The world is complex, divided by generations and full of diverse dreams, ideas, relationships and socioeconomic situations. Although there are barriers between us–language, time zones, territorial boundaries–there is something much bigger than all of this that brings us together: humanity. We are all human. We are all emotional. We are all struggling to survive on the same planet.

And one such way to display this is on film.

The currently airing Thai BL Moonlight Chicken does just that by panning into the lives of some of these people, giving viewers a varied look inside a corner of our world.

And it’s relatable.

From the color grade to the cinematography, there’s a seductive quality to the filming style that feels classic, giving Moonlight Chicken a nostalgic touch, as if it’s reminiscing about itself. And inside this nostalgia is an ever-present thread of longing and an underlying pang of loneliness. From the dialogue to the sex, the yearning and solitude translate well on screen.

And much of this has to do with Moonlight’s primary focus on life first–finances, the future, expectations–and romance second. While romance is beautiful, it’s much more captivating on screen when there’s an in-depth story to give it the foundation to be great.

Starring a plethora of GMMTV stars–Earth Pirapat, Mix Sahaphap, Khaotung Thanawat, First Kanaphan, Gemini Norawit, Fourth Nattawat, Mark Pakin, and View Benyapa–Moonlight Chicken delves into the relationship between a struggling chicken rice seller, Jim, and his one night stand with a customer, Wen. This segways into a bigger focus on the people connected to each of them and the lives they lead.

Jim lives in a working-class world of people struggling to make ends meet. Wen comes from a privileged world where emotions are high, but the struggle to survive doesn’t play as heavy a role in the relationships.

Jim and Wen bring these two worlds together in a character-driven narrative.

One of the most vivid ways Moonlight Chicken does this is through Jim’s nephew, Li Ming, a rebellious but compassionate teenager with big dreams but no way to make them happen. He wants to travel abroad and see the world but feels tied down by expectations. This fight against expectation causes him to lash out and speak his truth even in situations where he holds little power, such as his run-in with a wealthy deaf boy, Heart.

Heart is quite literally the heart of Moonlight Chicken. Although he’s a secondary character, he embodies everything this series is trying to convey. Not only is his deafness giving the deaf community representation on screen, his hearing impairment also has a larger symbolic purpose. Heart lives inside a world of privilege and silence, the son of powerful parents who hide him away after he becomes deaf. They don’t attempt to understand him. Rather than learning sign language, they scribble messages on notepads. Rather than concern themselves with his life, struggles, and dreams, they lock him away from their honeyed existence.

And that’s precisely what existing feels like. For most of us, no matter our economic situation, we feel like we’re not being heard. We’re hidden away and lost inside a world driven by power. Inside a world that doesn’t try to understand us.

This brings me back to Li Ming and expectations. Li Ming has a dream, but it’s swallowed by the idea that success can only happen if a person is well-educated and well-spoken. In a world that thrives off its education systems and the push to study more, we’ve lost the reality that it isn’t what we know but how hard we work that results in success. Those who excel at labor jobs are frowned upon by men and women in suits sitting behind desks with framed degrees hanging on their walls.

And that’s sad.

Studying is often viewed as the only way to succeed in life. It isn’t. Some people choose to further their education. Some don’t. It doesn’t make those who choose not to less than or less intelligent. Nor does it limit the chance for success. An architect may have the knowledge needed to design a structure, but he still needs someone to build it.

We need to quit frowning at the people who make what we dream possible, the ones who get their hands dirty to create the vision—the ones who are paid less despite being an integral part of the whole.

Every story inside Moonlight Chicken, from Praew and Leng’s pregnancy to Gaipa’s relationship with his mother to Li Ming’s dreams and Heart’s hidden disability to Jim and Wen’s differing struggles, is relevant to a more significant whole.

We all need to be heard. We all need to be listened to. We all need to be allowed to make choices for ourselves. We all need to work better at understanding each other.

Dreams feel like elusive things because we’ve turned them into elusive things. The only barriers to making them happen are ourselves and each other.

Romance feels like a larger-than-life thing we may never find because we’ve made it something we’re both afraid to find and afraid not to. We’ve given love boundaries that shouldn’t be there. Love shouldn’t be divided by sex, race, or status. It should simply be. We are all lonely inside a spinning planet where finding someone we can share this world with makes us feel less hopeless. Who we choose to share it with is our own choice and shouldn’t be limited by discrimination.

It’s brilliant how a series about a chicken seller and his one-night stand can convey so much. It isn’t a perfect series. There are flaws. It could be longer. More could be fleshed out. The audio could be better in places. But all of this pales in comparison to the story it’s telling and the passion of the actors presenting it.

Dramas and films are like any other art. Sometimes it takes standing in front of it and looking at it long enough to see beneath the surface. No viewer will always see the same thing. We all take something different from each drama we watch. We all relate to it differently depending on experience.

And that’s how art should be.

For a series focusing first on life and then on romance, check out Moonlight Chicken on the GMMTV YouTube Channel.

This article is a joint collaboration between The BL Xpress and Psycho Weird. You can read their thoughts on this show on their website. Join us, as we contemplate on the similarities and differences in our thought process!