Abstract
Chapter 5 proposes “BL-adapted” as a genre related to but differentiated from Boys’ Love as media industry infiltration and state regulation depleted the BL-adaptedsexual and homoerotic content and converted it into “bromance.” The two differ in narrative modes, fan objects, fan participation patterns, cultural function, and ideological positioning to dominant political and commercial forces. Using The Untamed as a case study, this author has reassessed optimistic scholarly claims about fans’ digital dexterity, initiative, and capacity as a subversive force of heteronormativity and state ideology. The author reveals the contentions and compliance between audience, industry, and state censors in “taming” BL-adapted dramas. The author first examines controversies revolving around the drama’s lead actors of The Untamed to reveal the BL-adapted as part of Chinese entertainment industry’s “pan-rotten” strategy. Then she extrapolates how the ideological expressions of BL-adapted dramas are shaped by state regulatory strategies. Finally, she analyzes four components of a commercially successful BL-adapted formula. The author concludes that this current form of BL-dramas actually bespeaks a heteronormative conservatism and can distract attention from real politically sensitive and often severely censored LGBTQ media in China.
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