Don’t touch that dial, as Thailand’s favorite national pastime – juicy lakorn – is about to get a whole lot happier.
Having had enough with the traditional rape scenes and violence against women – even those who refrain from wearing bikinis – Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha called for the writing of better soap operas to encourage national peace and harmony in his weekly televised comments Friday.
“I have ordered that scripts be written, including plays on reconciliation, on tourism and on Thai culture,” Prayuth said, according to Reuters.
To show he takes the matters seriously, the man who recently proposed his own idea for a romantic comedy vowed that he’ll pen the scripts himself if he has to.
“They are writing plots at the moment, and if they can’t finish it, I will write it myself,” he said.
Since soap operas are blamed for reinforcing acceptance of violence among some Thais, could Prayuth’s bedtime stories provoke an awakening? Or would changing the formula of everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure diminish the citizen’s return of happiness?
Prayuth went on to criticize popular television soap operas for provoking violence rather than peace, some of which are blamed for encouraging rape and domestic violence.
And man is he is right.
“In our country, television dramas make people fight and they create divisions so we have much improvement to make in this area,” he said.
So what would your lakorn be about, Mr. Prime Minister?
“One plot will be two foreign families come to visit Thailand, they meet each other and come to love each other.”
Wait, wut? No villainous nang rai, mistress-sluts to sow mischief? No man becoming a woman’s true love after making sweet rape to her?
Based on our keen experience in Thai soap opera, this will struggle to find an audience unless the married couples in Prayuth’s story swap husbands, prompting their attractive farang teens to escape their families’ drama with a gone-wild night out in Pattaya.
Related:
Prayuth proposes romantic comedy to boost tourism
Rape Culture: From the Ramakien to the Railway, we’re all to blame
