Netflix’s The Boyfriend is not just groundbreaking, it’s the antidote to Love Island

In an period of high-concept relationship exhibits, the premise of Netflix’s newest Japanese providing, The Boyfriend, is a fairly easy one. A gaggle of singles of their twenties and thirties transfer into a stupendous home for just a few weeks in the summertime; over that point, they hope that they’ll share a romantic spark with somebody who would possibly then turn into their associate.  

What makes The Boyfriend groundbreaking, although, is that each one the contestants are homosexual and bisexual males, making the sequence the primary same-sex relationship present primarily based in Japan. The nation is the one G7 nation that has not but legalised same-sex marriage, regardless of polls suggesting that greater than 70 per cent of the inhabitants can be in favour of doing so. Few Japanese celebrities really feel in a position to come out, usually fearing that opening up about their sexuality would possibly harm their careers; media illustration of the LGBT+ group usually falls into flamboyant stereotypes.  

Towards this backdrop, a present like this one seems like an enormous step ahead in normalising queer relationships. In spite of everything, same-sex {couples} have been in a position to get married in Britain since 2014, and had the choice to have a civil partnership for about 10 years earlier than that, but it surely was solely in 2023 that an all-gay relationship present, I Kissed a Boy, aired on British TV (adopted by I Kissed a Woman this 12 months). 

It’s additionally a leap of religion for the contestants too. We’re launched to them in basic relationship present fashion, with a fast montage of their life exterior the sequence, however their opening soundbites go a lot deeper than describing their kind on paper. Taeheon, a designer from Korea, hasn’t spoken to his household about his sexuality but, and is hoping that the sequence will give him the chance “to precise myself overtly and present my household who I actually am”. One other contestant notes that he’s liable to closing himself off from potential companions, for worry of getting harm. “If I’m weak, I’ll develop,” he says. You don’t are likely to get that within the Love Island seashore hut confessionals.  

The stakes are clearly excessive for these contestants, so the producers don’t have to attempt to increase them artificially. There aren’t any dramatic eliminations. The boys appear to have been chosen as a result of they’re genuinely in search of love, somewhat than being picked out as TV troublemakers or wannabe celebs. As an alternative of participating in sexed-up challenges that require them to begin snogging earlier than they’ve even dedicated one another’s names to reminiscence, the group is given the somewhat sedate, Apprentice-esque problem of operating a espresso van collectively throughout their time in the home. The rationale is that by dwelling and dealing alongside each other, they’ll get to correctly see all the perimeters of their love pursuits’ personalities. There’s additionally a panel of commentators who sit in a studio, passing judgement on the interactions we’ve simply watched, a bit just like the “specialists” in Married at First Sight.  

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Generally, the boys should excuse themselves from the shared home with the intention to take care of work commitments or simply to satisfy up with their associates, making the set-up a way more genuine one than a hermetically sealed villa. The entire strategy appears designed to not produce battle however to slowly foster connection. And though it’s comparatively low-drama (the most important upset is over the price of shopping for sufficient hen to maintain up one of many males’s protein consumption), it definitely hooks you in. Within the first episode, the contestants should write an nameless be aware to the boy they’re most desirous about and go away it in his private mailbox. The following morning, everyone seems to be clamouring to work out who wrote to who (and when a few of them obtain nothing in any respect, their responses are quietly heartbreaking). 

Regardless of its sheer existence being a historic second, The Boyfriend is leisure, not activism. Within the first few episodes, there are some temporary nods to the challenges that homosexual folks face in Japan, each by way of discovering companions and wider acceptance. However for probably the most half, the emphasis is on letting the boys and their relationships communicate for themselves, somewhat than straining for louder political statements. We’ll have to attend and see whether or not it’s going to change attitudes in Japan – but it surely definitely offers us a blueprint for a unique form of relationship present, one which’s the proper antidote to Love Island fatigue.