This review may contain spoilers
There's one missing
I wasn't going to write about this, but, as usual, I can't shut up.
Other people have talked about how badly DID was represented, I agree and don't have much to add to that, except that you can't cure mental illness with "romantic love" and pushing that idea could stigmatise an already stigmatised condition and other mental health conditions by extent. I do know that shows have some creative liberty and the Cinderella DID, which switches at midnight, is a bit nonsense enough to maybe not be taken as a norm by people who don't know about the illness, but you never know.
You don't need to do a disservice to mentally ill people if you want to talk about the multiple facets women can have within themselves and how not all of them should be accepted and loved. It's a bit sad that, to show the multidimensionality of women, you need to make it into an illness that then is cured by love or whatever. It also raises the question of having to be healed to be deserving of love. People with mental illnesses are capable of having a love life and people who love them, even if they can't be cured.
What I really have to talk about is the sex trafficking apology. It is pushed as sex work, a personal decision for adults kind of thing when, in fact, that's not the reality. While trying to show the reality of sex work to the character, they ended up showing propaganda that has serious consequences in real life. I'm not a prude, it's not about sex or the individual right to sell whatever part of the body the person wishes to. Usually, we tend to see the individual stances, instead of the systemic forces and consequences behind it. They referenced sex work as a driver for tourism in Thailand as if that is a good thing. We all know (or should know) about passport bros and how problematic they are in Asia and other countries with high wealth gaps. It's an industry of exploitation, trafficking that doesn't just involve adult women or men (who usually come from poverty), it often involves children. Portraying sex tourism in a positive light is being compliant and complicit in the abuse of women and children. The FL does push the point that if people had other choices in life, they wouldn't chose that path. It's sad the show decided to push personal choice, instead of talking about the system that makes people choose this path or be thrown in these circles of abuse and trafficking by their family at an age when they can't consent. Not all money is welcome, not all money develops countries and classes in the same way or even in a desirable and healthy way. And we can't keep reducing systemic problems to choice and "girl bossism". There needs to be a social responsibility other than "money good" and "individual choice". We should, above all, protect the children. Promoting sex tourism is promoting the abuse of children.
About the show, it was ok. The actors were good, the cinematography fantastic, as per usual.
I might stop watching these type of shows because I have to turn off my brain to enjoy them and that doesn't happen very often, the cinematography alone isn't motive enough to get me to watch a story. There are so many parts that don't make sense, but I'll talk about the ending. It doesn't make sense to me that she asks Sun which one she should be, especially when she is Marnmok. It doesn't make sense to me that being cured means she sticks to one personality and not a 6th one who represents the unity of them all, since they are all her. It also doesn't make sense to me that Sairung, the "pretty and sexy" one, is the one who remains - it shows the shallowness of Asian beauty standards. The personality who had the most time with Sun (and with us) was Marnmok, she was the one who truly drove him to make an effort to become a better self and develop himself as a person, alongside herself. They both grew together. There's more history with her than with the other personalities, there's also friction and more of what being in love is about. With the others it's all more shallow and fleeting.
Other people have talked about how badly DID was represented, I agree and don't have much to add to that, except that you can't cure mental illness with "romantic love" and pushing that idea could stigmatise an already stigmatised condition and other mental health conditions by extent. I do know that shows have some creative liberty and the Cinderella DID, which switches at midnight, is a bit nonsense enough to maybe not be taken as a norm by people who don't know about the illness, but you never know.
You don't need to do a disservice to mentally ill people if you want to talk about the multiple facets women can have within themselves and how not all of them should be accepted and loved. It's a bit sad that, to show the multidimensionality of women, you need to make it into an illness that then is cured by love or whatever. It also raises the question of having to be healed to be deserving of love. People with mental illnesses are capable of having a love life and people who love them, even if they can't be cured.
What I really have to talk about is the sex trafficking apology. It is pushed as sex work, a personal decision for adults kind of thing when, in fact, that's not the reality. While trying to show the reality of sex work to the character, they ended up showing propaganda that has serious consequences in real life. I'm not a prude, it's not about sex or the individual right to sell whatever part of the body the person wishes to. Usually, we tend to see the individual stances, instead of the systemic forces and consequences behind it. They referenced sex work as a driver for tourism in Thailand as if that is a good thing. We all know (or should know) about passport bros and how problematic they are in Asia and other countries with high wealth gaps. It's an industry of exploitation, trafficking that doesn't just involve adult women or men (who usually come from poverty), it often involves children. Portraying sex tourism in a positive light is being compliant and complicit in the abuse of women and children. The FL does push the point that if people had other choices in life, they wouldn't chose that path. It's sad the show decided to push personal choice, instead of talking about the system that makes people choose this path or be thrown in these circles of abuse and trafficking by their family at an age when they can't consent. Not all money is welcome, not all money develops countries and classes in the same way or even in a desirable and healthy way. And we can't keep reducing systemic problems to choice and "girl bossism". There needs to be a social responsibility other than "money good" and "individual choice". We should, above all, protect the children. Promoting sex tourism is promoting the abuse of children.
About the show, it was ok. The actors were good, the cinematography fantastic, as per usual.
I might stop watching these type of shows because I have to turn off my brain to enjoy them and that doesn't happen very often, the cinematography alone isn't motive enough to get me to watch a story. There are so many parts that don't make sense, but I'll talk about the ending. It doesn't make sense to me that she asks Sun which one she should be, especially when she is Marnmok. It doesn't make sense to me that being cured means she sticks to one personality and not a 6th one who represents the unity of them all, since they are all her. It also doesn't make sense to me that Sairung, the "pretty and sexy" one, is the one who remains - it shows the shallowness of Asian beauty standards. The personality who had the most time with Sun (and with us) was Marnmok, she was the one who truly drove him to make an effort to become a better self and develop himself as a person, alongside herself. They both grew together. There's more history with her than with the other personalities, there's also friction and more of what being in love is about. With the others it's all more shallow and fleeting.
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