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Published: February 3rd 2009
It is refreshing to be in a country where a leader is seemingly universally loved and admired, though I suppose that the King’s ceremonial post saves him from the difficult and sometimes unpopular political and economic decisions (and accompanying vitriol) that the prime minister faces.
The absolute monarchy was abolished in Thailand in the mid 1930s, with the abdication of King Rama VII.* Since then, then king has been the figurehead and ceremonial master of the constitutional monarchy, keeper of culture and tradition and a Buddhist (this is required). The king can, however, intercede at times into the arena of politics when there is trouble; for example, the king brought the two warring factions together after the military coup in 1992 in order to help facilitate an end to the violence.
I went to my first movie in a movie theatre since I got to Thailand (though I’ve watched countless rented movies on my laptop!). I went to a 4-screen theatre in Bang Saen. Out of the four movies playing, I was pleased in a way to see that 3 of them were Thai (2 with English subtitles) and 1 was an American movie with Thai subtitles. I picked
the next movie, which was a Thai one translated as Smiling Gangster. The movie was vaguely entertaining, clever in a few parts, but mostly too slapstick-y for my taste. But I enjoyed the overall experience, which was mostly like home except for a few key things. The first thing was that at the ticket counter, you choose your seat and they program it in, sort of like when you buy airline tickets or when you check in at the kiosk and can choose your seat. It was a big theatre and I sat front and center—not really that far front actually, but for some reason I was still the one closest to the screen. The second surprise was the cute Thai girls that take tickets also wave metal detector wands over you and look in your bags as you go into the theatre. Strange, but there are also signs that say no cameras so I suppose maybe they are trying to crack down a bit on the pirated (i.e. camcorded in the theatre) DVDs that are found in every market. The third surprise and prompt for this entry happened after the previews. I was settling into my seat with a bag of popcorn, ready for the movie to start so I could start understanding something (no subtitles on the previews, of course!) when I heard a collective noise behind me. I looked over my shoulder, thinking that maybe a large herd of latecomers had arrived, but I realized that everyone was standing up. I did the same and looked back at the screen in time to see a message saying about taking time to honor “Our Majesty the King.” What followed was about a minute and a half photo montage, set to music. At the end everyone sat down as a unit and the movie began. I found it to be strangely touching.
On a separate but somewhat related note, I was once at a Skytrain station in Bangkok amidst the Friday afterwork rush hour hustle and bustle. Suddenly the woman who had pushed me aside to get in line at the ticket counter seemed glued to her spot (in my way). Just as I was about to go around her, prepared with my best harumph, I noticed that EVERYONE was standing still. I heard the first few notes of music over a loudspeaker. At the time I didn't know for sure if it was the Thai National Anthem or a song for the King, but I came to find out that it was the former and as soon as it was over, people carried on their way, just as busy as before the song began. I was told that Thai citizens can be arrested for failing to respect the silence and standstill protocal, so perhaps it isn't all for patriotism alone!
* This information came from the following book: Thai Culture and Society by Roger Welty
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Courtney
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I thought the photo montage at the movies was funny too! Well not funny ha-ha, but kind of cute and different. I remembered you telling me about hearing the natl. anthem at 6 that day, and one day when I was at the park at that time, the same thing happened. I stopped along with everyone else, but seemed to get more stares from Thais that I knew to actually stop!