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Tonhon Chonlatee thai drama review
Ongoing 3/10
Tonhon Chonlatee
10 people found this review helpful
by bruh4real
Nov 29, 2020
3 of 10 episodes seen
Ongoing
Overall 3.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 2.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

when Humor is controversial

This post ISN'T telling you what you can or can not like, what you should or should not find humorous, or that you should or shouldn't watch this series. also its a long one.

Actually I'm taking a college course in Humor and Laughter right now and just like what y'all pointed out, humor can be used to shame or humiliate someone. But on the other hand, it could also be used as a tool to gain acceptance and agreeance. Say, a speaker says something funny and you laughed, in order words, you subconsciously agree with the speaker even though you don't vocalize it or if asked if you agree, you may not acknowledge it. (give it a sec for that to sink in, it makes sense right?)

Humor can also be used as a tool to gain attention. But what does this show do with the attention we've given it? well nothing meaningful that's for sure. For example, ep1 when Chon was molested, the scene after he had a talk with Ton. About how, NOT ALL GAYS are bad people etc. That is meaningful even though Chon was testing Ton rather than coming from a place that wants to educate him. So i was expecting ep 3 for Ton to apologize or have Chon point out how it wasn't cool to force your friend to do something they have not given consent to. But what did we get? more "humorous" jokes from Ton imitating Chon after creepily eavesdropping. What we don't get is the meaningful conversation that comes after the audience gives them the attention.

i get it's supposed to be funny. I get it's satiric and ironic and what not. But that doesn't mean I have to laugh at it or find it funny. If Ton were to start spewing nonsense like how he thinks rapists and murderers should be praised and his friends look at him like "uhmmm" but smiling as if they agree just as how they do when he spews homophobic and toxic masculinity lines, will you find that funny?

So don't tell us the obvious, we know its "humor and supposed to be funny". But we're just addressing it because it's not funny to us so you don't have to act as if we're stupid that we don't realize its humor and finding the need to point it out. We point it out because, again, there were not any meaningful conversations between the characters. Below are 3 examples, one from each episode I found disturbing and not funny.

Having a feminine gay Molest someone then later saying "IM JUST A GIRL DON'T HURT ME" is NOT funny. That is problematic on multiple layers; first molesting someone is not humorous in any way, 2nd thai BL have a tendency to portray darker skinned folks as the "villain" so to speak, and lastly it feeds into the "gay people are predators" stereotype. This is a issue of misrepresentation. (ep1)

Pushing your friend (chon) into a room with a stranger you (ton) picked out even tho the friend (chon) is EXPLICITLY saying "NO" IS NOT funny. Then later making fun of it by imitating it is NOT funny. This is an issue of consent. (ep2)

finding the need to "BUY" a fake girlfriend just to prove to your over the top masculine friend that you're 100% most definitely straight is NOT funny. That is a toxic relationship. (ep3)

I'll give you your "its satire" when Ton spews his problematic lines and it's supposed to be ironic. But the three that stood out to me (and I'm sure theres more) that I find problematic about this show is not just THAT SIMPLE. BUT the stuff I listed above shouldn't even be humorous, PERIOD.

We have identified that Humor is a tool that is used in writing, BUT it should never overshadow the plot to the point where it hurts the actual story. That is the issue we're pointing out. Not just because we have no sense of humor.

EDIT: also, as we have established, Humor can be used to SHAME. That is the point of this show. This show doesn't aim to EDUCATE but rather to SHAME (at least thats the vibe I'm getting) which is why it's toxic.
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