With exaggerated curls and every inch of skin covered in brown paint, the female lead of a new TV drama makes waves by disguising herself as a simple housemaid from the rural northeast.
The new show’s embrace of weary stereotypes to win laughs through heavy application of blackface – you know, the practice that just won’t die despite being widely regarded as offensive and disrespectful – landed with a sigh of resignation from some Thais.
As the trailer for commercial entertainment giant GMM Grammy’s series Pla La Song Kreung, which best translates to Seasoned Fermented Fish, spreads online, some are expressing dismay at the unapologetically backward representation, described as open bigotry toward both those of darker skin tones and people from the northeastern region of Isaan.
“This is 2019. How can there still be a show like this? A romantic series that uses comedy to mask discrimination,” read a tweet directed yesterday at Grammy by user Wilaah_ which was retweeted more than 600 times overnight.
Others said it reinforces existing social discrimination.
“I have dark skin. From my childhood to my time in university, I was bullied and discriminated against. When dark-skinned people are falsely represented as clowns, like in this drama, it encourages false values. I have many college friends from Isaan, they’re not at all like how they’re portrayed in this drama,” JustLoveAllKpop wrote Wednesday morning.
Others pointed out that the lead actress’ accent – Isaan is a distinct dialect of Thai – sounds cartoonishly forced and fake. Some commentators complained that the show name’s use of “pla ra,” a common ingredient used in northeastern cuisine, is also a jab.
Several calls to Grammy for comments went unanswered Wednesday.
The reaction online followed a predictable Twitter-Facebook gap. While the Twitterati were largely getting worked up over the show, Facebook users were loving it. The majority of the latter replied to Grammy’s trailer to say how excited they are for the show, which premieres Thursday on cable channel Grammy 25.
The actress portraying Woon earlier today, Worranit “Mook” Thawornwong, responded to the widespread criticism with a lengthy Instagram post with an attached photo of her in makeup.
Worranit seemed to entirely miss the point of the criticism, saying the curly hair and dark skin doesn’t misrepresent northeastern Thais because the character she plays is northeastern Thai. She chalked up her forced Isaan dialect as necessary for her character’s disguise as a maid.
“As for those who say the disguise is ugly. I do agree that it may be too far,” she said. “I just don’t think it suits me. Some people look great with darker skin than me and curly hair. It just doesn’t work for me.”
The series tells the story of Isaan woman Woon, who comes to Bangkok to live with her estranged mother after her father dies in an accident. When mom tries to force Woon to marry male lead Athen, she runs away to live with a friend saying she will return in a year after earning enough money to buy back her dead dad’s home. Her scheme to get ahead in life? Disguise herself as a dark-skinned maid.
No amount of cyclical outrage seems to stem the tide of insensitive ads made in the kingdom. Most have their favorite examples, such as the black man toothpaste, ‘white is winning’ pills, awesome costumes, racist mops and blackface donuts.
Note: A potentially offensive word used to describe the character’s hair was removed from this story.
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