I’d like to weigh in on the latest controversy from
Thailand that is making news across the world.
The “Thailand’s Got Talent” television
show, broadcast last Sunday, featured 23-year-old Duangjai Jansaunoi, who
walked onstage barefoot in jeans and a baggy men's button-down shirt. She
introduced herself as an independent artist from northern Thailand.
She then turned to a large canvas and
painted a yellow outline of a person.
Afterwards, she removed her shirt and unhooked a
black bra.
Then she doused herself with several tins of paint before turning to the
audience with a broad smile to display her multicolored torso. The area around
her breasts was blurred out by censors.
As dance music played, the contestant
used her body as a paintbrush to fill in the outline.
Some in the audience gasped with hands
over their mouths, while others cheered her on. Well, just watch for yourself the entire act and subsequent drama.
"If I paint in a normal way, then
it would be too ordinary," Duangjai told the judges after being handed a
towel to cover up.
The judges then debated whether her act
could be considered art.
"This is an art
form. If we were in Italy, like Florence or Milan, or the Czech Republic, say
Prague, this would be OK," said singer Jirayut Wattanasin. The audience
roared in support, many flashing "V for victory" signs.
"I'm not saying this is not good,
but it's not appropriate," said the panel's only female judge, actress
Pornchita Na Songkhla. "Within the Thai cultural context, I don't support
this."
By now she appeared as if “her pantieswere all in a bunch.” But I can’t be too sure Pornchita was actually wearing
any panties as she obviously wasn’t in this famous fashion shot of hers (within
the Thai cultural context, of course).
 |
| Pornchita Na Songkhla |
The
other male judge then said “I want to look in the aspect of art since
coincidentally it is also my background. Speaking in the sense of artistic
talent, I can identify and accept your show.”
That comment seemed to push poor Pornchita over the edge. “Are you all for real?” she asked. “Unfortunately I
don’t have an artistic mind so I am going to say not pass.”
Pornchita
na Songkhla (nicknamed Benz) doesn’t have an artistic mind? So it wasn’t art when she posed naked covered
in chocolate? Perhaps she just enjoys having chocolate poured on her – nothing
artistic about that.
Is this
next picture of Pornchita not art either? Perhaps she actually uses two naked black men as her
couch (special order from IKEA?).
But Pornchita had a duty to fulfill by judging
Duangjai’s performance as not being “within the Thai cultural context.” After
all, Pornchita is a Deputy Spokesperson for the Thai Ministry of Culture.
Obviously, much of Pornchita’s work isn’t
“within the Thai cultural context” either. But that’s not the point.
As Deputy Spokesperson for Thailand’s
Ministry of Culture, Pornchita is supposed to accurately promote and project Thai culture
to the Thai people and the rest of the world. And one of the most prominent aspects of Thai
culture is the blatant use of “Double Standards” – especially by judges.
Now being a judge on a nationally
televised talent show is not quite at the same level as being an actual judge
in a court of justice but it is a judge nevertheless and a high profile one at
that. Now the entire world knows a little more about Thai culture thanks to
Pornchita.
Thailand’s Ministry of Culture has been
successfully trying to project Thailand’s culture of hypocrisy for some time
now. The most famous of their efforts was in 2011 when they admonished three
young girls for going topless during Songkran (Thai New Year) celebrations
while having this picture on their own website.
Now if I were a judge on “Thailand’s
Got Talent” I would have given a fairer evaluation to Duangjai’s performance
and her finished painting. To me art is
in the eye of the beholder and it has to represent something. It has to “stir my soul.”
Duangjai’s initial drawing of the yellow
outline of a person obviously represented the PAD movement. But what she did
afterwards totally lost me. She used her
breasts to aptly deface the image representing the PAD. Had she used her feet or, more appropriately,
her buttocks then that would have convinced me that she was a true artist and
had true talent. And the finished painting
seemed unremarkable to me.
Sorry, I’d have to give Duangjai a “No
Pass.”
Now as talent goes with regards to painting with body parts, nobody matches the fine artistry as that of Pricasso, an Australian painter.
I wonder what Pornchita would think of Pricasso?
My thoughts exactly, Pornchita.
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