Addicted (web series) - Wikipedia
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| Addicted | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Also known as | Heroin |
| Simplified Chinese | 上瘾 |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Shàngyǐn |
| Genre | BL |
| Based on | Are You Addicted? by Chai Jidan |
| Written by | Chai Jidan |
| Screenplay by | Cu Wu |
| Directed by | Ding Wei |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme | If Hai Has Yin |
| Ending theme | Walk Slowly |
| Composers |
|
| Country of origin | China |
| Original language | Mandarin |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Beijing, China |
| Running time | 21~25 minutes per episode |
| Production company | Beijing Fengmang Culture Communication Co. |
| Original release | |
| Network |
|
| Release | January 29 – February 23, 2016 |
Addicted (Chinese: 上瘾; pinyin: Shàngyǐn), also known as Heroin, is a 2016 Chinese streaming television series based on the boys' love novel Are You Addicted? (你丫上瘾了) by Chai Jidan. The series is about two sixteen-year-old boys, Bai Luoyin (Timmy Xu) and Gu Hai (Huang Jingyu), who fall in love despite their different backgrounds. The series premiered on January 29, 2016 and aired for three episodes weekly until February 23, 2016, when it was banned by Chinese authorities before its finale. The series developed a cult following in Asia, propelled its two leading actors to fame, and marked the official ban of LGBTQ content in mainland China’s film and television industry.[1][2]
Filming of the drama began on November 30, 2015, in Beijing, China and ended on December 23, 2015. Featuring a first-time director and new actors, the drama had a production budget of only 5 million yuan (around US$741,300). Due to the low-budget, the cast did their own make-up most of the time and supplied some of their own clothes for the filming.[1]
Prior to Addicted, Boys' Love dramas were understood to belong in a very specific genre with a very specific audience base, hence the series wasn't expected to reach mainstream success.[1]
Ever since he was young, Bai Luoyin (Timmy Xu) has been living with his careless but loving father, Bai Hanqi, and his sick grandmother. When he turned 16 years old, his biological mother Jiang Yuan remarried. Her new husband is a high-ranking military official, Gu Weiting.
Because of his mother's death, Gu Weiting's son, Gu Hai (Huang Jingyu), has been harboring a deep grudge towards his father. By the random hand of fate, the two step-brothers with wildly conflicting emotional backgrounds were placed in the same class at a Beijing high school, without knowing each other's background at first. With time, they slowly developed a special feeling toward one another. Their classmates, You Qi and Yang Meng, had been instrumental in the relationship.
At times, over the course of the series some friends mention that an abbreviated combination of the boys names Hai and Luoyin sound like "Heroin".
| Actor | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Timmy Xu | Bai Luoyin | Main character, Son of Jiang Yuan, Gu Hai's love interest |
| Huang Jingyu (Johnny Huang) | Gu Hai | Main character, Son of Gu Weiting, Bai Luo Yin's love interest |
| Fengsong Lin | You Qi | Classmate |
| Chen Wen | Yang Meng | Classmate, Bai Luoyin's childhood friend |
| Song Tao | Bai Hanqi | Bai Luoyin's father |
| Wang Dong | Gu Weiting | Gu Hai's father |
| Liu Xiaoye | Jiang Yuan | Bai Luoyin's mother, Gu Hai's step-mother |
| Wang Yu | Gu Yang | Gu Hai's cousin |
| Lou Qing | Jin Lulu | Gu Hai's former girlfriend |
| Zhou Yutong | Shi Hui | Bai Luoyin's former girlfriend |
| No. | Song Title | Artist(s) | Composer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | If Hai Be With Yin 海若有因 |
Timmy Xu & Huang Jingyu | Timmy Xu | Opening theme song |
| 2 | Walk Slowly 慢慢走 |
Timmy Xu | Timmy Xu | Ending theme song |
| 3 | I Think 我想 |
Shuhei Nagasawa | Xiao Long Lao Si | |
| 4 | I Only Love You 我只在乎你 |
Teresa Teng | Takashi Miki | |
| 5 | Trouble I'm in | Twinbed | Nate Campany, Benjamin Romans |
Audience viewership
[edit]
On January 29, 2016, the series' first episode premiered on Tencent Video, iQIYI, and other video sites and garnered 10 million views in the span of 24 hours after its initial online release, setting the record of the highest number of views on the first day in China's streaming television history.[3][4] In less than a month, the series reached over 100 million views,[3][5] and it became the second most-watched show on iQiyi and the most-watched show on other video sites.[2][4]
The series became a viral topic on Weibo and other social platforms. The word 上瘾 (Shàngyǐn) was mentioned more than 3.9 million times on Weibo in the week of February 21 – 27, 2016,[1] and the hashtag #上阴网络剧# (Shàngyǐn web drama) was viewed over 840 million times.[3]
A Weibo user wrote about how the series was a phenomenal success:
"You have no idea how crazy it was. [...] The whole of weibo was talking about it. Everyone was watching it; everyone was talking about it."[1]
The four main actors, particularly Huang and Xu, achieved overnight stardom. Their on-screen chemistry and off-screen interactions in backstage clips gained them a large number of fans who "shipped" them as a real life romantic couple.[5]
Despite the success, on February 23, 2016, all episodes of the drama were abruptly removed from all Chinese video streaming websites (three episodes before the season finale) by the order of SAPPRFT (now NRTA) due to "the gay and explicit content" and are no longer accessible to Chinese viewers,[1][6][7][8][9] much to the series viewers' outrage.[10] The last three episodes of the first season were uploaded a few days later to the official YouTube channel of Huace Film & TV, accessible to viewers outside of mainland China.
It is an issue that is being widely discussed. The government does not want the LGBTQ community to become popular.
The censorship of the series sparked criticisms, questions, and discussions about the taboo topic of homosexuality and the acceptance of LGBT community in authoritarian mainland China.[11] Online discussions on Weibo with the hashtag "removal of Addiction" received more than 110 million views within a day of its cancellation.[2][11] American news media The Wall Street Journal and Time also published articles about the censorship.[2][12]
Matthew Baren of Shanghai Pride told Time that while its "disappointing" that Addiction has gone offline, "it’s very encouraging to see shows about homosexuality being made in China, by Chinese talents and for Chinese audiences." A Weibo user was quoted by the South China Morning Post: "Why did they take away this drama? [...] There are millions of reasons to cover their move, but the truth is that they are afraid of gay [issues]."[2] Chinese activist Li Maizi argued regarding the series' censorship: "The recent hit gay-themed Web dramas show that the LGBTQ market is broad. [...] SAPPRFT had better face up to it rather than implementing unspoken rules or using traditional values as a shield."[13]
Banning of Xu and Huang
[edit]
Despite the series' cancellation, the two main actors continued to skyrocket in popularity both individually and as a screen couple, doing interviews and magazine photoshoots together, and also continued publicly interacting and "teasing" each other on Weibo to fans' delight.[5]
However on April 17, 2016, it was revealed that the planned second season of Addicted was permanently shelved, and China has unofficially banned the two actors from appearing on television or any event together.[1][9][14] Their filmed appearances on Chinese television variety shows such as Happy Camp, Run for Time, and Avenue of Stars subsequently never aired.[1][9] On April 17, 2016, during a fan meeting in Thailand, in a brief moment when they did come together, they were quickly pulled apart by security guards.[1][5][9] It was their last public appearance together. There was no official announcement to the banning of the actors (contrary to the previous official announcement ordering the series to immediately be pulled off-air) to the puzzlement and disappointment of fans.[1] Xu stopped receiving work offers for a period of time as a repercussion of the ban.[9]
It was later revealed that SAPPRFT had released a directive that ordered all channels to cease inviting Addicted's lead actors onto their shows or to "hype" them, alongside the order to ban the series.[15]
As of April 2024, the series' episodes on Huace Film & TV YouTube channel has a total of 34 million views.[16] The series remains the most popular Boys' Love series ever made from mainland China.[17]
The series has developed an active cult following in boys' love genre fandom and casual fans since its cancellation, both locally and internationally. As of October 2020, the Weibo forum for fans of the series (especially fans of Huang and Xu as a couple) known as 双超 (shuangchao) has over 360,000 followers, most of them still being active.[1]
The term "eight-year promise" is used by the series' fans to wait for the day Huang and Xu are "able to share the stage together, to be photographed together, once more." The fans chose eight years because the couple is separated for eight years in the original novel.[5]
Taiwanese and Thai Remake
[edit]
On June 21, 2019, Ji Dan posted pictures on Weibo and responded to user's questions by saying that filming for "Addicted 2" has started in Taiwan.[18][19] It was rumored that the cast has been changed.
On July 7, 2023, a Taiwanese remake of Addicted titled Stay With Me, directed by Su You Chen and written by Ji Dan, was released. It aired on GagaOOLala and Viki International until August 12, 2023.[20]
On August 13, 2024, a Thai remake titled Addicted Heroin premiered on WeTV, starring August Vachiravit Paisarnkulwong and Mac Nattapat Nimjirawat.[21]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Fandom Navigation Part 2: Addicted, the BL webdrama that changed the face of the entertainment industry". Eight Years and Beyond. October 29, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Campbell, Charlie (February 25, 2016). "Chinese Censors Have Taken a Popular Gay Drama Offline and Viewers Aren't Happy". Time. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
- ^ a b c "网剧《上瘾》被下架引分级制热议" [Web drama "Addiction" was removed from the shelves and cited hot discussion about classification system]. app.bbtnews.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). February 25, 2016. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b Chang, Eddy (March 27, 2016). "Taipei Watcher: China's censorship on homosexuality disappoints – Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "The Addicted Webseries and the Eight-Year Promise". Eight Years and Beyond. January 1, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
- ^ "China's Censors Take Another Gay-Themed Web Drama Offline". Wall Street Journal. February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ^ "China bans depictions of gay people on television". www.theguardian.com. March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "China cracks down on Online Television". The Times of India. March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Timmy Xu Weizhou Recounts Aftermath When "Addicted" was Taken Down". 38jiejie | 三八姐姐. June 25, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ Ermac, Raffy (February 28, 2016). "Chinese TV Viewers Outraged By Sudden Cancelation of Popular Gay Drama". www.advocate.com. Archived from the original on February 29, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c 20minutos (February 24, 2016). "China retira la serie 'Adicción', con protagonistas gais y millones de seguidores". www.20minutos.es – Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved May 25, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "China's Censors Take Another Gay-Themed Web Drama Offline". Wall Street Journal. February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
- ^ Tan, Kenneth (February 24, 2016). "CENSORED: Popular online gay romcom taken down three episodes before end of first season". Shanghaiist. Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ "WATCH: The Show That Has China Banning All Gay Couples From TV". www.advocate.com. March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ Rudolph, Josh (April 4, 2016). "Minitrue: SAPPRFT Directives on Sensitive Content". China Digital Times (CDT). Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ "华策影视官方频道 China Huace TV Official Channel – YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ Gan, Nina (June 16, 2020). "Popular BL drama titles from Asia to watch | campus.sg". Campus Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ Subber, Lazy [@LazySubber] (June 28, 2019). ""we're finally start filming" // "that's not Addicted ss2, is it?" // "ss2 will be filmed in Taiwan" // Correct me if I'm wrong, I only translated from Thai // cr: BlackWhiskeypic.twitter.com/sOo1bl5Szq" (Tweet). Retrieved December 22, 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Author Confirms "Addicted 2" is Happening, Series is Filming in Taiwan". 三八姐姐. June 26, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- ^ "哥哥你别跑 (2023)". Douban.
- ^ "Thai BL Series Addicted Heroin Release Date Revealed in New Poster". Yahoo Entertainment. August 6, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.