thoughts on how romantic fantasies work in love in the air
I'M DRUNK AND WATCHED LITA AWHILE BACK AND I'VE BEEN ROTATING IT LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO
kinnporsche as a text is complicated by a bunch of different things (see: vegas as an abuser who is himself abused, kinn's rape of porsche, etc.) but lita seems to me to be a text that's much more straightfowardly about certain classic romantic fantasies. more specifically, the ways in which the love interests display aggressive, threatening or inappropriate behaviour are about romantic fantasies and conventions more than literal examinations of the behaviours themselves; analyses that don't take that into account are simply not very interesting to me.
rain's arc is about sexual awakening/self-knowledge/maturing into a new life stage. sky's arc is about healing his sexual/relational trauma. their love interests are fantasy love interests in relation to those arcs.
so phayu is inappropriately forward and pushy because if he wasn't rain couldn't discover his own desires. he has internal resistance to the things he wants, he can't acknowledge or articulate them, so he needs ("needs") someone to force him to understand what he really wants. obviously this is an approach that does not apply to real people!! this is a fantasy!! phayu embodies the fantasy of not having to ask, the fantasy that you'll just lock eyes with someone (ideally in the rain for maximum drama! more rain more drama!) and that person will somehow perceive what you desperately want, and give it to you without you having to do all the hard work to dig it out and articulate it. rain meets phayu and phayu sees his desires, even when he denies having them. phayu has more experience and can guide rain into being a better student and more mature person, the person rain really wants to be. phayu likes all the same kinky things as rain, so he doesn't have to be embarrassed about his own desire for penetration, or submission, or spanking, or (apparently) daddy kink, or or or, because his boyfriend nakedly adores him and is also really into all of that. these two actors also have insane chemistry with each other, and are great at looking giddy in that silly first-love way, which helps sell it. it's True (Kinky) Love!
I haven't finished the prapaisky arc, because phayurain is sooooooo cute and precious to me, but I've been spoiled, so let's take a whack at it. there are a couple of fantasy elements to prapai. one I think he shares with phayu, and it's the fantasy of 'this person was a little scary to begin with but actually they're wonderful'. someone who seems bad turns out to be good. this is particularly important for sky, whose abusive ex must have seemed good at first, and then turned out to be bad. not only is prapai good, he's handsome, rich, and powerful; but he uses his resources to dote on and care for sky, not to harm him. prapai pursues sky aggressively because he values sky. when he pushes past sky's resistance it's because he understands him deeply. prapai is the fantasy of someone who loves you so much he'll do anything for you, and who's capable of witnessing your damage and enduring it with you. finally, I'm guessing that sky's eventual Peril and rescue by prapai, rain and phayu is a kind of cathartic reenactment of the original final Big Trauma. the bad guys don't get to hurt him again, because people love him and show up for him (and beat the snot out of the would-be perpetrators). someone who was deeply emotionally abandoned by his parents and grievously harmed by his older boyfriend unwillingly gets a do-over, and is protected this time. that's a fantasy with fucking teeth, about, like, a successful instance of repetition compulsion, about getting to be rescued, and it's working with some pretty intense material, but I do understand why it would be compelling. at the same time, everything has thus far been handled in a very straightforward, uncomplicated way, so I assume this will be, too, but then again, who knows! not I!
anyway. tl;dr. given how lita is operating I don't really understand why there are piles of fic "fixing" phayu's first approach. like he is in the realm of Fantasy Boyfriend!! him being a little threatening in a sexy way and then finally safe is part of the fantasy! I mean, it's OK if people aren't into it, but also, I don't necessarily agree that it's better for him and rain to have carefully negotiated bdsm sex with the stoplight system. I also just don't think they're doing that, unless phayu is making rain fill out a kink list as homework so when rain gets distracted he has an excuse to punish him (or to embarrass him, or to create an opportunity to fluster him by whispering in his ear... phayu loves to Put That Boy In A Situation...). but y'know. to each their own!
caveat that I don't know anything about thai bls. and like that I have not (yet) watched a good chunk of the prapaisky arc and also it CANNOT be overstated that. I am drunk. happy tuesday to me. if anything is misspelled, no it's not.
me watching phayu shove rain into bed in ep 1: ...I should call him. (just kidding, I definitely should not do that.)
anyway I will also be phayurain posting. it is coming.
no conclusion. good NIGHT.
