FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Popular soap defies Thailand's social reality

Popular soap defies Thailand's social reality

Female viewers may admire the attitude and methods of the heroine, but such attitudes off-screen may still be a long way from being the norm

 

Take away the likes of chainsaw murderers and man-eating aliens, and it’s probably fair to say that most movies and TV dramas reflect lives or societies as they are and as we accept them, and even as we want them to be. How else can we explain the abundance of cinematic love stories between those at extreme ends of the wealth gap in countries like India, or the frequent portrayal of the CIA and FBI as complete idiots? In our imagination, we want to break through the barriers many of us abhor, subconsciously at least.
What does the immense popularity of “Raeng Ngao” tell us? As it approaches its climax, the Thai TV soap opera has attracted a massive following that includes both admirers and haters. The plot is about a beautiful woman hell-bent on taking a revenge for the suicide death of her broken-hearted twin sister. The premise is not that revolutionary, but mixed audience reactions are intriguing.
This is another “bad girl” drama that has taken Thai audiences’ breath away. Thai soap fans are no strangers to revenge-turning-into-love plots, but it’s not every day that they are able to watch a sexy female avenger on a no-holds-barred mission. Admirers cheer and critics cringe. But both groups have been glued to the tube all the same. A “Re-ya phenomenon” has come back, and the Thai audience can’t get enough of an “un-Thai” heroine who many love to hate.
Maybe these viewers have been unknowingly fascinated by the hidden feminism in the plot, whether or not it was there intentionally. The character Muta represents the kind of women who punish themselves for failed romances or blatant exploitation. Munin is a more extraordinary kind of woman, holding men responsible for disastrous relationship. 
The drama features typical male chauvinism, and how female characters cope with it in their own ways. There is no doubt why “Raeng Ngao” is very popular with Thai women, although opinions are split over whether Munin goes too far in search of revenge.
We don’t want to be thrilled by Munin. We know her motives and how she will go about carrying out her plan. We want to follow an unorthodox character all the way to her destiny. This is a moral tightrope drama featuring a heroine who keeps pushing the sexual, romantic and social limits. She keeps telling the hero that he doesn’t exactly know her. In a way, the audience is represented by the hero, whose key role is to try to second guess her. As the plot thickens, the hero’s conventional thinking gives way to reluctant acceptance of her actions.
The production is fine, with – despite this being an old fiction – modern lifestyle elements thrown in, like the use of smart phones to advance key sub-plots. Various actors and actresses have been acclaimed, and the adapted screenplay reflects Thai soap opera at its tongue-lashing best. All the ingredients are there for “Raeng Ngao” to be up there with the top-rated Thai dramas. Only ratings do not quite tell if the Thai female audience wants to be like Munin or just wishes they could be like her. 
If the predominantly female watchers of “Raeng Ngao” are craving social changes deep down in their hearts, records are not in favour of an upheaval in female attitudes. This is the third time in 24 years that Munin has exacted her revenge on Thai TV, and her every appearance has been mightily popular. Having monitored the “Raeng Ngao” phenomenon, social experts say the continued popularity of Munin means two things – that Thai society is still fantasising about changes but it needs something far stronger than a fantasy to really enforce the characters principles, though not her methods. In other words, life still finds it difficult to imitate art on this one. To be more specific, the much-maligned Director Jenpop character can jump off screen and live safe and sound in Thai society.
We can call it a dramatic cliche if or when the heroine and her hero somehow find a way to live happily ever after. It’s a real-life cliche when what has driven her character to fascinate viewers so much remains strictly on the screen.
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