The first gay romance drama series in Aotearoa has been inspired by a popular trend from Japan that is gaining worldwide recognition and popularity.
Ships in the Night is an innovative TikTok series by Māori writer-director K-Ci Williams (Ngāti Tamaterā). The series revolves around a Chinese-Māori couple and explores their unique relationship.
Known as BL drama (boys' love) and bringing two cultures together is seen as a major milestone for representation in media.
“As a queer Māori person growing up here but somewhat estranged from my culture, I felt more represented by these stories from Asia than I have from anything that's been made here. And so I wanted to marry those two together and make my dreams come true basically,” Wiliams says.
Williams, who both wrote and directed Ships in the Night, says he created this series for himself, the inner boy who would have loved to have seen these stories 10 to 15 years ago.
BL in te reo?
“There was no world in which I wouldn't be able to create a BL that didn't have an Asian co-lead," he says. "Of course, I'm bringing my own culture into it with Manaaki, who is Māori. But Johnny is an Asian character because it's my way of paying tribute to all of the shows that have fed me and made me feel seen and made me believe in love as a queer person.”
With the success of this series, Williams hopes to create a BL Māori drama totally in the Māori language.
“The challenge for me is being content with where I am at my position in Te Ao Māori and understanding that, with each new project that I make, the representation of Māori and the representation of my Māoriness personally will grow significantly with those shows and, hopefully, one day down the line we're seeing a boys' love Māori show that is in te reo Māori.”
Ships in the Night is a series of 15 one-minute-long episodes that premiered on TikTok last week, giving the audience a flavour of Aotearoa and the Māori culture but also serving the New Zealand audience.
“The feedback since the show launched has been phenomenal. We are of course still finding our audience. Using a platform like TikTok has its challenges but it also has so many rich rewards.”
Williams cannot wait to release the five other stories he has brewing but hopes this will resonate with the national audience for now.