So I saw a couple of films recently. "Echo Planet" and "Yes or No 2."
Echo Planet
Echo Planet is a super-publicized animated film about a Lanna girl, her
baby brother, and a the son of the president from "Capital State," the
richest country in the world. It is a totally fictional country with a
flag that looks like this:
The film is about how carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere so
much that it becomes alive and starts roaming and destroying the world.
It was pretty hilarious.
My favorite scene in the film is when the boy is introduced at the World
Boy Scout meeting in Ayutthaya, Thailand. A helicopter comes down
dramatically, opens, and he is not in it. Everyone is confused until
instead he flies in on a jet pack. I'm giggling just thinking about it.
See the trailer here. It's hilarious. Very much worth watching. (No English subtitles, but I think that makes it better.
Yes or No 2
A far more notable film for many, many reasons. I will just go through a few.
FIRST I need to clear up something that you may not understand. That's three girls right there. The middle one is a
tom, short for "Tomboy."
In America this would just mean that it was a girl who has interests
similar to a guy, but here it means you are gay, cut your hair short,
and wear more masculine clothing.
In Thailand many boys and girls will dress differently or have different
fashion to identify themselves as gay and what "type" of gay I guess
you could say.
While in America it may be offensive to attach names to things like
this, one friend has openly told me on multiple occasions that she used
to be a
tom. (She showed me a picture too!) In America, just
because you have short hair doesn't mean you're gay, but here it seems
like it does.
To watch the trailer WITH subtitles,
click here. It gives a very good synopsis of the entirety of the film.
Here's the jist: 2 girls, Kim and Pie, are in a relationship for a few
years. They go to separate internships in very different areas of
Thailand. Kim, the
tom, starts to like her fellow intern, Jam.
The Jam is determined to go out with Kim. This happens while Kim tries
to keep her original relationship with Pie afloat. I had to look up
these names...
Notable things:
1) Serious lesbian love film so popular they had to make a second one.
Being a lesbian is still taboo in Thailand. There was some basic
discussion about how the Pie has to hide from her family that she is in a
relationship with a
tom.
Nonetheless, I have no knowledge or memory of a romantic drama about a
lesbian relationship in Mainstream--or even alternative--American
cinema. (Please tell me if I'm forgetting something. Also, for a
spectacular American lesbian satirical romantic comedy see
But I'm a Cheerleader.)
So in this way, Thailand is ahead of the times.
2) Blows the Bechdel Test out of the water!
Most people don't know about this test. I first heard about this test in
my intro to film course in college. It is VERY important stuff. You can
learn a lot more than I know about it
here,
and the two minute video is a spectacular introduction. The jist is
that in order to pass the Bechdel Test a film must fill these three
criteria:
-It has to have at least two named women in it
--Who talk to each other
---About something besides a man
Basically it is a test about whether or not there is an actual presence
of women in the film at all. MANY films do not pass this test (see
earlier link). For reference, Sex in the City BARELY passes this test
because the characters have one conversation in the film about shoes.
Back to the Thai film.
It is very common in Thai film to have a lot of joke-characters with
ridiculous/awkward/needy personalities who are basically seen as
obstacles for the characters to avoid or overcome, hilariously. But in this film,
every single joke-character except one is a man and every single man is a
joke-character. All of the serious characters are female, even female
characters with very little speaking role.
They don't talk about men (why would they?); they mainly talk to each
other; and I just gave you three named female characters. So. BLOWS TEST
OUT OF THE WATER. Thailand is awesome. I've never seen a film like
this--amazing.
3) Explores cheating/interests outside of a relationship in a unique way
Most people will probably find this not interesting, but I did.
Basically, as I see it, when people think about cheating in film, either
the person they want to cheat with or the person they want to cheat on
is an American version of a joke-character. Either by being evil,
insensitive, awkward, unattractive whatever--the character that has no
hope of getting the viewer's sympathy. But here, even though SPOILERS
the relationship is preserved in the end, all three characters are
treated as desirable, caring, intelligent, loving, and imperfectly
human.
In this film promiscuous thinking is not illustrated as something either
good because the girl/boyfriend is a douche OR something that should
never, ever happen because the relationship is a good one--real love
overcomes stuff like that. For the film promiscuous thinking sucks, but
it is a natural part of being human. Very different from our idealized
Western idea of love, and
the dilemmas that it creates for itself.
4) Stalking/obsessive behavior in Thai society
Again, SPOILERS. One of the most interesting cultural scenes for me was one in which Kim (the
tom)
comes into Jam's room (fellow intern she has a crush on). There she
sees where Jam obsessively kept track of everything she and Kim had done
together on post-it notes. She drew pictures of them together and
talked about how she hated 8pm, the time every day when Kim calls Pie.
Then Jam comes in, is surprised and embarrassed, and she says Kim is her
first love.
This was the moment when I thought Jam was turning into a joke-character
and Kim would go running for the hills. That's what would normally
happen in an American film--you think you are attracted to someone
outside the relationship that is normal until you find out they are
evil/insensitive/awkward/unattractive(needy). But instead Kim, having
just broken up with Pie, decides to go out with Jam.
There are a number of reasons I might hypothesize for why this happened
in a Thai context, but I think I will just leave it at that.
Conclusions:
I highly recommend those who are huge film buffs try to get their hands
on this film or the original. It will be entertaining because it is so
different. Probably not the best film in the world by Thai standards.
While we have the Bechdel Test on the brain, I realize that Echo Planet passes it too!
Lastly, I'm not sure if I ever wrote about
ATM,
but if you want to talk about truly spectacular Thai cinema, watch ATM.
Notable for very different reasons, but still a romantic film that is
done VERY differently that one would be in the West. Also, HILARIOUS.
