The thing with western TV is, at a fundamental level, we don't conceive of TV shows as closed narratives that, from day one, have a pre-determined narrative endpoint. The very new exception to this is book adaptations, but even then, sometimes studios wanna milk that cow dry.
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Whereas The Untamed, to take the example I started with, is gay xianxia. Yes, there's an epic romance between two men (who can't kiss on screen because literal government censorship), but there's also flying on swords and zombies and murder and politics - it's a genre FEAST.
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Which isn't to say that BL adaptations are ten a penny throughout Asia - they're still a niche market, and especially in China, they're still subject to a great deal of censorship. But they represent a type of queer content that is utterly absent from western TV -
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- but which many of us queer genre fans absolutely LOVE. It's the kind of thing we go feral for in novels, but which never gets put on screen here. So if you've been wondering why so many of your queer geek friends are suddenly yelling about c-dramas: this is why!
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Even where censorship takes kissing and sex off the table, the idea of an epic, long-form show with a queer romance at the center of a complex, chewy, often fantastical or otherwise genre-heavy story? It's catnip. Utterly irresistible. And the west *isn't doing anything like it*.
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In conclusion: I have fallen into the abyss of Guardian, The Untamed, Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty and Word of Honor. I can't get up but that's fine, I'm very happy in my new habitat. Please slip food under the door at appropriate intervals.
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