Episode 56: Active Faults and the BL Canon

Written By Filmi Girl

This episode features the delightful Emily who writes the substack Active Faults! (Check it out and subscribe!) For more information on the Xiao Zhan fiasco, you can read her piece for Chaoyang Trap (RIP) and for more information on the Zhang Zhehan fiasco, you can read her post on Active Faults.

What I would consider the essential contemporary global BL Canon, as referenced in the episode, is as follows:

Some of the other BL media we mention (and one we discussed off air but I’ll include here as also popular in Japan but which hasn’t become absorbed into the canon):

And a couple of more I would include just as a prelude to this current boom (and because I love them):

___________

Links for things mentioned in the episode are as follows:

“I think celebrities and fans are like two sides of a mirror. I am a reflection what my fans are like and the fans are a reflection of what I am like…”

“N” on fanfiction:

“But I preferred these stories to most contemporary novels, which mirrored the pieties of the day with absurd ardor.” (p.45) 

Same, girl. Same.

My case for Taemin as the (or an) inspiration for “Moon”

He threw his head back in dreamy surrender, exposing a limestone column of neck almost as long as his face. The cartilage supporting his larynx protruded like a spine. Blue veins ran up the neck and branched off across his mandible. Life swarmed just under his skin. The neck’s language was of suppression, unlike that of his face, where the jungle inside his body oozed free through his eeys, nose, and mouth. Vavra’s mistake had been to draw rational strokes of narrative, compelling me to understand everything about Moon at once. But all I’d needed was to begin with the singularity of his neck. (p. 11)

Check out Taemin for yourself and make up your own mind. 

(And a minor correction: When Emily said, “Bangtan Bombs” she meant “Bangtan TV.”)

______

The tracks played are:

1. “Wu Ji” (theme song from The Untamed) 

2. “Blue Hour” by TXT (Official MV)

3. “Made to Love (光点)” by Xiao Zhan (released in the wake of the boycott)

4. “Asking the Heaven” (theme song from Word of Honor)

5. “愛到 (Loving)” by Fahrenheit (MV)

6. “Everybody Go” by Kis-My-Ft2 (Official MV; The song was released as the group’s debut song in 2011 to coincide with the drama Ikemen, desu ne, which was a remake of the K-drama You’re Beautiful, which starred the then-mega popular Jang Geun-Suk)

7. “初心LOVE” by Naniwa Danshi (Official MV; The song was released as the group’s debut song in 2021 to coincide with the drama My Love Mix-Up, based on a popular Japanese BL manga.)

8. “Santa Monica Lollipop” by Fantastics from Exile Tribe (Official MV; Yagi Yusei, who played Kiyoi Sou, the “star,” in My Beautiful Man, is a member of the group)

9. “Say U Love Me” by Lara & Jason (MV; Theme song to the 2005 Taiwanese drama It Started With A Kiss, which starred Joe Cheng, Ariel Lin, and Fahrenheit’s Jiro Wang and was based on a Japanese manga titled Itazura na Kiss, which has had many, many adaptations in Asia from Korea to Thailand.)

10. “Sherlock” by SHINee (Official MV)

11. “In the Rhythm” by Taemin 

12. “Lucky One” by EXO (Official MV)

13. “幸あれ” by A.B.C-Z

14. “Shoong! (feat. Lisa of BLACKPINK)” by Taeyang (Performance Video)

15. “Light” by UP10TION (Official MV)

16. “Fiancé” by Mino (Official MV; Stan Mino!)

17. “Very Nice” by Seventeen (Official MV; Fancam from a concert)

18. “Sweat” by TXT (Instructions for how to listen to “Sweat”)

Filmi Girl

I’ve been a fan of Asian pop culture for over 20 years and want to help bridge the gap between East and West. There is a lot of informal (and formal) gatekeeping that goes on and I’d like to help new fans break through the gates.

Previous

Episode 57: What’s your H!P ratio?
Next

Episode 55: Heavy Rotation