Spider-Man II & The Whitening of Thailand

I went to see Spider-Man II yesterday. Pretty cool. Went to see it at Major Cineplex. With money in Thailand, you can live like a king. The Major Cineplex has Greek/Roman Columns on the front. Inside, it's decorated like a palace with lighting, carpets, and other details. Also, you can select your own seats. They have a computer screen that shows you a layout of the theatre and the seat positions, and you are able to tell them what seats you want. That's pretty cool. No having to arrive early to wait in line, so you don't get stuck in the front of the screen like at Cinemark. It was incredibly fancy, and I loved it.

Tickets cost 120B each.

I watched the soundtrack version. I guess the movie was all right. I enjoyed it. But I'm incredibly excited at the 3rd movie because I'd really like to see what happens between Spider-Man and James Franco's character. I think they did a great job setting up the storyline for the 3rd movie.

***I've decided I'm going to do a little project called the Whitening of Thailand. Basically, it's going to be about how Thai society, culture, and people are moving from their Asian roots to Western lifestyle.

One of the most common examples of Thais shifting values is through changing physical details. There are more nose jobs than ever before. Celebs aren't the only ones undergoing the procedure. Common people with money also want a higher ridge for their noses. In Thailand, mixed children are the rage, especially those who look European i.e. light skinned, high nose. Because of their popularity, many cosmetics companies sell their productions with words/promises like/of "whitening," "lightening" etc...

Thai people are beginning to dress more provactively than ever before, especially Thai actress/singers who wear low cut dresses/shirts/jeans. English names for Thai children are on the rise. Also, more and more bands have English names.

From the Western perspective, this is nothing new. But, in Thailand, still a conservative country compared to the West, this trend is damaging the core, traditional values that Thais have long held.

White has become the new major word in Thailand.

I see it as a contradiction, and also inevitable result of Thailand's past. Thailand has prided itself on being the only South East Asian country not to have been conquered by a foreign country. It was able to retain its independence at a time when foreign, mainly European, countries were conquering its neighbors.

So its culture has been slowly blending with the West, but is far behind other countries who had European conquers (I haven't found the right word yet). Now that East is discovering West more and more, there's an explosion of the West's influence over Thailand.

That's just some of my incomplete thought on that. When I'm more organize, I'll try to get more in-depth with my project.

Random snippets:
-- I heard Nelly's Ride Wit Me during a segment on a plant market.
-- Saw a bit of Blair Witch II. Eww. Didn't get it in English, and hated in Thai.
-- There's a cool game show called Game To-Si-Gun. If contestants are able to guess 10 straight faces, made up of Thai and international people, both past and present, they will get 10 million B.