Thailand's Luk Kreungs

[Heng]

There's definitely a lot of Leuk Kreungs in the media here but how much power do they really have.

Zilch. In general they are meat for the machine. It's hardly an industry one would want their children in.

[petercool]

Generally speaking I dislike generalisms and this forum is full of them ... but being serious, I have two delightful grown up half Thai/half Brit daughters and feel qualified to speak. One has become a very well known model, actress, TV personality and the other not. The reason the one who became a star was that at a very early age she was felt to be photogenic and 100% Thai at that time despite her surname !!!. Later, speaking a few languages including Thai was beneficial in the industry you seem to poo-hoo as was her generally better educational background. She is now known by all to be half Thai but that had less to do with anything than working hard. The other daughter has a career in the UK where she is thought to be 100% British. Go figure.

[TBWG]

Luk Kruengs are a mixed blessing.

Very good bb

:D

TBWG

[gampaan]

Luk Kruengs are a mixed blessing.

Ditto, from the father of one.

[farang prince]

only very few leuk krung can make it to TV, only the ones with talent compare with the number of leuk krung in thailand...

Rubbish, seems to me most people on TV in Thailand are there for looks not talent.

And you are a television critic with which media outlet....?

[KhaoNiaw]

The reason the one who became a star was that at a very early age she was felt to be photogenic and 100% Thai at that time despite her surname !!!.

I think this is the heart of it. Photogenic and Thai.

The look shouldn't be too western - the kids on TV are the ones considered to be goodlooking from a Thai persective. They also have to be identifiably Thai. If they come across as very westernized kids, they're not likely to succeed.

[qualtrough]

Thais are unique in that many of them prefer a different skin color. This is so different from the situation in the West.

[halfkid]

Thais are unique in that many of them prefer a different skin color. This is so different from the situation in the West.

Yea but although people in the west tan themselves, they don't do it to look more "non-white". Unlike the Thais who make themselves look more like white people because they think white people look better than Thais.

[steveromagnino]

Thais are unique in that many of them prefer a different skin color. This is so different from the situation in the West.

Yea but although people in the west tan themselves, they don't do it to look more "non-white". Unlike the Thais who make themselves look more like white people because they think white people look better than Thais.

This is a fairly naive view. Chinese, Japanese, Thais - all share the view that sunburnt dark skin is a sign of working class. As a skin tan in the west is a sign of having been rich enough to fly abroad to the tropics for a tan.

Nothing to do with trying to look white; everything to do with looking rich.

And the upper class Thai Chinese influence reinforces that.

For someone claiming to be 1/2 Thai, you seem to have DJ Pat as your role model - good luck with that

Edited July 27, 2007 by steveromagnino

[Neeranam]

And the upper class Thai Chinese

That's an oxymoron, isn't it?

[WaiWai]

People everywhere set up ideals of beauty (for male & female & anything else one might wish to identify as) in part according to the degree of difficulty in attaining the "desirable" attributes. Thus, pale folk desire tans and dark folk desire pallor, simply because it is what they are not. People with big noses pay to have them reduced in the West and people with small noses pay to have them enlarged in Asia. In many poor countries and societies it is/was desirable to be fat because food was scarce. We all see the unfashionably plump or decidely overweight children or grandchildren of parents and grandparents with this mindset here. Thin or normal weight became so seemingly difficult to attain in affluent socities that thin was the yearned-for ideal. Thin is still undesirable in many parts of Africa - guess why . These norms can change rather suddenly under certain circumstances - HIV/AIDS helped make super-thin far less attractive than "toned" in richer societies, along with an awareness of the eating disorders that accompanied the "thin is better" vogue.

The rich/poor indicators of skin colour, weight, height can combine with the above in completely unrealistic, self-defying ways.

On the whole, it seems the world is trying to "normalise" itself to "Western" standards (often, purely as seen in Hollywood films or TV series like "Friends" ). That does concern me.

However, at the same time, I see people from all over the world increasingly mixing, marrying and having kids. The ease with which this can happen may be the single best & most important event of our time.

sorry, became a bit deep there ! . Hope some of you can follow my poorly described train of thought.

Edited July 27, 2007 by WaiWai

[theseveredhead]

all the bar girls want to have a mixed kid. im certian some of the reason is th echild support but the euro-thai kids are often quite cute.

for whatever reason i do not think usa-asian mix looks so good. the caucasian features are too pronounced. some of the little girls are adorable and yesterday i saw a little boy with his mom - he was a very handsome lad and sure lady killer when he gets a bit older.

everyone, everywhere worship white skin - get over it. for myself, i am not at all attracted to dark skinned women by and large. sometime its sexy, usually it just screams - peasant. which is precisely why all the whitener, etc... is sold in abundance these days. also... dont be so hard on the thai chicks - pinay's have been scrubbing themselves white for decades.

people in the west bronze themselves for the exact reasons asians do not - it 'shows' affluence (time not toiling under a roof).

Edited July 28, 2007 by theseveredhead