The Limits of Fan Service in Thailand’s Vibrant GL Genre

In early 2024, after years of watching Thai BL—stories featuring male/male romance, popularly known as the “Boys Love” genre—and in my desperate quest for more sapphic stories in Asian media, I finally sat down to watch GAP: The Series. Released in 2022 and adapted from Chao Planoy’s novel of the same name, this was the first mainstream Thai Girls’ Love (GL) series, kicking off an entire genre built around sapphic storylines and idols with sizzling chemistry.

By the time I watched Gap, GL had become a thriving industry with a robust fandom culture, and my social media feeds were constantly flooded with fan edits of GAP stars “Freen” Sarocha Chankimha and Rebecca “Becky” Patricia Armstrong, alongside clips from their fan meetings, interviews, and livestreams. Don’t get me wrong—I was not complaining.

Part of the reason the show piqued my interest was that people weren’t just obsessing over GAP itself; they were obsessing over FreenBecky as an RPF ship. Their joint public appearances, in which they performed an intimate relationship through touching, flirting, and other titillating hallmarks of classic fan service, felt like extensions of the series itself. 

While fan service is often in the eye of the beholder, defaulting broadly to anything that seems to be deliberately catering to fans, fan service in the Thai GL and BL industries has the specific aim of creating moments that fuel a fan’s love for various romantic pairings. The fan service that FreenBecky performed in their fanmeets and other public appearances was intentionally designed by their studio, Idol Factory, to make people fans of the two actors together as a “co-brand” outside of the show—a tactic that’s become an increasingly common part of Asian media marketing. 

This practice significantly overlaps with RPF shipping, to the point where it’s sometimes impossible to separate fandoms of paired actors from fans who ship those actors together. The co-branding also fuels interest in the show they’re in; all the FreenBecky promotion made me eager to see how their fictional GAP ship would evolve, with cold, intimidating Sam (Freen) slowly revealing a softer, more loving side as she fell for Mon (Becky).

Now that the industry is four years old, GAP may no longer be considered the strongest Thai GL in terms of production or storytelling, especially after later releases like 2024’s The Loyal Pin, also starring Freen and Becky, whose chemistry and acting felt more fully developed. Other standout Thai GL series include 23.5, Pluto, The Secret of Us, Queendom, and Affair. But GAP undeniably changed the trajectory of Thai GL. At a time when many entertainment companies still viewed GL as financially risky and too niche, Idol Factory, the company behind GAP, was the first to prove that GL could generate serious revenue through the main couple’s ancillary fanmeets, brand endorsements, and merchandise, beyond just the show itself.

But as the industry continues to expand, I have witnessed growing conversation about whether the very thing that helped the genre thrive—fan service and shipping culture—could now be stifling its creative growth. Some fans worry that the industry has become so dependent on fan service that good storytelling is no longer prioritized.