is to spout virulent hateful opinion with no basis in fact. It's no wonder Shin withdraws into himself and feels guilty for dragging Keng into his downward spiral. The best scene in the series sees Bright being confronted by some friends, who, out of "good intentions", advise him to give up his friendship with Shin (who people see as dishonest and the true destroyer of Keng's reputation) before Bright's own reputation is ruined by association. For a second, you wonder if Bright will fold under the pressure, but Bright's highly incensed indignation and rejection of his so-called friends is thrilling to watch. His angry retort "What if I was in Shin's situation, would you turn away from me, even though I'm your friend?!" is the line of the series, and it's so satisfying to witness as his friends squirm uncomfortably.
Moving towards an explanation of the negatives of this series is not something I'm keen on doing, but it needs to be done. This is going to end up reading like a lecture, so you might want to reconsider reading any further if a serious discussion is not what you're looking for in this review.
It's not really worth looking more closely at the suggestions of mental illness or trauma suffered by both lead characters, as they are only dealt with in passing and not in any meaningful way. Shin's suicide attempt is pointlessly shown in detail, which is reprehensible.
My adverse reaction to the way BL mismanages the theme of rape and sexual assault has been brewing ever since I first saw it in a series that presented it as a valid method of bringing characters together as lovers. The Effect integrates its BL story into its theme of rape in such a way that I can't keep silent on this topic any longer.
From the perspective of the story, it makes no sense that Keng raped Shin. There was no reason for it, apart from Shin rejecting his love. If we take that as the reason, then we can only view the rape either as a psychotic break or as Keng's desperate attempt to regain control of his life by violently overpowering the man he professed to love. I don't want to be in a position where we need to make sense of, or explain, Keng's behaviour any more than that, so if we leave it at that, it might go some way towards understanding why the writers made the decisions they did. The fundamental question that arises at this point is at the heart of the issue of presenting rape in a BL drama. Does the story want to depict the rape candidly in order to show the perpetrator's behaviour as criminal, or does it want to use it as a sexual plot device to bring the men closer by realising their feelings for each other?
I think the crux of the response here, in as far as it relates to The Effect, lies in the depiction of Keng as an 'out' homosexual.
As the most loved and watched gay drama product in the world, productions of Boys Love have their part to play in calling out homophobia, not exploiting it. I would even call it a duty and a responsibility. Homophobia arises out of cultural hatred, fear, ignorance of LGBTIQ+ people. BL exploits rape and sexual assault for dramatic effect, largely for the titillation of its audience. It ostensibly rejects homophobia but BL treads a fine line between perpetuating it or reinforcing it when it decides to aim for fan-friendly sexual suggestiveness over responsible ownership of its story. The dark side of BL is that it only wants to show a sanitised version of gay love. Rape is perversely considered to form a part of that version because of the way it can be used to push the love story forward. Programs like The Effect think they are addressing the imbalance, but such poor narrative decisions mean it oversteps the mark and stumbles into a dark space where homophobia consequently wins. After starting so strongly, the narratorial decision to bring about Shin's rape is a catastrophe that lays waste to all its good intentions and, worst of all, it will do nothing but reinforce the view that homosexuals are bad people, especially if they are 'out' or definitely no longer bisexual or 'questioning'. Cause You're My Boy is a great example of how to depict the destructiveness of homophobia and your characters' strength in resisting it. The Effect takes the opposite tack and shows what happens when your characters don't resist it and then succumb to it, but it goes too far by making its characters part of the problem. By doing so, they perpetuate some awful stereotypes that can end up killing people. Other BL programs using sexual assault and rape as a narrative device for bringing their characters closer together equate its violence and violation with frustrated love and rejected affection. The most obvious examples I've seen are History: Obsessed, Waterboyy The Series, Love by Chance, Heroin/Addicted and the truly awful Beloved Enemy. The Effect also does this but it is even worse because it thinks it's actually doing the right thing and exposing the true meaning of homophobia. It is, but not in the way it thinks it is. The Effect actively turns it audience against its 'out' gay characters by making them the villains. What could possibly be worse, this program says, than an unapologetically out gay man? This is so profoundly irresponsible and unethical that I can't recommend that you watch this program in good conscience.
In the final scene of the series, taking place five years after the rape, Shin sees Keng on the other side of a busy street. Keng sees him too. They stare long and hard at each other. Then, in slow motion, they both step onto the road at the same time, into oncoming traffic. There's the sound of multiple cars skidding. The screen goes dark. It doesn't matter if Shin is gay or not; the series leaves that question unanswered. It doesn't even matter whether they both die or not. What seems to matter here is that there's a possibility they have actually loved each other all along. As you stare at your dark screen in disbelief, feeling a stone sink into the pit of your stomach, you ask yourself in abject horror, "What the fuck have I just watched...?! Why is this even called a BL drama...?!"
Rating: 5 out of 20
Ending: Bad
Best scene: Bright's scathing indignation when his university friends tell him to give up his friendship with Shin.
Let me hear your thoughts on this series and your reactions to its story choices in the Comments. It's something that deserves a proper discussion and as many opinions as possible.
Comments
Shoot to the next morning, they are in bed together. Book wakes up first, looks at Frame, and then smiles - presumably thinking about the previous night.
So, WTF? Was he raped or not? It's a very odd scene. The first time I watched the episode, I didn't catch it, catch that yes, it was a rape scene. I didn't catch it, because the narrative obviously was setting up them getting together, Book clearly was enamored of Frame - and cue the audience, Frame is hot, hot, hot and no way I would say No to him - so, what went on? I think, as you mention, rape is too often used as a plot device with little thought given to the reality of rape.
I experienced date rape once in college, and I was so excited to finally date someone I really wanted to get physical with. But, after the forcing, I just couldn't be around him again. We both tried to normalize it, and I was as desperate to get away from him as he was to get together with me, to show "it was a mistake". It wasn't a "mistake". It was rape.
You're absolutely right, this is exactly why rape shouldn't be normalised as an expression of love - as it often is in BL. Who's to say that someone won't think they can do the same thing as Frame or Keng, because the victim is apparently 'in love' with the rapist and the rapist is a hot-blooded passionate 'seme' so it's ok??
I will need to watch that hookup scene in MIR again, I don't remember Frame being that forceful. The way you describe it makes it sound offensive and gross.
I remember being really shocked at the "don't film me" scene with Tern and Book (not Frame! thanks for pointing that mistake out!). Tern got off too lightly, saying he released the video by accident. Revenge porn is another issue I have with BL that needs to be properly addressed. I like what Love Sick did with it up to a point, but it still made me feel uncomfortable because Aim was made out to be a total slut by cheating on Phun, so it apparently didn't matter so much that her 'other guy' was blackmailing her with revenge porn (WTF?!)
I really appreciate the show as a whole. Loving someone doesn't give you the right to violate them. I would like to know what happened when the end goes black so I'll read the novel.
Thanks Everyone!
But the problems you detailed are absolutely right. It is fine for someone who has had a traumatic, sexually violent experience to find their own way of getting over it, even if that means forgiving their rapist or even trying to see things from the rapist's point of view. If that was what the ending was going for, I can understand that. But I can't endorse choosing to show that as the ending to this story at all. It's one thing for someone to forgive, it's another to put that method up on some pedestal like it's something to achieve, that somehow Shin "did the right thing" by forgiving (maybe being in love with?) Keng in the end.
The suicide attempt was so detailed and so very unnecessary. I can watch almost anything, but I nearly had to leave the room for that. Very very triggering content. It was so out of place.
And of course, as you also mentioned, aside from the very very end where we get to see Shin happy for his friends being in a relationship, every single out character is like a caricature of a gay villain. You don't return my big gay feelings? I'll go to any lengths to force you to love me, including blackmail, public shaming, and rape. I would never say all out gay characters in any form of media need to be good guys. But villainizing the out characters and almost exclusively the out characters is an abhorrent oversight at best and disgustingly malicious and homophobic at worst.
It seemed like everyone I talked to was gushing praise over this show. It came highly recommended by people whose taste I trust (along with lots of warnings of course). So imagine my confusion when this highly, highly problematic show is what I got.
The acting is pretty stellar, I will say that. And it has its merits overall. But not nearly enough to push this from 'problematic and unbearable', to 'has some issues but I'm glad I watched it'. I am not glad I watched this. I want my time back.
Final thought: I truly hope to see James do more work. He is outstanding. And Bright was an absolute gem of a character (and his wonderful portrayal came as no surprise as Yacht has always been a top performer). Everything else about this needs to be thrown in a dumpster and set on fire.
I guess the language barrier and Line TV being sucky at subtitles, particularly in this show, did not help in properly warning viewers on what’s to come. I’d say almost all the scenes depict very realistic outcomes from trauma that the characters went thorough.
There are so many shows, so many problematic characters which are still being justified and defended by the rosy-eyed, blinded viewer community all because of the portrayal of troubled childhood and toxic past. Why wouldn't people understand that reason for a problematic character is an explanation for the behaviour but not an excuse. We wouldn't want a rapist in real life to be accepted because he had a brutal childhood, then why is it okay in BLs for Lhong to not be convicted to get a kid gang-raped just because he was an unloved child who was obsessively in love with Tharn? Why is it okay for Bright from Together with Me, to be forgiven for setting up a foursome without Farm's consent and willingness and the ship being loved by the masses just because Farm realised he loved him all along to overcome his trauma of being practically raped? Even Tharn forcing himself on a homophobic and assault-traumatised Type is one of the biggest ships jist because they ended together which was the entire premise of the damn series!! Imagine, portraying the whole concept of 'it's okay to force yourself on someone as long as you have good intentions'.
Seriously the one and only highlight of the entire 3 episodes of ultimate poison in this show was Bright's conversation with his "friends" to stand up for Shin, who was the goddamn victim of harassment by the entire University/Faculty (which btw is again one of the shittiest representation in the whole Thai BL world which mostly is set in an educational premises with the entire University making it their personal business to stop having a life of their own and obsessing over the lead BL ship in either the most sickenigly intrusive or the most toxic manner).