Tuesday, April 17, 2007

SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY: FEAR OF REALITY

Thank you very much Zach Campbell, for helping people to sign the petition to help Apichatpong.
http://elusivelucidity.blogspot.com/2007/04/help-joe-out.html

Brian Darr wrote a very good comment about the case of Syndromes and a Century here:

http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/archives/2007/04/syndromes_and_a.html

I believe that the case of SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY is partly caused by the double-standards applied to Thai people in some careers. Actually, I think that the problems of Thai censorship in general is caused by their lack of standards.

What Brian Darr said in Peter Nellhaus' blog makes me think about what FILMSICK said in Thai in his blog. It makes me think that some people tried to destroy SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY because it is so close to reality that they can't bear. If the film were a low comedy, it wouldn't have aroused their "fear of reality" as much as this.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Celinejulie, I'm glad you appreciated my comment at Peter's place. I'm so glad you're blogging about this situation so consistently.

On the subject of double-standards: I do want to be clear that I don't believe Thailand is alone in having double-standards. Pernicious double-standards exist throughout the world, most definitely including here in the United States. Ours may be some of the most destructive of all (for example, the different standards of legal responsibility we have for corporations and individuals). But that doesn't mean that the double standard seemingly being applied to SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY is all right.

Your suggestion that censors are afraid of reality, the implication being that films should be nothing more than escapism, is quite troubling.

Another possibility is perhaps even more troubling: that the differing standards applied to an independent Thai film and a Hollywood import may be primarily rooted in the profit motive.

celinejulie said...

Thank you very much for your comment, Brian.

I don’t have much to say about the censorship and SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY now. I have to admit that I feel exhausted in this fight. It kind of drains my soul. The more I think about what happens in Thailand right now, the more I feel bad. Now I really understand what INJUSTICE feels like. But seeing the names in the petition grow longer and longer encourages me to think that there’s still hope in this world.

Brian Darr said...

Yes, that increasing number of names on the petition is encouraging. I hope you get a chance to see the film.