Roles of Spatial Settings in a Boys Love Series Titled “I Told Sunset about You”

Abstract

This article aimed at analyzing roles of spatial settings which affect homoromantic characters in the Boys Love (BL) series titled “I Told Sunset about You”. According to the research, it is found that spatial settings play a key role in discovering the characters’ true identities and controlling their behaviors in various aspects as follows: 1) prohibited spaces where the characters expressed love and affection for one another which deviates from the social norms in terms of heterosexuality; 2) private spaces include bedrooms where the characters explored their gender identity in a bid to defuse their identity crisis; 3) public places and the sense of public disclosure and control, i.e. seas and seashores where the characters released their feelings through kissing underwater, hidden from sight. This implies that the homoromantic characters could not express themselves in public openly; 4) spaces for self-acceptance, namely Laem Phromthep or Brahma Cape is a public place where the characters showed their love for each other. The place symbolizes self-acceptance and public disclosure of sexual orientation; and 5) spaces for desire refer to places where the characters’ immorality and hypersexuality occurred. The BL series demonstrates that spatial settings not only serve as a backdrop for actions in the story, but also play a significant role in characters’ sexuality and identities.