Skip to main content

A Man Who Defies the World of BL Final (Japanese Series)

By Golu
This final season keeps leaning on the same old formula, and once again never actually gives its main character any real sense of closure. Quick refresher, our lead is a university student who spends all his time frantically trying to dodge romance. No matter what he does though, the universe just keeps shoving him into one intimate situation after another. A lot of these setups are lifted straight from classic love story cliches. The whole point is watching him come up with creative ways to escape his fate and avoid falling for another guy. This season's still got six episodes, each around 23 minutes, and every episode features two of these tropey flags that could tip him into a BL storyline. Season three left off with Mob possibly caught in a love triangle between his ex Kikuchi and Hatano, the younger guy who's still a minor. Turns out that was all a dream sequence, but what hasn't changed is that Hatano is still into him. The first four episodes basically run through ev...
Post a Comment

The Butch Factor (Documentary)

By Golu

This documentary is trying to break down the old tired stereotypes and show that gay men can look like anything, blue collar guys, cops, tough athletes, rodeo cowboys, gym bros who could scare anyone just by walking in the room. It brings in a bunch of different guys talking about what being masculine actually means to them.

The guys they interview are pretty honest about their sexuality and how people see them. They talk about the usual butch gay categories, leather guys, bears, rodeo riders, muscle guys, construction workers, truck drivers, cops, athletes, and mix that in with stuff like homophobia, being stereotyped, being called too feminine or too polished, and fashion. A lot of them say they feel kind of alone trying to fit into gay culture as masculine guys, like they don't belong to the "normal" gay scene either. Some talk about just not caring about pop culture or fashion or divas like other gay guys do, worrying if they'd be accepted in a typical tough guy job, and having a hard time accepting themselves because they grew up in a macho household. All these stories basically come back to the same thing, how society decides what counts as a real man and what counts as a real gay man. The film also throws in a couple of clearly more feminine gay guys, but it feels a little awkward, and I'm honestly not sure if the point was to say masculine gay guys are somehow better.

The doc also shows where these guys actually feel at home in gay culture, like gay sports teams, a corrections officer, and guys who grew up thinking real men just aren't gay. It also gets into the mental side of masculinity a bit, like how gay men think about it and try to live up to it, and how a lot of it is just something society made up. It flips things around too, some of the more butch guys in the film actually say the feminine guys they know are tougher and stronger for just being themselves without hiding it. The heart's in the right place here, but the doc gets repetitive after a while. It just keeps circling the same point over and over before it finally ends.

Bottom line, good message, honest guys, but it repeats itself way too much. (4.5/10)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tuxedo (Thai Series)

By Golu
When I saw this series with 8 episodes of about 20-25 minutes each, I thought, good: Finally someone has come to senses and made a show which is not stretched out and they have tried to squeeze in a decent storyline in a good small episode format. But unfortunately, despite a decent premise on hand, the clunky writing, bad screenplay and an extreme tasteless portrayal of mental illness makes this show, not a fun watch. By the time it finishes, you just want to laugh off at the entire absurdity of it all. Aioun is talented tuxedo designer and very much in demand but he has handful of clients and he builds suits only for people who he feels a connection to. One night when his younger brother is about to get mugged, he is helped by a total stranger named Sichol. Since he tears his suit in the fight and has an interview the next day, Aioun gifts him a suit form his design as an expression of thanks. Sichol's interview is for. Personal assistant of a man named Nawee, a wealthy heir to h...
25 comments
Read more

Heartstopper: Season 2 (Web Series) (UK)

By Golu
Heartstopper Season 1 was a universal hit. You could not have read one bad review or heard from anyone who has seen the show not liking it. It was the kind of series that is easy to love, with sweetness exploding out of every scene without overwhelming you. So naturally, when Netflix greenly Season 2, expectations were naturally high and the same happened with me. I didn't know what to expect, but I had high expectations of this very very sweet teenage love story. And with eagerness and being a little late to the game by a few days, here I am, pouring my t thoughts down having just finished one of the most anticipated shows of the year. The second season also has 10 episodes and has all of our loved ones from the original season. The show continues from where it had left off in Season 1. Charlie and Nick are a couple and only their very close circle of friends know about it. This includes Charlie's best friend Tao and his trans best friend Elle. The center of the show is still ...
19 comments
Read more

Gaya Sa Pelikula (Filipino Series) [Like In The Movies]

By Golu
Pinoy BL series seem to be catching up to the popularity of the Thai shows. And I must say that they are doing a pretty good job at it. Where Thai series started to get repetitive with so many shows based in a college setting with seemingly similar storylines, Pinoy series are offering the viewers with new and interesting stories and some really good sets and surroundings. This series was 8 episodes of about 25-20 minutes each. Karl, a 19-year old introvert architecture student is in the middle of an identity crisis. Prior to the start of the second semester in college and forced by his parents, he moves into his uncle's condominium unit so that he can learn to be financially independent. Karl takes on odd jobs online to do so. But when one of his major clients suddenly goes MIA, he is left short on funds and without a means to pay for his utilities. An opportunity presents itself when his cocky neighbor Vlad has to hide from his family and proposes to share Karl's space for th...
23 comments
Read more