"Beer Bar in the Bangkok Night" - Chris Coles
Bangkok Noir/Southeast Asia
Noir is fertile and deep and provides a rich almost infinite source of
materials, ideas, stories and visual images for all sorts of writers, musicians,
film-makers and artists.
While there's a lesser or
greater degree of noir everywhere in the world, I think each country and area
has their own version of noir, with their own characteristics, cast of
characters, colors, music and ambiance.
In the case of Southeast Asia
and Bangkok noir,
in my view at least, some of the characteristics often used or mis-used are:
An overall atmosphere of fatalism,
acceptance and passivity in the face of adverse circumstances, no matter how
unjust, unfair and unpleasant those circumstance might be.
A resignation in the face of unavoidable
Karmic burdens acquired in past lives and deeds, burdens from which there is no
escape.
A world where endemic corruption is not
only considered to be "normal"
and "permanent" but in some cases, "essential".
Double helpings of impunity, disenfranchisement
and rule by Big Men.
An absence of meaningful Rule of Law.
Almost no guaranteed rights for the general
population, whether unassailable property rights, equality under the Law, the right
to equal opportunity and social mobility, or what are sometimes referred to as
"Civil Rights" or "Constitutional Rights".
The individuals portrayed in much of Southeast
Asia and Bangkok noir are often arbitrarily subject to state and Big Man violence, selective and
biased law enforcement, in extreme instances, even assassination and
disappearances.
In many of these noir stories, songs, films
and art, Southeast Asia and Bangkok are sometimes, but not always, portrayed as worlds in which some of the
inhabitants accept their own powerlessness or impotence in the face of arbitrary,
unrestrained authority.
Accept that they have little or no recourse
in the face of widespread injustice.
Accept that large and endemic commercial
sex industries as well as rampant illegal drug industries are deeply and
permanently embedded in the structure of their societies and that these
socially corrosive industries often operate with the complicity and are
sometimes even under the control of state authorities as well as the various
Big Men.
Accept that, in certain geographic areas
and locations, there are organized child or underage sex businesses, accompanied
by inevitable corrosive impacts and consequences.
Accept that, even in year 2014, there still
exists indentured servitude and even outright slave labor, an ongoing
trafficking/indentured-related movement of men, women, and children across
international borders.
Accept that there is large-scale trade in illegal
and counterfeit goods and weapons, drugs and narcotics.
Accept that there are and always will be
huge disparities in incomes, living standards, asset ownership, etc. etc.
For the various writers, musicians,
filmmakers and artists working in Bangkok and Southeast Asia who are inspired by or looking for noir
subjects and themes, there seems to be no shortage of noir material.
Playing a central role in all
this surplus of noir is, of course, the widespread and sometimes industrial
scale nightlife/commercial sex industry that exists in Bangkok and throughout Southeast Asia.
And while almost every
country and every part of our world has at least some nightlife/commercial sex
industry, what is unusual in Southeast Asia and Bangkok is not only the sheer scale but also
the high level of creativity and resources brought to bear.
The use of multiple,
overlapping music tracks.
The astute, often very creative
use of casting, costumes, lighting, neon, signage and dynamic colors.
The seemingly endless supply
of delicious and aromatic cuisine that accompanies and is present in many Southeast Asia nightlife venues.
The often warm and inviting
ambiance that is an integral part of how the nightlife is delivered and
consumed.
And of course, the Southeast Asia and Bangkok nightlife's most essential core ingredient, without which it could not exist: the hundreds of thousands of young and attractive females, males and
ladyboys, many with a surprisingly high level of intelligence, wit, style and
charm.
There's definitely a kind of power
that radiates out from the Bangkok and Southeast Asia nightlife and a magnetic noir that is
unique, unusual and often compelling.
Something that, year after
year, draws in millions of people, workers and consumers, from every walk of
life, every part of the world, every level of life.
Most of my own paintings are
drawn from this richness and noir power.
The girls, boys, ladyboys.
The customers, staff and infrastructure.
The music, lighting, neon and
signage.
The ambiance, the stories,
the lies.
The beauty, poignancy,
tragedy. The hundreds of thousands of lost
opportunities.
The alienation, dis-connection
and objectification.
I often wander through the
Bangkok Noir looking for inspiration.
I find it to be a rich source
of ideas, characters, costumes,
situations, colors, stories and lighting.
I hope I've managed to capture and convey at least some of it's myriad levels of beauty, ugliness, horror, sadness and
joy.
The virtues, deficits and defects of
some of the people who inhabit it.
And some of the dreams, nightmares and dilemmas of
mankind's existence on our post-modern and globalized version of Planet Earth.
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Slide Show that accompanied Chris Coles talk at "Bangkok Noir Night of Fiction" Check Inn 99 January 5th, 2014
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Alasdair McLeod photo of Chris Coles at Check Inn 99 Bangkok Noir event Jan 5, 2014
(available from Alasdair McLoed's Demotix account if anyone is interested)
Labels: bangkok noir, Bangkok Noir Night of Fiction, Cara Black, Check Inn 99, Chris Catto-Smith, Chris Coles, christopher g. moore, James A. Newman, January 2014, john burdett, Tom Vater
