Farang On Thai Television, Movies Etc

[katana]

Well this thai attitude has nothing to do with asia . It is an example ; NO other place on earth would repeatedly refer to all foreigners(including 'permanent residents'), as aliens, lack of english language knowledge, or what.. Now just flying back i saw a thai movie that made me cringe, which should be a must for all foreigners , who decide to settle here .

i can't remember the title properly(was too tired) but it is something like (Thai renessance), about a thai gal going 100 years into the past .. Absolute must, for all thai residents ! Also will help you to understand the attitudes, they laugh at you, because you are alien, and thus deserve different treatment, not that they'd laugh if something would happen to their relatives, or friends ..

So

Yeah I that film was on Thai TV about 2 years ago, it had english subtitles so I watched it!

This is what I remember of it.

It portrays this thai woman who single handedly (via a trusted the kings retainer) travels back time and tries to get the British and French (who are (apparently) up to no good in trying to do unfair trade agreements etc) diplomats to be wholly in the Thais favour. Basically it's very clever piece of subtle propaganda for unknowing thais who watch it.

It all culminates in the thai woman returning back to modern day Bangkok where history has gone in the favour of the English and French and a massive Eiffal tower has been built slap bang on top of bangkok! Everyones speaking french, Thais have been colonised end is nigh etc! Shock, horror etc.

Woman rushes back to Siamsville era via the time tunnel and manages to get everything fixed and back to normal.

It was made at the height of Toxins administration and is heavily nationist and paints the foreigner as a dangerous meddler ready to take over Thailand unless vigilance is used in dealing with them.

That was my take on it anyway.

There was me, another american and his thai girlfriend watching it with us. The thai girl pretty much believed that the film was real; the evil empire of farangs was defeated and Thailand is free today because of it!

Thais love the Thais

However, I have seen some thai tv dramas where the farang is portrayed as young and weathy expat who speaks thai (albeit slowly) and is a source of mystery to some of the thai girls

Nothing overt or romantic is shown but it seemed reminiscant of those characters who are in their 30s and 40s and have made their fortune and seek out travel in foreign lands.

Also I recently saw a Thai Kareoke video where one of the songs was being sung in thai by a farang, it was not dubbed and it sounded pretty good. I can't think of the artists name though

EXACTLY the movie i meant JimsKnight !! They have it now on Thai Airways business class selection ,, still not sure of what was title thou ..

The movie is I think called The Siam Renaissance (2004) or THAWI-PHOP ทวิภพ in Thai (The Twin Worlds).

(I noticed that Anna Leonowens is also portrayed in the film, as is I think Bradley, who wrote an early Thai dictionary in 1873).

Edited October 21, 2007 by katana

[Choscura]

it's a superiority complex. thais feel inferior to farangs in many cases, so they show the farangs in lower positions- or as being slow, or stupid, or useless, etc- to even things out. I can site any number of examples- anything from mattress commercials to movies (kung &lt;deleted&gt; tootsie is a recent one with a lot of this in it, if you're looking for it) to tv shows. it's kind of like the racial segregation you saw in the US back in the 60's and 70's. "stupid roles are for <insert social group here>!".

I guess the modern western equivelant is in horror movies- it's always the black guy that dies first.

[meemiathai]

I am yet to see this huge anti farang attitude that some people love to rave about. Perhaps they once met a person who was having a bad day and from that they assumed that all Thai people hate farangs?

Maybe you don't understand what people mean, when they 'moan' about anti' attitude .. IMO what pisses me off explicitly, is the total inability to integrate properly into the mainstream society, and i recon, i'm not alone in that. You see people move here, work, do business, contribute greatly to the local economy. Get married here, what in every other country would be a fast track naturalisation prosess !! Here, all you are guaranteed to get , is the middle finger ! It's not that bad, and even as i often point out to my friends, comparing Thai to EU & Malaysia where everyone's treated as equial, but the treatment is NoT upto the standard of my liking .. Guess few others, esp. those coming from UK have similar grudge ..

That also makes me add to the previous comment from meemeeathai' ; he asked me abt. HK, (he seem to stay there), Don't get me started.. is that a small island, which combines the best of british & chinese, while minimising the worst .. is that, where anyone irrespectively of their race & color may set up the shop, and in no later than 7 years be fully integrated, with all the rights,duties & priviledges of the native born honkie !! So what exactly bugs you 'meemiathai', ?!? And if you were educated on Bruce Lee movies, why don't you go a couple of years back to europe during the WW II .. Now that was discrimination (and it wasn't in asia)

Nothing is bugging me. What is bugging you?

So there was only discrimination in europe during WWII, and there is no more now?

I mentioned Bruce Lee's movies coz you were more likely to have seen them. There are plenty of movies even nowadays with chinese beating the crap out of farangs. So to say it is only in thailand is wrong.

BTW, which dialect of chinese do you speak? I speak cantonese.

[meemiathai]

it's a superiority complex. thais feel inferior to farangs in many cases, so they show the farangs in lower positions- or as being slow, or stupid, or useless, etc- to even things out. I can site any number of examples- anything from mattress commercials to movies (kung &lt;deleted&gt; tootsie is a recent one with a lot of this in it, if you're looking for it) to tv shows. it's kind of like the racial segregation you saw in the US back in the 60's and 70's. "stupid roles are for <insert social group here>!".

I guess the modern western equivelant is in horror movies- it's always the black guy that dies first.

You could be right in some of the cases, I think.

BTW, has anyone seen any farang movies where Asian men bed farang women?

Is that racial discrimination?

Edited October 21, 2007 by meemiathai

[WAERTH]

it's a superiority complex. thais feel inferior to farangs in many cases, so they show the farangs in lower positions- or as being slow, or stupid, or useless, etc- to even things out. I can site any number of examples- anything from mattress commercials to movies (kung &lt;deleted&gt; tootsie is a recent one with a lot of this in it, if you're looking for it) to tv shows. it's kind of like the racial segregation you saw in the US back in the 60's and 70's. "stupid roles are for <insert social group here>!".

I guess the modern western equivelant is in horror movies- it's always the black guy that dies first.

Believe me it is changing, slowly but surely. Most Thai actors that I work with, respect me, call me by my name (instead of farang) ... I actually have a Thai nickname as they always seem to pronounce my name wrongly. I also get respect from a couple of directors that I have worked with.

You see to get respect, you got to respect the other party. They see that I try to speak Thai as good as possible and that I am interested in learning from them. They see that I am not trying to be above them. They see I am not trying to be the wiseguy. In return they often ask me questions about how would a foreigner think about this/that etc. I have had interesting talks with many people in the industry, them learning from me, I learning from them.

This year I had a nice part in another sitcom in September (forgot the name, but it is on Channel 3 on 10.30 in the morning on sundays) I played a foreigner who moved into a Thai neighbourhood who speaks good Thai. I befriend some people in the neighbourhood and one day I go out to buy food. The guy at the foodstand wants to charge me 20 baht but than his friends who think I do not speak Thai try to charge me a 100 baht. I then ask for the policeman to come and that I want to press charges for cheating. The guy ends up giving me an apology and the other Thai people I had befriended earlier in the episode scold him for trying to cheat me because I am a foreigner. Because it is bad to cheat on anyone.

Morale of that episode was: Treat everyone good no matter where they come from.

Both the scriptwriter and the director hate it that foreigners get cheated (they are 100% Thai no leukkrungs) and they try to use the series they make (mostly comedy) to send these kind of messages out to the population! Good on them! I really like these guys because they have actually managed to creat succesfull Thai Sitcoms which combines a message with a good time which makes it easier for the audience to absorb this.

Really things are changing especially amongst the younger generations in Bangkok imho. It will take time and we are probably to early to benefit from it. But guys like myself and the other actors who try and make it on Thai tv we are also working hard to change the perception Thais have of us. I do not know about the others in this thread who play on thai tv and in movies but I always try to go to charities if I get a chance, simply to show that we also like to help.

Waerth

[simon43]

Damien - your haircut IS very gay, maybe you need to change it ...

Simon

[DamianMavis]

Damien - your haircut IS very gay, maybe you need to change it ...

Simon

Well truthfully it changes fairly often, as does my beard style and hair colour.... that is showbiz. If you saw me in my costume today...... there would be no doubt I was gay. I looked like a gay Ultraman. BUT not nearly as gay looking as my costars wearing tiny plastic shorts riding up his butt and big shiny gloves and booties and thats it! And we are supposed to look like fighters from the future heh.... more like gay parade dancers from last year.

WAERTH, that sounds like a nice director and script writer.

Damian Mavis

Edited October 21, 2007 by DamianMavis

[WAERTH]

WAERTH, that sounds like a nice director and script writer.

Damian Mavis

Yes he is, same like mr Noi the guy who is co-producing the movie you are in ..... I had a good time with him on the set of Look Talok.

Waerth

[DamianMavis]

Pi Noi was the director too! Waerth if you want to see some photos from the shoot they are up on my facebook album.

Damian Mavis

Edited October 21, 2007 by DamianMavis

[KuamRakWahn]

I live in the UK with my Thai partner of 5 years. She likes to watch Thai soaps on Vcd. Sometimes if I don't have anything to do, I watch them too. Here in the UK the "token black" is a common theme on British Television. I can't help but notice how, especially in "Hi - So" soaps, Farang are almost always placed in a socially inferior position. One paticular show, based around the lives of a rich Bangkok family, had the farang as a Butler being ordered around by everybody, another working in the stables, tending to the horses another maintaining the garden etc. Am I correct in my observations? I think it's hilarious

I agree with the OP (it's hilarious)! To explain, I would make the following two observations:

(1) We all like to see the underdog come out on top once in a while. Especially if we identify with the underdog. This also partly explains why farang may elsewhere be played as being stupid & goofy (the other part of the explanation being that it's really the way we are, at least when we're bumbling around in Thaialnd with half a clue )

(2) Having a farang in that kind of position is the opposite of what people would normally expect. I'm sure we've all seen countless examples on TV, movies, art, music, etc. where this is done to great effect. Just for the sake of making an example, take the movie Mr. Mom, where the wife goes out to work and the husband stays home to look after the kids. Now imagine if it were "Mrs. Mom". Would that hardly be as funny? So the creators of the Thai soap opera are deliberately using the absurdity of the inverted situation to entertain.

[Rinrada]

Had mate who was dragged in off the streets about 10 plus years ago to play the title of Dr Bill in some Thai TV comedy...think was called summit like Rak A Rak a Ran.

He was moonlighting at the time as a "teacher" and was a bit worried ... but was OK,,..also purely by co-incidence he had in earlier times worked at the Hammersmith Hospital,London as a pox doctors clerk so had no prob with the roll.

Recons he did it a couple of times and got the opportunity to examine some Thai starlets legs (in the soap)but really he only got the part because of his "star quality"....western/white,fifty,fat and going bald...but hey thats show biz..init..

[JetsetBkk]

he only got the part because of his "star quality"....western/white,fifty,fat and going bald...but hey thats show biz..init..

Dam.n! I could've done that!

[KhaoNiaw]

I was on a Thai game show several years ago.

I really didn't want to make an idiot of myself and get knocked out in the first round. Happily I made it through and then put up a spirited showing, only to go down 2 points to 1 in the next round. I was treated just like all the other contestants but can speak decent Thai - I made a couple of very good friends through the experience too.

Edited October 22, 2007 by KhaoNiaw

[DamianMavis]

That sounds like it would have been alot of fun.

Damian Mavis