In November 2020, my Twitter feed was suddenly flooded with posts with #ITSAY hashtags. Turned out, a Thai BL had caused the rage. I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY) wasn’t a highly anticipated Thai BL. Yet it slid in gracefully and created a stir like the swirls of a Van Gogh masterpiece.
Background And Setting of I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY)
Set in Phuket, I Told Sunset About You is a production released by Line TV. The story followed 2 best friends in secondary school. Teh had a passion for acting and aspired to play the role of “Yongjian” in a Chinese period drama. Oh, on the other hand, was more laissez-faire. He only grew to love acting after their teacher appointed him to play “Yongjian” during Chinese New Year celebration. As fate turned out, the incident sparked a cold war between the two.
Teh and Oh reunited in the third year of high school at a Chinese tuition class. Oh still wanted to be an actor, but his weakness in Chinese was holding him back. Just as both of them finally reconciled and love blossomed between them, Teh stepped on the brake and the show plunged into the pain of whiplash. The burden of a traditional mindset of the society, as well as his mother’s hopes of him “bringing glory to the family” became the stumbling block to the happy ending.
Of course, (spoiler alert) Teh finally came to terms with his feelings and fought his way back into Oh’s heart.
As much as the storyline was oh-so-cheesy, the drama still tugged at heart strings and garnered much fans in Thailand and abroad. So how did such a plain story create such a storm in the teh-cup?
Diverse and Inclusive Society
Pick any Thai BL and the setting would most likely be in Bangkok, in a university and most likely in the Engineering faculty (oh the irony!). I Told Sunset About You was none of those.
Instead of swanky skyscrapers and modern college blocks, we were treated to the low rise rustic streets and beaches of Phuket that shouted “Southeast Asia!” more than any other BL show.
To add to the goodness, there were better representations of characters.
From the onset, Teh was an Nth generation naturalised Chinese (the Director perhaps wanted to capture the lucrative Chinese market). But Teh’s Chinese heritage was more than lip service. From a childhood revolving around the local Chinese temple to his family business selling Hokkien Mee, Teh’s character was never more reflective of a naturalised Chinese.
His friends were also racially diverse. Yes, he had a blonde friend (whom I believe meant he was an ang moh), he also had a Malay friend. People of all ethnicities visited his mum’s stall. This was by far the closest to depicting an Indochina society I could see on a Thai BL drama.
Realistic And Detailed Portrayal Of Lead Characters
The diversity and realistic portrayal extended beyond ethnicities. When I watched I Told Sunset About You, I saw 2 boys struggling to be in love, but they were never portrayed as the stereotypical gay couples in other BL shows.
Avoiding Sterotypes of Typical BL Couples
What stereotypes? That in a YY relationship, there will always be one party who plays the female role. That character will always be the emotional, teary one, while the manly character will be demanding, possessive and full of toxic masculinity. The “female” role always needs the manly character to save him from difficult situations.
In other words, that said “female” character could easily be replaced with a real actress and no one would notice the difference in the drama.
In I Told Sunset About You, you can’t replace either character with an actress. If one watches the first 2 episodes without the pretext of them falling for each other, he would have thought it was a show about 2 buddies. They would tease each other, irritate each other for fussing over his girlfriend, be fed up with the other’s weird antics, hurl vulgarities at each other and occasionally get into a fight. Stuff that only bros will do.
Teh and Oh’s interactions were so real and close to life, it was as though they were reliving one of my childhood friendships.
Social Pressure Faced By The Lead Characters
Another cliche that ITSAY dealt with was that of the “conservative society” and how it impacted the flow of the storyline. However, the Director toned down the drama that usually accompanied such storylines, and stuck to a realistic storytelling. That in turn made the twist of events more relatable.
The best representation of the social pressure was of course Teh’s mother. She told Teh it was auspicious to step out of the house with his right foot on important days. Or she would tell all the customers of her noodle stall about his sons’ achievements. All these built up to an Asian parent stereotype, which made viewers believe she would be steeped in “traditional beliefs” and tear Teh apart if she knew about his feelings for Oh.
Howeveer, none of her actions nor words hinted that she was homophobic. The closest she came to that was over the dinner table, where she asked Teh to bring his girlfriend home if he had one. That was typical Asian parent, but not homophobic.
Her non-homophobic stand was subtly expressed in Teh’s conversation with his brother. Teh had confessed to his brother that he liked Oh, of which his brother replied that he was chill with that. He further went to say that their mother would not object to their relationship, because all she wanted was for Teh to be happy.
Indeed, when we looked back at whatever Teh’s mother did, they were all for making sure Teh had a smooth-sailing and happy life.
Unfortunately, Teh interpreted those actions of love like many stereotypes we grew to believe in. He believed his mother would be so entrenched in “traditional beliefs” that she would object to him being with Oh. Teh fell into that vicious cycle, ignoring the fact that all she wanted was for Teh to be happy.
Masterfully Crafted Scenes of I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY)
It was a wonder the production team could create a poetic drama out of the sea of realism. Yet they did it. One of the ways they accomplished that was through the masterfully crafted scenes.
The director took great lengths to capture the beauty of Phuket, and used framing and lighting to set the scenes for Teh and Oh’s interactions.
Many viewers proclaimed that every scene was wallpaper-worthy. I thought it was exaggerated. However, you can’t deny that every important scene was tied in with its own memorable setting.
Like the time when Oh found out he failed the selection for university and traversed through a series of claustrophobic looking corridors, only to break into the backyard of the Chinese temple.
Like the hammock by the beach, where Oh finally declared his love for Teh but got rejected.
Or the closing scene at the cliff, where both leads confront their feelings for each other in the face of nature.
Soundtracks That Stirred Emotions Deep and Furious
If there’s anything that could drive emotions in a drama, it has got to be the soundtrack. Background music and sound effects had been the driver of the success of another 2020’s greatest Thai BL hit, 2gether.
The best presentation had got to be the climax at the end of Ep 3, when Teh gave up his university slot so that Oh, who was the first on the waiting list, could have a shot at studying at his dream school.
Teh had previously rejected Oh and felt indebted to the latter and he thought that was his best way of expressing his love for Oh. But Oh was not thankful of Teh’s sacrifice. To make matters worse, Teh had to face the music from his mother.
Confronted with the push back from the 2 persons he loved the most, we thought that the welling up of Teh’s frustration and sadness was overwhelming.
That was when the music track stopped and plunged us with 2 seconds of silence, asTeh stared into a book with Chinese characters filled with negative connotations staring right back at him*.
The music roared back, engaging in a tug of war with Teh’s uncontrolled bawling. That ambience was so poignant, that when the episode closed with that scene, I could still hear Teh’s bawls in the dead of the night.
I think the scene could only be best represented by a clip.
*Teh had previously cut out all the positive words from the book and put them into a collage to help Oh revise for his Chinese exams. Hence, all that was left in the book were negative words.
Poetic Subtlety of I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY)
What makes a piece of literature an art is its way of expressing an idea without throwing all the clues in your face. The most striking aspect was the Director’s way of dotting out the sexual tension between Teh and Oh, without overt bed scenes that have become the norm for contemporary Thai BLs.
From Teh translating for Oh a Chinese love song, or Oh crawling to Teh for a bite of a potato chip, or Teh opting to go to the back of the queue just so he could board the ferry with Oh, or their using of Instagram to post cryptic messages that only the other would understand, or just the both of them sitting awkwardly on the sofa in the chalet before everyone else….
The more outward scenes were of course the now-famouse sofa scene, when a “Netflix and chill” session developed from nervously peeking at each other to cautiously reaching their hands out for some soft caress. In another scene, their tutoring leson evolved into a back rubbing session and some heaving breathing down the neck.
Both times, they either stopped because Teh’s mother walked in, or because Teh stepped on the brake, being so ever conscious about the social pressure that would judge them should they proceed further.
But never at all did the drama tried to express the love of these 2 leads through steamy sex scenes.
While some viewers who were too conditioned to watching overt bed scenes in Thai BLs might complain this is too docile, I loved this treatment, especially coupled with the use of symbolism in the drama.
Symbolism Used In I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY)
Here, we’re delving into what might be the Director’s way of conveying states of the minds beyond what was said by the characters.
Chinese Temple And Teh’s Mindset
The Chinese temple appeared in many important inflexions of the story. When young Teh and Oh had their first fight (and plunged into years of cold war); when Teh started to show signs of falling for Oh (discussing about their plans to run to the cliff if Oh managed to pass the exams); when Oh walked into the back of the temple in an act of desperation running away from Teh after learning that he failed the selection.
The Chinese temple was there since god knows when, and saw them through childhood and witnessed the development of their affection for each other. It was always there, evoking respect and admiration. It was very much like Teh’s family and the social values that Teh grew up in.
Previously, the temple was closed when Teh and Oh made their post-graduation plans. They snuck in from the back door and sealed their promises before the deities. At the end of the drama, when they decided to carry out what they had promised, the temple was open.
While this might be a metaphor for the society that was slowly opening up to their love, I thought this might also refer to Teh’s mental state of mind.
When he first discovered his feelings for Oh, he was closed and afraid, even though he secretly developed his relationship with Oh. Over the course of 2 episodes, Teh realised that his family weren’t against him liking a boy, and that ultimately paved the way for him to ask Oh to be his stead. That opening up of the mind corresponded to the time when both of them reunited once more outside of the open temple.
Kiss Underwater vs The Rest of The World
The only outward show of affection Teh and Oh had for each other was their (only) passionate kiss. And that kiss took place under the sea.
The director contrasted the scene with an aerial shot of the sea, with its waves lapping into the beach nonchalantly. The world above Teh and Oh looked so peaceful in contrast to their broiling passion underwater.
That kissing scene became significant because of how it signified how hard they tried to cover their affection for each other.
Sunset Will Bring My Secret To Darkness
On why the drama’s title was named I Told Sunset About You, The Director said that few people could articulate their feelings for another, especially in the context of BL. By confessing to the sunset, tt would bring that secret with it into the darkness of the night.
On the first time Teh and Oh went to the cliff to see the sunset, they found the sky overcast. At the end of the drama, they revisited the cliff only to find the sky cloudy again. However, Teh said they were still some way from their destination, and that the weather might change then.
Indeed, by the time they reached the seaside, the sky had cleared. They could fulfill their promise of catching the sunset.
This symbolism can be interpreted in 2 ways. That you wouldn’t know the ending until you’ve completed the journey, or that Teh and Oh’s relationship was just about to see better days.
Either way, the sunset was a lyrical representation of Teh and Oh’s pining for each other.
Parting Words for I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY)
I Told Sunset About You scored 8.8 on My Drama List, which was a feat for a Thai BL that premiered without much fanfare.
I particularly loved how the production team deviated from the storytelling that has now become cliche for Thai BL. Set in the rustic charm of Phuket with a diverse array of characters, the story of Teh and Oh felt closer to reality.
Someone said that watching I Told Sunset About You was like watching a movie. What with its framing of scenes against the charming landscape of Phuket, intertwined with a stirring soundtrack that relentlessly took me on a rollercoaster ride with the characters’ emotions, I must admit it was a feast of a movie!
One may wonder if 5 episodes were too short for a Thai BL drama. Mark you, each episode of I Told Sunset About You was about 70 – 80 minutes long. With typical BL dramas clocking at 40 minutes per episode, ITSAY was as long as a typical drama.
If you have time to wind down this holiday, do give I Told Sunset About You a shot. With its beautiful scenes and subtle, yet poignant, symbolism, it would be a visual treat to what might be a boring holiday stuck at home this season.
Let I Told Sunset About You take you on a poetic tour of the BL world.
And don’t worry about getting addicted to I Told Sunset About You and suffering from hangover after the series ended. Because it has been confirmed the second season will be out in Mar 2021! Just keeping my fingers crossed that there’s no crazy third party appearing to create havoc for Teh and Oh!
Till then, don’t get BLown away!
p/s: If you like sweet innocent BL dramas, be sure to check out Cherry Magic and my review on this fantastic Japanese BL drama!
You can watch I Told Sunset About You on Line TV. However, you might have to use a VPN, depending on where you are.
English 
Chinese
Pingback: Cherry Magic Brings A Dash of Cherry Blossom Freshness To The BL Genre - Live.Life.Love
Comments are closed.