#likay

[unpopularopinionbydemand]

"Why do you look so beautiful?"

LET ME INTO YOUR HEART - 1.2 | Zaleng as JA - Leon as JACK

✸ 💄🥁🩰🌟🪭 ✸

[maybe-boys-do-love]

While doing some research for a post, I stumbled onto an academic article comparing elements of one of the most popular traditional forms of Thai theater, Likay (sometimes called yike or yeeke)*, with Bertolt Brecht's alienation effect, a dramaturgical theory in fact derived from observation of Chinese theater traditions. The abstract and link for the article written in both Thai and English is below.

Scholar Paradee Tungtang at Khon Kaen University used a quote from an interviewee to title his article, "Yes, We Fully Realize We're Watching A Play," which gets at the heart of the alienation effect. The production elements--performances, sets, scripting, pacing--are meant to withhold the audience from fully submerging their consciousness into the world of the play. Then, the theory goes, they can better interpret the story rather than identify with it.

When complaints about Thai QL productions come from people, especially those who prefer their Korean counterparts or the more Western-influenced Thai directors (Boss Kuno, Aof Noppharnach, and Jojo Tichakorn), they seem to often be reacting to the elements that derive from these aesthetic goals, believing them to be poor taste, mistakes, or budgetary limitations rather than conscious choices with aesthetic value. Some elements certainly are due to budgetary restrictions, but the on-location guerilla shooting style of The Eighth Sense or GelBoys (shot entirely with iphones) that gets praised for its quality is significantly cheaper than the brightly lit and highly blocked multi-camera scenes in a large ensemble series like Perfect 10 Liners. Both styles have their place and their reasons.

Then, consider more closely, the effect a silly sound effect has on you, or, how the blowjob bread product-placement in Kinnporsche or the dick grab in the middle of a tense gun fight pulls you out of the moment. For a moment, suspend your judgment about whether these intentional moments are 'good' or 'bad.' Certain popular strains of Western criticism would have us believe immersion is measure of quality, but why can't there be value in feeling jarred, experiencing a piece of art as ridiculous, being aware of our own witness to events?

As promised, here's the abstract with the link attached to the title of the article below.

"Bertolt Brecht, a German theatre practitioner in the mid-20th century, marked the success of his career by introducing his ‘Epic Theatre’ with the use of a dramatic technique called ‘Verfremdungeffecks’ (V-effect), or ‘alienation effect’. ‘Brechtian’ acting style, which has been developed, practiced and popularized worldwide for decades, was a reaction against the most popular forms of theatre and naturalistic acting. The highest goal for using the alienation effect (V-effect) is to make the audience always realize that they are watching a play; they will never be “taken out of themselves” or immerse themselves so completely into the illusion of the drama, that they may be distracted from the main content of the story. The expected outcome for using V-effect is that the audience can reach an intellectual level of understanding of the play. Some Brechtian techniques include ‘breaking the fourth wall’ by having actors come out of their characters and address the audience directly, having actors play multiple roles, using some symbolic ornaments to represent actual props, or using non-realistic scenic design which can be conveniently rearranged by actors in full view of the audience -- just to name a few. Likay, though generally categorized as a low form of theatre viewed by local Thai audiences, has been one of the most popular and traditional Thai theatre forms for centuries. Likay includes a mixture of performance styles comprising spoken improvisation, singing, dancing and natural acting, supported by a live classical music band. Having been performed for successive generations without any background knowledge related to Brecht’s V-effect or any western theatre theories, Likay has nonetheless strictly followed the rules of its traditional acting styles which, coincidently, are very much similar to Brecht’s V-effect. The conclusion can be drawn that even though Thai Likay is performed in a way as if the V-effect is fully adopted, the main difference may lie in the highest goal to be achieved by these two types of performances (Brecht’s epic theatre and Thai Likay).

Paradee Tungtang, “Yes, We Fully Realize That We’re Watching a Play. We Just Don’t Realize That It’s Brecht.”: An Analysis of Brecht’s V-effect Technique Used in Thai Likay Theatre

*Just for examples of its enduring popularity as well as what I assume to be its inclusion in the continuing push for Thai soft-power policies, Likay was depicted in Sweet Tooth Good Dentist by Mark Pakin and some older actors--the costume seen above--and likay performances are consistently included in the big live performances for GMMTV like LOLfest and the PeBaCa concert (and I recommend looking them up cuz they're always hilarious!)

[miss0atae]

I really appreciate that the series takes the time to explain to its viewers few more information about Likay. Especially as we know Thai series are created firstly for Thai. It's great that we also get to learn more about this form of popular folk theatre/dance/song.

So it seems like everything starts with "Homrong Sathukan" to signal the beginning of the performance. It made me think of "les trois coups" (the three blows) in French theatre just before the start of a performance, in order to attract public attention for the rise of the curtain. In Likay, it also has a function of paying homage to people who made this a recognized art.

We also got some information about the makeup done. It seems that they wear heavy make-up to highlight the role they are playing. Men and women have black eyeliner and red lipstick. It seems like there is no stylist in Likay troupe as actors are responsible for most of the makeup, hair styling and outfitting.

Finally, it seems the Likay troupe in the series is paying respect to Pho Kae. I tried to look online who is this divinity/spirit, but I couldn't find anything. I wonder if the name can be written differently in Latin alphabet. 🤔

[heaven-is-in-your-arms-series]

Likay star Apo is always on my mind ✨️

[serafyne]

Zaleng singing the Let me into your heart OST

[gotmehookedonthekpop]

Their song. 🥺😭🥰

[chokuns]

So we are getting another Likay series😱

Just like Let Me Into Your Heart they better hire real Likay singers here

Series is by copyabangkok

[sound-and-vision-inspiration]

Friend: So what are you thinking about?

Me: at any given moment...🙂‍↕️

Likay Star Apo Na Mon ✨💛✨