After the great presentation that we had in class and inspired by the readings for this week, I thought it would be interesting to share an LGBTQ program that has been acclimated on a global scale which I mentioned in class. This happens to be RuPaul's Drag Race being adapted for Thailand called Drag Race Thailand. I actually forgot about this show until this weeks topic. Since we also mostly talked about scripted programming in a globally distributed context, I thought it would be cool to share an adaptation of reality television. Below is the link to the trailer if people want to watch it! It's pretty Fabulous!!
Link Below:
Drag Race Thailand Super Trailer (English Subtitles)
Would totally check this out! I'm surprised it's taken this long to get this on board there, considering the cultural context and the LGBTQ community of Thailand. It's also worth noting how prevalent LGBTQ representation is in Southeast Asia and the Pacific like the Philippines.
ReplyDeleteOh I know right! I was surprised that it took this long as well. From what I can tell they will be streaming it through a
Deletestreaming service called WOWPresents call "Wow Present Plus+". That has caused quite a-lot of controversy because people are pissed for needing to pay to view content provided by World of Wonder which was originally free on Youtube. Here is an article from Entertainment Weekly further discussing it:
http://ew.com/tv/2018/04/16/drag-race-thailand-season-1-premiere-date/
I also just realized that there is a Latin American version of the show too called "The Switch Drag Race." Specifically it's Chilean and I think that will also have a US Premiere on WOWPresent Plus+ too but I'm not positive.
The website for that is here too :):
http://www.mega.cl/programas/the-switch-2015/
I'll make that a separate post on the blog too if anyone is interested!
This isn't really TV-related, but Phil's post and Krystle's comment remind me of an instance of Thai-American LGBTQ culture/issues intersecting along another vector, with some recent controversy surrounding the name of a hip Thai street food-inspired (and white-owned) restaurant in Detroit. I'll spare you a personal rant about the whole hoopla, but this article (https://www.metrotimes.com/table-and-bar/archives/2017/08/21/why-katoi-is-an-offensive-restaurant-name-and-should-be-changed) presents some interesting arguments, and this (ttps://detroit.eater.com/2017/8/23/16194616/katoi-detroit-restaurant-changes-name-takoi-transgender-criticism) gives an account of the aftermath of the controversy (which came to a head in part because of the circulation of the first article).
ReplyDelete*One should check the meanings of words before committing them to writing. I do not think the above-mentioned controversy was a hoopla (via the OED: an "unnecessary fuss around some thing"). Rather, it was productive. Of what exactly? A discourse around trans issues, cultural appropriation, and gentrification which pushed a restaurant toward a minor rebranding, at least. Though that doesn't make me any less cranky about the restaurant in question, which nonetheless has pretty good food and stuff.
ReplyDelete