Movie-makers missed the point completely

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL
Movie-makers missed the point completely
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- By misusing the image of Hitler in a film meant to promote moral values, they trivialised one of the most sordid chapters in world history

A short film commissioned by the government to reiterate the so-called 12 moral values of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha ended up creating a stir.

It wasn't because of the story line or the theme, which touched on friendship and acceptance between two school boys who realise that the best way to measure the significance of their lives is not by how many school medals they can obtain but that small moment of compassion and integrity.

The problem with this short film, "30", was one scene in which one of the boys was shown applauding Adolf Hitler.

After a public uproar criticising the scene that appeared to be praising Hitler - the man responsible for the death of some 6 million Jews - authorities decided to pull the film off the screen.

Director Kulp Kaljaruek said he had no hidden agenda and he was not trying to make any political statement with regard to the scene showing reverence to Hitler.

Israel's Ambassador to Thailand, Simon Roded issued a statement, saying he was "deeply saddened" to see the "trivialisation and misuse" of Nazi symbols in an official Thai government film.

"Hitler and the Nazi regime were responsible for a systemic, horrific and racist murder of 11 million people during the Holocaust."

"I was surprised that throughout the screening process this movie must have gone through to be approved for public broadcast, none of the smart, well-educated people checking it had identified it as being problematic and offensive," he said.

"Smart" and "well educated" they may be. But given the fact that they were indifferent to the trivialisation of Hitler and the Nazi symbol, one has to wonder if the education that these people received was worth the time and money spent on it.

Director Kulp can't really plead innocence either. After all, how can a man responsible for the death of so many innocent lives be shown in a film that was supposed to enhance moral values?

Perhaps the director, by using the image of Hitler in the film, was trying to make a point about the extreme opposite of what constitute morals and morality. If that was the case, there were other ways of doing it because the image that he used became the dominant point in the public discourse, not the message about integrity and compassion of the two school boys.

Kulp could claim the privilege of artistic integrity - who cares if the public don't get it, right? But let's not forget that this was a film commissioned by, of all people, a military-installed government that came to power through a coup and through this film was trying to promote "love for democracy".

Colonel Sansern Kaewkumnerd, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, could save himself ridicule for trying to read too much into this. It's like a comedian trying to explain his own joke.

Insensitive use of Nazi symbols is common in Thailand. We have seen it in on T-shirts in Bangkok clothing stores and other public places, such as a Catholic school in Chiang Mai and the Chulalongkorn University where last year, a banner featured Hitler giving a Nazi salute alongside superheroes Batman and The Incredible Hulk.

The university apologised and blamed "ignorant students." Perhaps the students were to blame. But weren't they also just outright indifferent?

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Movie-makers-missed-the-point-completely-30249778.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-14

[HeijoshinCool]

"The university apologized and blamed "ignorant students."

Er, what's wrong with this statement?

[thesetat2013]

What smart and well educated people?

Thats why they lay blame on the students.

[Fatty123]

But let's not forget that this was a film commissioned by, of all people, a military-installed government that came to power through a coup and through this film was trying to promote "love for democracy".

Looks like someone at The Nation finally grew a pair. Bravo!

[ChrisY1]

"The university apologized and blamed "ignorant students."

Er, what's wrong with this statement?

They just do not have a clue.........quite sad actually, that each year 10s of thousands of these "ignorant students" graduate from universities........most end up on the "cutting floor"........

[Kitsune]

The whole nation is totally clueless about anything outside Thailand.

Cheguevara, marijuana or Ben laden Tshirts are worn indifferently without any idea what they refer to.

[Monkeysee]

Those "ignorant students" were actually Burmese. They have been kicked out of the university now. Mai pen rai, everything is wonderful.

[kaorop]

lets not forget, thailand sign up with the axis back then.

[noitom]

This tripe is excusing away and rationalizing the Thai mentality about issues of concern to the outside world.

[earlschwabe]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

[robertson468]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

Very interesting post, however, one could also liken the image of the Eagle to that used by the USA?

[atyclb]

This tripe is excusing away and rationalizing the Thai mentality about issues of concern to the outside world.

Not limited at all to knowledge about the outside world.

a thai academic / journalist Voranai Vanijaka calls it "the art of missing the point" all related to largely not training the mind "how to think"

[wabothai]

Dumb f.... wannabe rich kid with zero knowledge of happenings beyond Thailands borders. Disgusting with what he got away with. Worse, nobody set him straight in pre screenings.

[Suradit69]

...Hitler - the man responsible for the death of some 6 million Jews - authorities decided to pull the film off the screen.

As I recall, one or two other people died in the conflict.

1. The higher figure of 85 million includes deaths from war-related disease and famine. Civilians killed totaled from 38 to 55 million, including 19 to 25 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: from 22 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Suradit69

[Thai at Heart]

This tripe is excusing away and rationalizing the Thai mentality about issues of concern to the outside world.

Not limited at all to knowledge about the outside world.

a thai academic / journalist Voranai Vanijaka calls it "the art of missing the point" all related to largely not training the mind "how to think"

This accidental ignorance happens all to often in Thailand and allows people to apprently act with impunity.

It is actually akin to Borat. After a while the joke wears off and people realise you are just being offensive.

[petercool]

A post that was an anti-Thai slur removed

[Benmart]

"Smart" is not always the hallmark of an "educated" person from my experience.

History has many examples of people that had educational titles and went on to make very serious decisional mistakes that affected multitudes.

It seems, in this case, the smart and educated learned little of how the rest of the world would perceive this government sponsored film.

[HooHaa]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

you are completely right about the crest, although it does look rather like this one

[SoilSpoil]

Kulp Kaljaruek does clearly not possess a lot of empathy intelligence.

[HooHaa]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

Very interesting post, however, one could also liken the image of the Eagle to that used by the USA?

beat me to it.

[Enoon]

It's not just the eagle. Go to Kantana Motion Pictures website and check out the colours. Move your cursor towards the top of the screen to see them to best effect.

I'll let the man himself spell it out for you:

The Nazis denounced the black-red-yellow/gold flag of the Weimar Republic - which now is the flag of Germany.^[9] In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler defined the symbolism of the swastika flag: the RED represents the social idea of the Nazi movement, the WHITE disk represents the national idea, and the BLACK swastika, used in Aryan cultures for millennia, represents "the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of creative work.

I have an uneasy suspicion that these people, and their backers, are not quite as ignorant of what went on in 30s/40s Germany as we like to think.

Keep a bag packed.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Enoon

[Thaddeus]

Kulp Kaljaruek does clearly not possess a lot of empathy intelligence.

He picked an image that he knew most people would recognise, without even giving even the merest thought to the consequences.

[SoFarAndNear]

Good news for germans. Maybe visa laws will be soon less strict for them.

[HooHaa]

It's not just the eagle. Go to Katanas website and check out the colours. Move your cursor towards the top of the screen to see them to best effect.

hmm i know the american eagle is clutching at arrows, are you clutching at straws?

btw ,there is no "katana" and the kantana.com website is baby and navy blue with no sign of the eagle

[Enoon]

Sorry this is the first time i've done this. You need to go to KANTANA MOTION PICTURES website.

[Enoon]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

you are completely right about the crest, although it does look rather like this one

It's not just the eagle. Go to Kantana Motion Pictures website and check out the colours. Move your cursor towards the top of the screen to see them to best effect.

I'll let the man himself spell it out for you:

The Nazis denounced the black-red-yellow/gold flag of the Weimar Republic - which now is the flag of Germany.^[9] In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler defined the symbolism of the swastika flag: the RED represents the social idea of the Nazi movement, the WHITE disk represents the national idea, and the BLACK swastika, used in Aryan cultures for millennia, represents "the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of creative work.

I have an uneasy suspicion that these people, and their backers, are not quite as ignorant of what went on in 30s/40s Germany as we like to think.

Keep a bag packed.

[Enoon]

I have seen very little real background on this.

I used to work in Thailand as a post-production specialist, so know some of the background.

The director is the son of the owner of Kantana, one of the oldest and biggest media companies in Thailand that makes a lot of the most popular Thai television soaps.

It is a very wealthy company, and the family that owns Kantana are reputed to be worth over a billion Baht.

Kulp Kaljareuk is one of two sons of the Kantana family.

They will inherit the company and be multi-millionaires.

Kulp's elder brother is gay, which of course doesn't matter, but he spends an hour every morning getting made up, spends millions on designer clothes and handbags, and is only interested in making shows about fashion. He is universally detested, and everyone in the industry knows that it will be disastrous for the company if he takes over.

For a while, the father disowned him, but finally relented and brought him back into the company.

However, his hopes for the future of the company must rest on his son Kulp.

Fresh from film school in the US, Kulp was put in charge of the feature film division, and given the budget to make films. His first feature film 'Hong Hoon' flopped at the box office.

Still in his twenties, this is unfortunately a classic example of a boy who has had the best education that money can buy, who has been given the resources to follow his dreams, but who has no idea what the real world is like.

Let's make no mistake about it. There is a section of Thai society which treats the nazi emblems as 'chic' and trendy, with no regard for what these emblems symbolize.

One thing that no one has picked up on is that this film was directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, whose company position is Managing Director of Kantana Motion Pictures.

Please see the logo attached.

Why has nobody picked up on the fact that the very logo of the company is itself remarkably close to the Nazi eagle?

Again, it is just seen as chic and trendy.

Very interesting post, however, one could also liken the image of the Eagle to that used by the USA?

It's not just the eagle. Go to Kantana Motion Pictures website and check out the colours. Move your cursor towards the top of the screen to see them to best effect.

I'll let the beast himself spell it out for you:

The Nazis denounced the black-red-yellow/gold flag of the Weimar Republic - which now is the flag of Germany.^[9] In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler defined the symbolism of the swastika flag: the RED represents the social idea of the Nazi movement, the WHITE disk represents the national idea, and the BLACK swastika, used in Aryan cultures for millennia, represents "the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of creative work."

I have an uneasy suspicion that these people, and their backers, are not quite as ignorant of what went on in 30s/40s Germany as we like to think.

Keep a bag packed.

[katana]

See what you mean about the website.

http://www.kantanamotionpictures.com/

[Enoon]

See what you mean about the website.

http://www.kantanamotionpictures.com/

I'm very glad that I have managed to get the message through to someone! I can go and have a cup of tea now.

[Gandtee]

Make him Kulpable!