'Hard cover. 160 color pages of pure old-fashioned sexism, outrageous political incorrectness and borderline humor with a touch of ugly neocolonialist patronizing that will definitely make this book strictly forbidden in 20 years."
The blurb says it all. End of review.
Okay, the go-go bar can wait a few minutes. Legendary cartoonist Stephff -- and after 10 years at The Nation and many more elsewhere penning the most perceptive, poignant cartoons in Southeast Asia, "legend" is no myth -- has released a tome on the frontlines of several different culture wars. The foreigner's attempts to navigate the many flavours of Thainess for one, and the skirmishing around the line between funny and offensive for another. It's a broadside that shows its backside to the new woke dictatorship.
The woke era has certainly had a chilling effect on media worldwide and everyday conversations in many nations. But Stephff, real name Stephane Peray, is hotter than ever. He roasts every taboo and rule of etiquette he can find -- and the number of sociocultural hot potatoes stuffed into Farang Affairs 2 is enough to choke a low-carb dieter.
Stereotypes abound. Greedy, manipulative bar girls. Deceitful gem sellers and taxi drivers. Entitled, whingeing foreigners. Self- and selfie-obsessed women. Dumb, culturally-inept farang. Craven sex tourists. Jealous, controlling, vindictive wives. Social-climbing farm girls. Sweaty, smelly, obese foreigners. Spoiled Western women unable to cope with rural life. Sadistic, arrogant immigration officials. Arrogant, hi-so Chinese-Thai. Fat Thai businessmen or dignitaries with multiple mistresses. Clueless, unhelpful shop staff.
Caricature? In buffalo helpings. The farang have long beak noses, are generally fat and are usually drinking beer. Most of the Thais are portrayed with wide nostrils and are small (except for the fat officials).
Some cartoons skewer several stereotypes at once. On seeing a gangly, lovestruck white guy with a dumpy Thai girl, a passing middle-class Thai tells his wife: "Check this out: Hopeless farmer girl has found a romantic farang husband." A passing, hairy foreigner also ridicules the doting Westerner's naivety, while his Thai girlfriend thinks: "At least he's not an asshole!"
When individuals are not caricatured, cultural oddities are. Lucky charms that are ascribed supernatural powers or concoctions that purportedly confer magical sex powers. The obsession with skin-whitening creams. Exploitation of migrant workers. Nepotism and face-saving.
Common themes are present, but often with a wicked twist -- the distressed damsel locked in the castle yells out "Short time 4,000 baht" while the monstrous mamasan standing guard wants a 1,000 baht bar fine before she can be "rescued".
Stephff dives into many farang pet peeves and chronic frustrations, from the ban on land ownership to bureaucratic ineptitude. In one cartoon, immigration officials plot a TM555 form requiring "aliens to notify every breath they take".
In another a cop tells a decapitated motorcyclist: "K. Farang, you are at fault: you haven't acknowledged how very connected this Ferrari driver is." A third shows an entrance fee signboard: Thai National 20 baht, Farang 400 baht, Very Angry Farang 4,000 baht.
In many ways, Stephff is a classical satirical cartoonist. His drawings are effective -- politically poignant, uproariously funny or both -- because of caricature. They portray a characteristic that is exaggerated to the point of absurdity.
But as with any other brand of humour, someone is going to be offended. And that someone is usually missing the point. Praise for and enjoyment of a satirical triumph like Farang Affairs 2 is not synonymous with denial of millennia of racist, sexist, patriarchal oppression, or the need for fundamental social and cultural re-engineering to end discrimination, prejudice and concentration of power. For the record, a female friend who has suffered rape and sexual harassment in the past read Farang Affairs 2 cover-to-cover and found it hilarious -- because she was able to see it in context and understand the intention is to entertain and critique, not to excuse or offend.
The former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan's career is on the ropes because he is accused of uttering the words "There's too many of you lot, we need to have a word about it" to a group of Asian players in 2009. Vaughan denies saying it, but even his chief accuser Azeem Rafiq admits the words -- if said at all -- were clearly meant in jest. Any joke involving race, in any context, said at any time, however affectionately intended, is now enough to end a career. Good-natured banter is grounds for cancellation or witch-hunting. As a journalist friend said to me last year: "I have just stopped making any jokes. Period."
Perhaps, in the future, the woke police will monitor the laughing emoticons posted after Stephff cartoons and charge offenders with a computer crime. Or every cartoon will come with a disclaimer, such as "Not all white men are fat, beer-guzzling sex addicts" or "Not all farmers' daughters become greedy, manipulative bar girls".
Until then, we can enjoy and cherish the relative freedom we still have here in Thailand. We can raise eyebrows, guffaw and appreciate Stephff's delightful skewering of cultural idiosyncrasies and absurdities. And embrace our collective faults and foibles. Nobody emerges from Stephff's world unscathed by his humour. Or knowing the whereabouts of their face.
Farang Affairs 2 is only available in a hard-cover print run of 2,000 copies. To order, contact stephff.artist@gmail.com.
- Farang Affairs 2
- By Stephane Peray
- 160pp (hard cover only)
- 1,400 baht
