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Thailand and the world have come a long way when it comes to showing different sexualities and gender identities on our screens. For Pride Month, Netflix hosted a talk with filmmaker Chookiat Sakveerakul (Love Of Siam and Dew) and Sanchai Chotirosseranee, deputy director of the Thai Film Archive, where they discussed today’s LGBTI content.
ORDINARY PEOPLE
Some of Netflix’s shows include The Politician with its bisexual lead character, and Sex Education, which features many young LGBTI characters. The comedy series focuses on a group of high school kids dealing with sexuality and relationships.
To Sanchai, Sex Education treats its characters as ordinary people. It targets all teenagers as its audience and not just LGBTI kids.
“I think it’s very interesting. It’s something that Thai dramas have yet to progress to. We have yet to see content which targets the general public in a way that also presents LGBTI as just people, just like everyone else,” said Sanchai.
Looking back at Thai content, Sanchai said that Chookiat’s Love Of Siam is important. The film sees a childhood friendship become a romance. Sanchai called this 2007 film a landmark in the country.
“Before that, I never thought I’d see two young, good-looking actors holding hands on a big screen,” he said.
NO BULLYING
The current availability of LGBTI content and characters, especially for teens, has a positive impact on the younger generation in helping them accept LGBTI people and understand gender diversity in real life, said Chookiat.
“Content can be very influential for the younger generation,” said the filmmaker. “Before, networks chose programmes to show on TV and audiences believed what was chosen had to be good. Now, as we move onto digital platforms like Netflix, today’s kids are seeing many queer characters and they may feel that such co-existence is normal and that this diversity is acceptable. As a result, they will not go around bullying or teasing each other about gender.”
Making LGBTI content does have its own challenges. The two agree that being overly politically correct could be a problem. Moreover, with people sometimes getting very sensitive and critical about representation, it may feel as though these LGBTI characters and storylines are untouchable, which Sanchai deems “scary”.
“If we were to present something and people criticised it all the time, then some may just decide not to present or touch these characters at all [to avoid trouble]. Things would become silent that way,” said Sanchai regarding how this could affect the visibility of LGBTI people on screen.
“Before, LGBTI characters weren’t accepted and we never really got to see how they live. Featuring LGBTI characters can be a form of courage. Whether it’s positive or negative, it still gives space to them. We start from watching and then we move on to acceptance,” he said.