BOTM2: Thais still anti-gay: Mat-Deaw (part 1, Love of Siam)

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Thais still anti-gay: Mat-Deaw (part 1, Love of Siam)

Mat-Deaw

If audiences cannot see love between two men as love like any other, then maybe the problem lies in their own heart.

That's the stark message from Love of Siam director "Mat-Deaw" Chukiat Sakweerakul, in an ínterview with the on-line business paper, Krungthep Thurakit.

From the very first days of the film's release, he could see that Thais still do not accept gays, he says.

Audiences complained they had been duped by pre-release publicity. They went in expecting to see a straight teen romance. When they actually found that the main relationship is between two young men, they claimed they had been tricked into seeing a "gay" film.

"What, can't gays love like other people?" Mat-Deaw asks. "Actually, it's them who can't accept it. I can say with certainty that Thai society does not accept gays...because this kind of love does take place."

The kissing scene between Tong and Music - which Mat-Deaw describes as the high point of the film - was accompanied by no sweeping strings, no clever camera angles. It was a still shot.

Audiences were left to make up their own minds. There was no mention of sex, no one tried to analyse what was going on. Yet the reaction was as if some audiences felt they were watching a gay niche film, one made specifically for gay audiences rather than mainstream viewers.

Coming up: Debt to Brokeback Mountain

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The cop who knows too much

I told the cop that I have a boyfriend at home, but also spend some of my time with a family in the slums.

‘What you mean is, you have a love interest over there. You are lying to yourself,’ said the policeman. 'God tells us not to tell lie, but 40% of what we say is lies anyway,' he said.

‘You have been here 10 years, and you know the way Thai society works,' he told me. 'If you are seeing someone on the side, you will have to let your partner in on the secret,’ he said.

‘He knows,’ I said.

Katoey affectation

A handful of kathoey and showy gay types was there. Some wore denim shorts so small they reminded me of teabags.

White underwear, de rigueur for the tacky bar set, peaked over the top, down the sides, out the bottom...all over in fact, as there was nowhere else for it to go.

Squealing, prancing and preening, they walked onto the street to hail a tuk tuk for Silom.

Trailing after them was a fair-headed farang guy in his 20s, no doubt a tourist. So you thought you were straight, did you? Welcome to Thailand!

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