Artists are using humour to make fun of those in power
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Read the following story by Thana Boonlert from Bangkok Post’s Life section. Then, answer the questions that follow.
It was not as cute as it looked. After the largest pro-democracy movement since the military coup in 2014, university and high school students cuddled hamster dolls and ran around in circles. "Delicious tax!" hundreds of them sang. Hamtaro, a Japanese manga about a hamster, was used to mean caged mice demanding freedom, and inspired many internet memes, including a cartoon of Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Humour meets politics
More political memes are on view at the exhibition "Memes of Dissent: Thai Social Media During the 2020-2021 Student Uprising" at Artcade in Phayao until Oct 1. The exhibition explores the meeting of social media and political activism.
Inspired by political cartoon pages on Facebook, one artist named Jirawat has created memes -- pieces of information that are adapted to make a comment through humour -- to express ideas on his own site titled Kon Klom Kon Liam. He has even managed to earn some income from supporters.
His political cartoon page now has over 99,000 followers. Recent memes are a satire of the Pheu Thai Party's new coalition government formation. Another has a dialogue between Albus Dumbledore and Thaksin-faced Snape, who says that he will always postpone his return from self-exile.
No sense of humour
"Making fun is the means by which ordinary people can challenge those in power," said Anon Chawalawan, founder of the Museum of Popular History.
Anon explained that political satire, including memes, has long been a feature of the mainstream media. The Internet, however, opens up space for public participation. Social media further helps users with technology, skill and humour to break into the field more easily.
"But the key is to make fun of those in power. In this exhibition, I like Thaksin's meme in which he is re-edited to ask whether it is his fault again for all sorts of the country's problems," Anon said.
"The interesting aspect of internet memes is how they allow users to build on free templates for further development," Anon said. "As a result, political campaigners can use them to promote democracy at no cost. But I'm not sure whether leaders in this country, who have no sense of humour, will ban them."
Section 1: Write the correct answer in the space provided.
1. How many students san at a recent event? …………….
2. What venue is hosting the exhibition? …………….
3. Who runs Kon Klom Kon Liam? …………….
4. Who did Thaksin appear as in a recent meme? …………….
5. What has been in the media for a long time?…………..
6. Anon is confident that memes will be banned. True or false? …………….
Section 2: Read the following passage. Then, fill in the blanks with the correct words from the choices given.
For Sarawut, memes are not …7… he and his friends in their 40s are …8… with. In the pre-social media era, he depended …9… short messages, radio and television that …10… updates all day.
7. __A. someone __B. sometimes __C. something
8. __A. family __B. familiar __C. famous
9. __A. in __B. on __C. for
10. __A. provide __B. provided __C. provides
Section 3: Find words that match the following definitions.
11. working to achieve political or social change ……………
12. a group of political parties working together ……………
13. radio, TV, books, newspapers and the Internet etc. ……………
14. to say officially that something is not allowed …………
