Chicken Or The Egg... Thai Tv

[McMagus]

Every country has soap operas...most are harmless and run their course. However most countries also have TV programmes that educate, challenge, open viewer horizons etc. This balance is sorely lacking. Here, the quality that is offered is truly of the most mediocre level. I don't need to describe the awful pap that masquerades as entertainment.

So my questions: Are these programmes produced because that is what the viewing public want or, are they produced to reinforce the class structure. Alternatively, are they really just taking the piss out of the hi so's but in a way we farangs don't recognise? I know there are intelligent, thinking Thais out there, but I can't believe they all sit down and enjoy the bitch from hell mother screaming at the maid etc., etc., etc.

Just wondering.

[stoneyboy]

I wouldn't know what programmes you talk of I'm afraid,I only watch English language television.

I guess I'm not missing much from the description in your opening post.

Can't stop to chat I'm watching the Eastenders omnibus.

[noob7]

" Are these programmes produced because that is what the viewing public want or, are they produced to reinforce the class structure."

Because this 'soaps' are cheap, but everybody likes, the adds are expensive.

Like in the rest of the world, they need to 'bring' money!

"However most countries also have TV programmes that educate, challenge, open viewer horizons etc."

Thailand is clearly not one of the 'most' countries!

Edited November 23, 2012 by noob7

[Semper]

are they produced to reinforce the class structure

Take a wild guess.

[yourauntbob]

The shows are helping lower Thai intelligence on the whole. Not sure about the chicken or egg, but the shows are designed in a way that there is absolutely no thinking involved when watching. In western sitcoms/drama's etc shows generally leave a few dots that need to be connected (not that they are all that intellectually stimulating), but here in Thailand they spell everything out in ridiculous monologues. This may not seem all that important, but if you watch a western show with a Thai person even with subtitles (or if they know English) it has been my experience they will be utterly confused. For a long time my g/f would continually look at me and ask "what that mean?" or "what just happened" etc when watching American television (with proper subtitles).

Recently in my class I was showing western TV ads to my students and asking them their thoughts. Note: International school and most of my students can speak English quite well but they still had trouble following logical conclusions because they were not spelled out explicitly. In fact, some of my students took the commercials home and had their parent watch them (most of whom also speak English, and some commercials required very little English language) and their parents had trouble connecting the dots as well. Example of one some had trouble with (

).

Thai schools need to start teaching critical thinking skills or Thailand will never emerge to its potential. (note: I have 1 period per week dedicated to critical thinking for all my classes)

[noob7]

Thai schools need to start teaching critical thinking skills or Thailand will never emerge to its potential. (note: I have 1 period per week dedicated to critical thinking for all my classes)

The typical solution:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/600044-a-e-c-launch-delayed-a-year/

And another year, and another, and....

[krisb]

Theres news on Thai telly.

Its not all lakhorn.

[phutoie2]

I wouldn't know what programmes you talk of I'm afraid,I only watch English language television.

I guess I'm not missing much from the description in your opening post.

Can't stop to chat I'm watching the Eastenders omnibus.

Your missing out mate!, there's some hot babes on those soaps. I used to like the ones with the farang as the bad guy, there was one a few years back where the bloke spoke pretty good Thai but they still had Thai subtitles. No one ever seems to sweat or get dirty in a Thai soap and far too much product placement too.

[KED]

The Thai movie industry is pretty much the same. Very little quality.

[Riley'sLife]

In catholic countries the church which is aligned with the State, has methods of entertaining the masses (religious festivals) and retaining their adherence to the faith which keeps the minds of the general populace focused upon retarded trivia, rather than critical thought.

Here, the power base has the same motive, but uses a different faith's festivals and fills the gaps with television as the retarded trivia. All very sad in my view.

My wife, a highly educated and well traveled, intelligent lady with her own views constantly amazes me by watching her TV "series", as she calls them. The mixture of Shakespearean asides employed along with pantomimic over-acting and make-up, and childish sound effects makes me cringe.

Often if I am working on my laptop and some idiotic scene catches my eye, I glance at my wife- and in my mind I think our eyes will meet and we will give each other a knowing nod and a smile, you know the one that says "yeah" to each other. Ha, it never happens. She is transfixed and is "living" the action on the TV, her face expresses emotions which mirror the TV action. She is lost to me!! I tease her about this, which she takes in good humour, but it is the one area of our life together where we are, in fact, apart.

[McMagus]

I noticed today in the Thai News thread an article from the Nation about a popular soapie, written as though they were giving a critique to some important piece of work. A couple of interesting comments here, particularly from yourauntbob and the seemingly difficult task of 'joining the dots'. An American researcher called Ned Herman came up with a test called the 'Brain Dominance Test' which, basically measured 4 aspects of thinking style...Creative; Feeling; Organisational; Analytical.... I am given to understand that some of his results showed bias towards racial characteristics but were never published fully owing to 'political correctness' at the time. Just thinking.

[pattayadingo]

DLTV seems mostly educational with language and mathematics amongst other programmes they show. About 15 or so DLTV channels?

[HeijoshinCool]

All TV in all countries is designed to serve three purposes:

Dull the minds of those who watch it; control the masses; generate income for the others

[giddyup]

My Thai lady hates Thai TV with a vengeance, the only Thai programme she will watch is the news. The majority of Thai channels seems to be devoted almost entirely to advertising, like three women sitting on chairs discussing skin whitening, or diet supplements etc, and their comedy is downright embarrasing. If you are obese and ugly you are almost guaranteed a role in a Thai comedy.

[manly100]

There does seem to be a disconnect between what mature Thais and mature westerners consider entertaining telly. When I hear my wife laughing at what must be a witty and well thought out TV show I take a look, only to discover a children’s show made for adults even with horn and bell sounds. I just put it down to “keep it simple and thus cheap” TV business model. It must do some brain damage after prolonged exposure.

[thaibeachlovers]

In my limited experience < because that is what the viewing public want > is the correct answer.

[antpet]

There are numerous examples of the quality of thai movies, they are particularly good at horror, the adverts are witty and original and Thai creativity at its best is unquestioned.

The problem with soaps, no matter what the country is that they are pure exaggerated trash.

The Thai examples are purely a culturally removed difficult to understand cheaply produced example. It is a reflection of the audience that the technical side of a production does not concern itself with realistic lighting, continuity is not existant, make-up can be of the pantomime variety and the acting itself is woeful.

I have been her a long time an dremember when there were no drama schools in Thailand. that is, no where to learn how to act. If more recently they have in fact materialised then I would suggest they are rubbish at what they do. There is no sign of adequate numbers of talented actors appearing.

It is trash. It is Thailand. It is 'mai pen rai' about whether you're going to have agood TV programme or a death in the family.

They simply don't care - about anything.

[rijb]

All TV in all countries is designed to serve three purposes:

Dull the minds of those who watch it; control the masses; generate income for the others

The first two are a means to number three. Just like politics.

[thaibeachlovers]

All TV in all countries is designed to serve three purposes:

Dull the minds of those who watch it; control the masses; generate income for the others

The first two are a means to number three. Just like politics.

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago, that tv was developed as a means of delivering advertising to the public, not because it is benficial or educational.

Certainly, my life was significantly better before tv became commonplace or when it wasn't available to view, as I actually went out and did real stuff. Unfortunately, tv is addictive. Currently, I couldn't live without CSI, LOL.

[Rancid]

Seems to me some members have forgotten about the utter crap served up on western TV. Yes, of course useless Thai TV lowers the intellect, but ah, the west has been doing that for generations. Ties in with the modern version of bread and circuses from Rome, keep the public focused on frivolities so they won't notice the political and economic decline and rampant fraud going on around them. Hey, the national debt is now at the stage where it is unrepayable but who could care less about that, tonight is American Idol night! Escapism and reality denial for the clinicaly brain dead, collect welfare tomorrow and retune in.

[hookedondhamma]

As for Thai tv, the news is ok for me at least. When I was learning how to speak and understand Thai I found the 'historical' lakorns more appealing to the ears. PBS also had (been a while since I have watched it) great documentaries, too.

[MAJIC]

Seems to me that Thai soaps are mainly constructed of 40% violence and aggression. Followed by the Hisos lording it over the poor,and showing off their expensive houses,cars and possessions,the message seems to be"You can look,but you will never get"

[pistachios]

The shows are helping lower Thai intelligence on the whole. Not sure about the chicken or egg, but the shows are designed in a way that there is absolutely no thinking involved when watching. In western sitcoms/drama's etc shows generally leave a few dots that need to be connected (not that they are all that intellectually stimulating), but here in Thailand they spell everything out in ridiculous monologues. This may not seem all that important, but if you watch a western show with a Thai person even with subtitles (or if they know English) it has been my experience they will be utterly confused. For a long time my g/f would continually look at me and ask "what that mean?" or "what just happened" etc when watching American television (with proper subtitles).

Recently in my class I was showing western TV ads to my students and asking them their thoughts. Note: International school and most of my students can speak English quite well but they still had trouble following logical conclusions because they were not spelled out explicitly. In fact, some of my students took the commercials home and had their parent watch them (most of whom also speak English, and some commercials required very little English language) and their parents had trouble connecting the dots as well. Example of one some had trouble with (

).

Thai schools need to start teaching critical thinking skills or Thailand will never emerge to its potential. (note: I have 1 period per week dedicated to critical thinking for all my classes)

Interesting. I watch a lot of US series or movies (subtiltled) with my girlfriend, and sometimes i feel she is completely lost. At first I thought it was a language issue, she is pretty good at conversational english but her reading and writing skills not that great. As I'm not a native speaker I try to pause and explain what's going on when I have the feeling it is difficult to understand, only to discover very often she doesn't get the plot at all!

The other day we were watching a very stupid serie for teenagers (Arrow).

- Billionaire guy goes to visit a girl he likes at her work and ask her if she wants to hop on his private plane to get some romantic dinner somewhere.

- She answers that she is not in the mood, her company lost a big investor and she's afraid all her hard work would be lost.

- Guy doesn't understand the rejection and ask advice from a female friend who tells him he's got to become involved in what's important to her.

- Guy seems happy with the advice, and next scene, he's back at the office telling the girl he's going to help her raise money for her company and they start working together...

I insert a sarcastic comment about how retarded is the guy for not figuring that out by himself, and then my girlfriend ask me why do I say that? What's going on?

My girlfriend is pretty smart and witty but during those kind of moments I can't help looking down on her and thinking "how can you NOT understand?"

As you say, maybe it's because she never had the training to connect the dots. Maybe in a similar thai serie, the guy would have needed a 5 minutes monologue to explain his thought process to the audience "hmmm that seems a good advice... what is important to her? Hmm i guess her work. Oh yeah, she just told me she had problems with her company... maybe I should help her this way. Yes I'm gonna do that"

Another point, she often complains I like to watch "serious" shows. I usually answer I only like interesting and original stories, and that even though action an comedies are fun to watch, the most interesting stories are usually made for "serious" shows. She tells me she watches tv to rest her brain, usually after a long day of work, "don't have to be so serious when watching tv". So I guess the few analytical capabilities of her brain are automatically switched off as soon as she turns on the TV...