Thai Soaps..... Class & Intelligence.

[RustBucket]

Just a personal observation.

But the Thai Soaps on the mainstream channels have caught my eye over the years while dining in Thai restaurants etc..

It seems to me that the vast majority of them are based on the upper classes who live in mansion style houses in the BKK Suburbs, with perfectly manicured gardens and a driveway full of Beemers and Mercs. The actors portray beautiful light skinned well educated people with well rounded lives yet still manage to have their ups and downs.

On the other hand, the lesser amount of soap that portray poorer folks living in the villages who drive pickups and live in much more humbler settings, the actors portray much lesser educated (to the point of imbeciles) with drunken violence and constant screaming arguments from start to finish that screech out of the speakers while the characters stumble around like complete retarded idiots.

There always seems to be a gun pulled out no matter what the class format... But there is always a difference in that too. Upper class, gunman acts cool and measured a bit bond like, whereas in contrast the poor class soap will normally show the gunman as a hapless, but ruthless sneering amateur criminal.

So my basic observation is that in Thailand TV is pretty much expected to make its TV shows in this class divide clever/stupid format, mainly because the people expect it.

Some may disagree with me, I dont watch this stuff and have probably missed more than I have caught (a lot more) but the wife agrees with me over it.,... Poor people stupid, rich people cool.

[sdanielmcev]

Sounds like American TV.

[Baa_Mango]

Channel 3 = upper class

Channel 7 = hillbillies .. or is that channel 5 ??,,or 9?? <deleted> !! army channel shows a lot of the farmer ones

[Neeranam]

Sounds like American TV.

What i was going to say as well as most other countries.

Dynasty, Dallas etc. Beverly Hillbillies were the exception.

[Squeegee]

Mate, by observing this it's like finding a needle in a needlestack.

[rgs2001uk]

Channel 3 = upper class

Channel 7 = hillbillies .. or is that channel 5 ??,,or 9?? <deleted> !! army channel shows a lot of the farmer ones

The mrs these days prefers to watch the Korean, Indian or Japanese soaps, thats the beauty of being an upper class white skinned Chinese Chula grad, (actually, a black skinned "ee" Mon from Klong Tan).

[gerry123]

i like the stick on beards and mustaches oh by the way i used to think coronation street and the like was pretty awful but by comparison with the soaps here they are almost on a par with a good documentary

Edited December 13, 2014 by gerry123

[Thai at Heart]

Having a load of dosh is no proof of class.

[kannot]

funny how those welll educated , cool hi sos always want to shag the uneducated retard maid then aint it?

Either way its tripe for the masses.

[Rancid]

TV like most countries is to set the population mindset into zombie subservience and keep them amused with inanity so they don't notice the ruling class stealing everything.

[cooked]

We seem to watch High 5 all day. Be thankful if you don't know what that is.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-5_%28Australian_TV_series%29

I see that it will be running 13 hours a day over Christmas.

[eeeya]

I try and watch for the sake of practice listening Thai, but the sound engineering (or lack of) is so poor the speakers on my TV / headphones cry out in mercy.

And to add to that, 5 minutes of some lady sobbing about the death of her pet poodle is about all it takes to get the channel changed.

[sipi]

I find it unusual how they pixelate a clevage or beer bottle so you can't see it; but blow each other to bits in high-definition.

[AlphMichaels]

These programs (Thais call them movies..., ha!) are so poorly acted and edited, I use them as a sleep aid. Amazing how many scenes have one speaking to one's self to layer in a comprehensible (not) path in plot.

[kurnell]

These wonderful soaps are how many of the hiso wanna be's model their lives.

[recycler]

It just explains the workings of society:

- If you're rich you can get away with everything,

- As a man you should have sex with as many woman possible,

- Violence is the solution for any problem,

- If you are poor you should shut up and do as you're told to!

Also presented at all times of the day to make sure even the youngest among us are receiving these important lessons to enrich their future lives with the right attitude...

[AlQaholic]

Don't forget the hospital scene!!! It is one of the most important one!

The hero (or one of the heroes or heroines) always end up in hospital and a lot of the cast will stand around the bed crying or in various stages of breakdowns, all the while the hero in the bed is blessing everybody and being the pillar of self sacrifice.

And then there is the maid abuse scenes, there is always a maid somewhere being abused by an evil mistress!. She will be hit and the hair is always pulled!

[thaidel48]

Having friends that are both Hi and low Soc I think that Thai soaps are written for Thais by Thais so let them get on with it. What really annoys me is the P**s poor way that they dub Farang movies into Thai and forget watching and documentry thats been dubbed into Thai. ( yes and before anyone comments I speak Fluent Thai after being here 27 years.)

[carlyai]

I try and watch for the sake of practice listening Thai, but the sound engineering (or lack of) is so poor the speakers on my TV / headphones cry out in mercy.

And to add to that, 5 minutes of some lady sobbing about the death of her pet poodle is about all it takes to get the channel changed.

I think to understand the soapies is to understand a little more Thai language slang.

I remember at AUA Bangkok they had a Thai Soaps class, which I never made it to as my Thai was not good enough then.

At AUA they also had a law course in Thai, and my mate who attended it said (this will probably surprise many people), Thai law is based on Swiss law, so should be pretty robust.

So my questions is: there are groups of Farangs who practice their Thai by recording and translating particular Soapies. Are there any in this forum, and can I get in touch to share learning of more Thai?

[mikiea]

my my, a bunch of tired old dudes watching soaps? good ol shooting, maiming, killing, tv not to your taste anymore ? take 2 testocap gels 3 times a day & watch a few charlie bronson every other day. this will allow your ego to butch up and you will start to klang again when you walk :-)

[wabothai]

They, the soaps, are so stupid they ought to be forbidden, but than again if the Thai like it they should go and look and get education at the same time.

when i raise my voice, what happens on occasion, i am told that I am ba. Then I ask whether it is OK in the soaps, no answer.

no TV in my bedroom.

[wabothai]

They, the soaps, are so stupid they ought to be forbidden, but than again if the Thai like it they should go and look and get education at the same time.

when i raise my voice, what happens on occasion, i am told that I am ba. Then I ask whether it is OK in the soaps, no answer.

no TV in my bedroom.

[wabothai]

It is demeanatory to see that poor folks (or the less fortunate) often are portrayed as clowns and acting like them. Says a lot about Thailand.

Another job for you laid away for you mr. General PM, if you have time !

[HughJass]

what i find funny is in nearly all these soaps there is a scene where two people are talking in private and in the background, hiding around the corner or behind a bush is a thai woman listening in to their conversation..i suppose its an easy way for the plot to be advanced with the discovery of the secret conspiracy...cant complain though as they keep Mrs HJ off my back for a couple of hours

[Loles]

My opinion is all the soaps here are so violent and yo-yo.

The young generations watch them day by day, and the authorities are surprised about street fighter youths.

One-time an Austrian kinder garden psychologist friend has visited me here, and couldn't imagine that this problem didn't recognize by the authorities, when she has watched a small part of this soap idiocy. (rope, pistol, machine gun, blood, torture, grenade, etc .. at 7 pm by every idiot channel)

[khunPer]

Kind of (left over from old time) racism – Upper Class is ”White Thais” equal to Chinese, Lower Class is “Black Thais” equal to the peasants with darker skin, from both nature and working outdoor in the sun, original moved by force from Lao and Cambodia to up Isaan plateau more than hundred years ago, to provide cheap labor and soldiers for the elite – so I read in Cambridge University Press’ “A History of Thailand”.

Without proper education and manors, the “Black Thais” need to appear little funny and stupid to keep the spirit up of historical social class difference. To my knowledge the term “Black Thais” is still sometime used...

However times change with better education and a growing Middle Class, but the terms “Black” and “White” do exist that much, that whitening cream still is a good products to sell.

We had bit of same difference in old time (Northern) Europe, where working class folks often had darker skin from working out-door under the sun, whilst fine people had whiter skin from being mainly indoor, and if they appeared outdoor, for example summertime at the beach, that would be with dress covering the body and large umbrellas, to avoid the risk of getting suntanned.

Today it seems opposite, the pale people are in-door factory workers, whilst golden brown tanned are the rich one, who can afford to holiday long time, travel to warm weather, and do (rather expensive) sports activities under the sun. The “lower class” people will stay in the sun during their (short) holidays, to get tanned and move up – you may also see them "bake" on the beaches in Thailand...

Furthermore, in soaps “we” love to see the rich people, how they live, and all the problems they do have, in spite of their money – same, same in the West with popular series like Dallas and Dynasty, and in Britain I believe Upstairs Downstairs (I have only watched a few episodes) was some kind of similar cut...

Edited December 15, 2014 by khunPer

[connda]

Thai Soaps? Scrapes the bottom of the intellectual barrel. Which means it appeals to 90% or Thais and (if they could understand the language) 95% of Farangs.

[KhnomKhnom]

Thai soaps play, as do them all everywhere, on stereotypes and usually are

Rich:

smart reserved distant father

emotional conniving mother or reserved mom who is easily hurt by wild children.

one good daughter, a little less attractive, and one bad daughter, super beautiful and wants good one's bf.

misguided son with either bad male friends or a lost soul.

boyfriend, handsome and well meaning but often distracted by bad daughter away from good daughter.

Including poor:

smart but reserved maid, sympathetic to good daughter.

dumb clutzy maid making mistakes and in hopeless love with son.

Sometimes mixes in mafia or a bad spirit to get shooting or magic scenes.

Solution is often Father Knows Best.

Patriarchy is preserved, female emotion shown undependable, true love wins out, and spiteful girls lose, and mafia or spirit gets banned.

I have found Thai take television the way Western adults take tv cartoons....... silly but distracting entertainment, not seriously.

And I got a Ph.D. from NYU in cinema studies to be able to write that.

[cheshiremusicman]

TV like most countries is to set the population mindset into zombie subservience and keep them amused with inanity so they don't notice the ruling class stealing everything.

The same goes for RELIGION

[herb59]

good, while watching they cant scam you.