Love (and LGBTQ Representation) Wins in BL Television Drama
The messages in recent Thai drama 'Moonlight Chicken' are honest, upfront with no hate in sight.
Living in Thailand, as I’ve been doing since the summer of 2023, has brought so many wonderful things into my life. Okay, most of those revolve around food, which is very much the Thai way since food does seem to be the center of everything here and for good reason. Food is everywhere and it’s almost always fantastic.
Beyond food, watching TV is an interesting experience. Thankfully, my handy Express VPN account keeps me in touch with all my U.S. shows but looking at more local offerings, there’s an array of news, shopping channels and game shows with a lot of wacky sound effects and over-the-top reactions. (I don’t speak the language yet so am merely window shopping to some degree). But if there’s a genre that I now understand fully, it’s the appeal of the BL series.
What’s BL?
Boys’ Love series is a genre of television (also called ‘Y’ series, which comes from the Japanese expression for the genre yaoi) that’s pretty much what you’re thinking. It’s about young (typically high school or early 20s) men who fall in love and with the help of some very soapy elements (ex-lovers, grief, family strife, personal tragedies, financial woes) the couple in question have to truly struggle and fight to get their happily ever after. Depending on the show, sex can be a part of the story though some have a more Hallmark approach where all you may get is a sweet kiss between the two protagonists in the end. Regardless, these shows are hugely popular not only with the LGBTQ community but with predominantly young women.
Moonlight Chicken is the first BL series I’ve watched from start to finish and (to the joy of my husband, Boyd, who was happy to watch again with me) I loved it. Eight episodes that brought all the elements of the BL series - ample doses of humor, drama and a lot of swoon-worthy stares across rooms. While some series lean more into the comedic side of things, Moonlight Chicken is definitely more of a drama with the action taking place in the city of Pattaya, Thailand. Here’s the lowdown:
At the center of Moonlight Chicken (which I watched in segments on YouTube though the series is also available in Thailand on the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service) is the earnest Jim (Pirapat Watthanasetsiri, aka Earth), the late 30s owner of a local restaurant known for it’s delicious chicken and rice. In the first episode, Jim meets a drunk Wen (Sahaprap Wongratch, aka Mix), a younger man immediately takes an interest in the single Jim. Their one-night stand happens quick but there’s more to their relationship as Wen makes it very much known to Jim that he’d like to be in a relationship with him. However, Jim closely guards his heart for reasons that eventually come out but that doesn’t deter Wen, who is patient and knows he can win Jim over. [Note: this is the third pairing of the very popular acting pair Earth and Mix, who have the kind of spark-filled chemistry you want in any BL series..and each have over 3 million Instagram followers, which isn’t even as big as some other BL actors though that’s for another story.]
The other couple in the series is Jim’s defiant nephew 18-year old Li Ming (Nattawat Jirochtikul, aka Fourth), who is indebted to a family for an unfortunate mistake he makes and is enlisted watches over the sweet (and sheltered for being deaf) Heart (Norawit Titicharoenrak, aka Gemini). Yes, we get more sparks in the show between the two young men but they also hit their share of bumps on the road to happiness. in addition to these two couples, there are other characters that exist in their orbit but the show predominantly shifts from these two main storylines.
What struck me right off the bat with Moonlight Chicken is that the show (produced for and set in Thailand, where same sex marriage is not legal yet) doesn’t shy away from the fact that these are men falling in love with each other. Jim, for example, mentions he’s almost 40 and his being gay is no secret. But Jim is the one surprised when he realizes Li Ming is also gay, something he didn’t know about even though his nephew has been living under his roof and working with him in the Moonlight Chicken restaurant.
One moment I found compelling was in episode 7 with the appearance of Li Ming’s estranged mother and Jim’s sister, Jam (Pijika Jittaputta), who finds out her son is also gay and is just as surprised as Jim initially was. Here’s their dialogue exchange from the episode:
Jam: Can I blame you for this? Was it my fault I left my child in your care?
Jim: Give me a break, Sis. How could you say that?
Jam: He wasn’t like this when he was with me.
Jim: What if he was that before living with me?
Jam: Who should I blame then?
Jim: No one. What’s the point of placing blame? He’s done nothing wrong.
Jam: I didn’t say he did wrong. My son is gay. Do you expect me to accept it with a smile?
Jim: Jam, if you think that way, I don’t know what else I can say.
Suffice it to say, the conversation is real and honest yet never comes from a place of hatred, just natural confusion for a mother finding out for the first time that her teenaged son is gay. In the following episode, Li Ming and Jam have a heartwarming scene that clearly shows she accepts her son no matter what as he also accepts her for not always being there for him and blesses her decision to marry a new man.
There’s always a part of me that marvels at the time we’re in when mainstream film and television includes LGBTQ characters and stories as just an equal component of an overall tapestry. Yes, there are still dissenting voices out there that can’t nor should be ignored but that’s not the story being told here. Now we have series like the U.K.’s Heartstopper, the Swedish Young Royals and recent U.S. entries like Fellow Travelers and Feud: Capote and the Swans where gay characters are the protagonists. Other inclusive series include hits like Abbott Elementary with openly gay teacher Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and HBO’s The Last of Us that featured a achingly beautiful gay storyline with guest stars Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as well as a love story between protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) experiencing her first love with Riley (Storm Reid).
What would my younger, closeted self think watching his TV in Indiana and seeing all these men and women living their truths? I’m confident I would not have waited until I was 24 years old to come out and I’d shut down those “what’s wrong with me?” voices repeating on a loop in my head and just love myself a whole lot sooner. But we all have our paths and that includes the trajectory of LGBT characters and stories in film and television.
I think about the young people watching these BL series in their respective countries today and seeing that there is a world where they can be themselves and love whomever they want. TV and film has always entertained while also showing us how other people live but the world cannot have enough visibility of the stories like the ones we see in Moonlight Chicken where, above all else, love is love.
An added bonus to Moonlight Chicken in particular is that it offers some beautiful love stories as well as learning interesting tidbits about the culture. Boyd, who grew up in Thailand and is of Thai Chinese descent, informed me that much of the culture we see in the show is specifically Thai Chinese. Characters praying at a Chinese shrine, the chicken rice dish that Jim serves at his restaurant (which is decorated with Chinese lanterns), some character names like Wen, Li Ming and Leng and even the show’s theme song, “The Moon Represents My Heart” are all Chinese. Also, Jim’s Moonlight Kitchen is an actual restaurant located in an old Chinese village in Pattaya.
One more added bonus before we wrap up, here’s the cast singing the Moonlight Chicken theme song:
Have you watched BL series? Is there a GL (girl love) genre that I don’t know about? Let me know which ones I should watch next! Now that I’ve started watching them, I’m finding there are sooooo many! I say, bring them on!