UP offers subject on Boys Love series this September
MANILA, Philippines — The UP College of Mass Communication is offering a subject on Boys Love series this September after a sudden popularity of the genre last year.
Jonathan Rondina, faculty member of the UP College of Mass Communication's Broadcast Communication Department, who identifies himself as queer and an advocate of LBGTQ+ rights, said in his interview with News 5 that he will discuss how the BL genre became a phenomenon in the country.
“Ang UP Masscom kasi palagi namang tinitignan ang mga current na nagaganap sa industriya. Actually dapat last year pa but the department supposed to go with Koreanovelas so ayon ang na-feature sa subject na 'yon so nakapila ito,” Rondina said.
“Thankfully this coming semester starting this September maituturo na itong subject na 'to na Boys Love in the time of pandemic,” he added.
Influenced by Thai BL series, local version of BL series become a phenomenon last year when the country is under strict lockdown.
“Bakit ang subject na ito? Kasi kung matatandaan natin, last year when we are under strict lockdown, naging popular itong ganitong genre. Of course it's influenced by Thai BL series tapos nagcreate ng local versions so maganda siyang pag-aralan from an academic standpoint,” Rondina said.
The professor also said that it is important to discuss how the genre influenced young queer people in terms of representation.
“Unang-una sa point of view ng representation. How does it represent marginal communities in particular. In the case of BL series, yung intimacy ng young men na kung titignan natin sa larangan ng media sa Pilipinas hindi naman siya ganoong ka-popular, hindi ganoong ka-mainstream ang representation dito especially when you talked about free television ng major networks,” he said.
“Pero all of a sudden mayroong explosion na nataon don sa pandemic so magandang pag-aralan kung paano ba siya nagsimula, bakit ba siya nagsimula and importantly what's it do to young queer people who are members of the LGBTQ community in terms of representation so I think that's the main significance no, pag-aralan yung main contributions nong genre don sa LGBTQ community,” he added. — Video from News5Everywhere YouTube channel
