Time to get 'jealous girls' off screen

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL
Time to get 'jealous girls' off screen
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Television soaps have clung to damaging cliches far too long

Anyone who admires art is loath to tell an artist what to do, no matter how irksome his art might have become. But there's a particularly aggravating example in television content that demands change. Many of the dramas (read soap operas) on prime-time Thai television remain mired in cliches that were surely a part of their success formulas two decades ago but are now grossly out of date and offensive to modern sensibilities.

We're speaking specifically about, first, the characters known as nang itcha - the "jealous gals" - whose role invariably involves seducing the hero and otherwise placing obstacles in the career and romantic path of the heroines. And, secondly, those effeminate male characters who do nothing but act ridiculously in a bid to generate giggles have got to go.

The horrendous rape and murder of a teenage girl on a train this month served to revive debate about male chauvinism in Thailand. Certainly our soap operas tend to make rape acceptable - the hero often rapes the heroine, as if to demonstrate his power and superiority, before becoming contrite and being forgiven. At the same time, any woman who seduces the hero is clearly depicted as a vile creature. The soap-opera industry thrives on such cliches, much to the dismay of women's-rights activists at home and abroad.

It's probably also time to do away with the nang itcha too. Their chief function is to get the audience on the heroine's side and eager to see vengeance enacted. "Today is payback day for nasty Lek," the fans titter to one another, meaning the villainess is going to get beaten up or sexually abused - possibly even killed.

The effeminate (read gay or katoey) male characters are almost completely harmless in these series, of course, but usually portrayed as stupid and sometimes sexually frustrated. They're "good guys", but the role such characters play in these plot lines is not. It's time to rethink the depiction of homosexuality as comic relief.

To be sure, our soap operas and our movies have made positive progress over the years. There aren't as many nang itcha these days as there were a decade or two ago, and the characters in general are more complex and better imagined. Nevertheless, not a day goes by without the shriek of a jealous gal on TV. The cliches are being toned down - just not quickly enough for our liking.

While this nonsense is allowed to continue, succeeding generations of young viewers are getting the message that only men are allowed to initiate sex and can do so with impunity. Children learn that women who attempt to do so will be punished as immoral, and that effeminate men are merely clowns with nothing beneath the surface, easily discarded or ignored.

It will be argued, yet again, that the producers of the soap operas are only giving us what we want to see. And some directors have yearned to try something fresh, but point out that the advertising money follows the cliches. If the sponsors want nang itcha, that's what their money buys.

The buck, of course, stops with the artists, who are the trendsetters. Art and money, as we all know, can go in opposite directions, but at the end of the day it's always the matter of who blinks first.

Over the decades, there's never been any doubt about who was pulling the strings, which leaves only one question: Do artists have the will to change the status quo?

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Time-to-get-jealous-girls-off-screen-30238877.html

-- The Nation 2014-07-19

[Payboy]

Time to get 'jealous girls' off screen

About time, but where? I fancy a couple of them myself.

[chooka]

Every Thai soap use exactly the same script that has been around for decades. Surely they are not expecting the writers to create new scripts Plagiarism has worked fine for years. What could they possibly find to write about if they can't use filthy rich brats, screaming women, ghosts and a few guns. Is there anything else to life?

[Thailand]

I think this should be priority number one for the Junta, things need to change- now!

[dahinni]

Is about time to get rid of this embarrassing Stone edge soaps

[kurnell]

These soaps have an endless stream of moronic admirers replenished every time there is a birth in Thailand.

[apetley]

Every Thai soap use exactly the same script that has been around for decades. Surely they are not expecting the writers to create new scripts Plagiarism has worked fine for years. What could they possibly find to write about if they can't use filthy rich brats, screaming women, ghosts and a few guns. Is there anything else to life?

Elephants?

[Thaddeus]

Is about time to get rid of this embarrassing Stone edge soaps

Sponge is less painful, a decade of that before they can handle pumice.

[Chris Lawrence]

The junta are currently reviewing 'Neighbours' as a primary soap replacement. If this doesn't work they will fall back to 'Home and Away' or 'Prisoner'.

[jaltsc]

"Television soaps have clung to damaging cliches far too long."

Most viewers think of this as reality TV. If the shows revolved around plots with intelligent women not obsessed with fashion and whiter skin, men who are sober and don't cheat, happy and stable families, they would be dismissed as pure fiction and lose most of their viewership .

Edited July 19, 2014 by jaltsc

[tx22cb]

TV soap is escapism for the masses - apparently this formula is popular, so it's replicated.

We have similar examples - CSI/CSI NY/CSI Miami, NCIS xxx.

The Soap does not have to be realistic nor is it supposed to be a documentary.

[spidermike007]

These soaps may be a form of escapism, but they certainly do not portray any sort of noble qualities. I suppose soaps on the US are just as bad. The most offensive part of these soaps is the portrayal of all rich people as milky white. It is not possible to have wealth nor power, if not white as Casper the ghost. That is pretty sickening. It reinforces the stereotypes, and encourages self loathing amongst the darker masses. It promotes whitening cream, which has been proven to be carcinogenic, and women seem to use out of desperation, to try to lighten their gorgeous brown skin. The women portrayed on these soaps are rather pathetic, money grubbing, power hungry, mega jealous freaks of mature. The men are horrific examples of a man. It is popular contemporary culture, so what is anyone going to do about it? Nothing, one must assume.

Spidermike

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[Gsxrnz]

I can live with the repetitious plots.

I can live with the effeminate blokes poncing around.

I can live with the constant fighting and guns.

But.....PLEASE get rid of the dubbed cartoon sound effects, they drive me to utter distraction!!!!

[JeremyBowskill]

Every Thai soap use exactly the same script that has been around for decades. Surely they are not expecting the writers to create new scripts Plagiarism has worked fine for years. What could they possibly find to write about if they can't use filthy rich brats, screaming women, ghosts and a few guns. Is there anything else to life?

Was going to comment Chooka, but it seems you have already nailed it, spot on!

[Mosha]

Just think someone actually wanted to export them around ASEAN as an example of Thainess.

[Oziex1]

The junta are currently reviewing 'Neighbours' as a primary soap replacement. If this doesn't work they will fall back to 'Home and Away' or 'Prisoner'.

TV viewing for the truly advanced society.

[Oziex1]

''Homosexuality as comic relief''

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[daveAustin]

Time to get Thai TV off the screen!

[PatOngo]

Changing the plot will surely make it too difficult for the locals to grasp.

[sabian]

I'm in agreement completely here, too be honest the constant screaming and crying drives me crazy, now if she wants to watch it she goes upstairs. I mentioned this negative projection of "Thainess" to my wife, but no answer, to me it's the increasing reliance on physical violence and weapons to achieve that dramatic moment which I find most worrying. This should be addressed by the present leaders before it just becomes an acceptance of everyday life. You want to play with guns go join the military or security forces. They don't have any place in the average person’s daily life.

[klauskunkel]

Anyone who admires art is loath to tell an artist what to do

The buck, of course, stops with the artists

Do artists have the will to change the status quo?

Art? Artists? There is no creative process whatsoever involved in churning out mass produced soap operas based on the same formula.

I agree that these soaps are incredibly immature, but they are designed for the Thai mass audience and I'm not sure they have changed/matured significantly in the last 30 years...The consumer's taste has to change first before the product is changed accordingly.

Edited July 19, 2014 by klauskunkel

[hobz]

agree with all above, just want to add that people also wants someone to look down upon, to feel better about themselves. thus the horrible characters.

[Gsxrnz]

Changing the plot will surely make it too difficult for the locals to grasp.

Not if they leave the cartoon sound effects in.

[ggt]

Artists have a reputation of being: those effeminate male characters who do nothing but act ridiculously.

IMO...they are not acting at all...just being paid to be themselves...

[Artisi]

Another slow news day for the Nation.

[thaidel48]

Thing is if they change the plot they might have to find some people that can actually act.

[scorecard]

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Every Thai soap use exactly the same script that has been around for decades. Surely they are not expecting the writers to create new scripts Plagiarism has worked fine for years. What could they possibly find to write about if they can't use filthy rich brats, screaming women, ghosts and a few guns. Is there anything else to life?

Well at least you didn't claim they should be lynched without trial.

[TTom911]

I am afraid it reflects, in MANY more ways than one, the fabric of Thai society...

See what "dramas" are produced AND consumed, see how Thai drive and ride on the roads and you will learn A LOT about Thailand...

Edited July 19, 2014 by TTom911

[Lupatria]

The principle of "panem et circenses" works well for centuries. Give 'em bread and games and keep them uninformed and stupid. Isn't that the intention behind all this crap?

[Bung]

Is will be hard to change. Pass any shack with an antenna in Thailand and peer inside. You will see the whole family glued to the screen every day.

Add to the fact the production team, writers etc are talentless and rely on churning out the same story year after year, they haven't a hope of going away and coming up with something original. Viewers here will not be prepared to have to sit down for days to await a climatic scenario, no. They want screaming Kathoeys running around in circles and bitches getting their comeuppance daily.

The soap that delivers as close to that formula that they dare will be the winners.