If you are a real Korean drama fan, you must know one of the most legendary drama that everyone was so obsessed with , Boys over flowers or F4.
Many people were mistaken that this drama is originally from Korea, but it is actually from Taiwan. The story of F4 is about a poor girl who got scholarship and got a chance to go to the school that’s full of many people who came from rich family.
But living in a high society is not that easy, especially when you came from the middle class or poor family.
F4 Thailand is different from all the old versions of F4 from both Taiwan and Korea in the way that F4 Thailand is more focused on the inequality and about the growing gaps between richest and poorest Thais in the society. But, still, they also keep the storyline about bullying in school and choose to add some symbolic throughout the dialogue of the characters.
Like in the first episode, there is a scene when Phupha, a student who try to expose the truth of F4, but it turned out that everyone in the school didn’t seem to follow or think the same as him. There are dialogues said by “Thyme”, the hero of this drama which really reflect each person’s deep subconscious that were hidden inside.
“Do you think I ordered them to bully you?”
“We, F4, just allow them to have anonymous accounts in real life.”
In this scene, they compare the dark side of people with the anonymous accounts on the internet. You will see that the world of internet, there are some kinds of people who could do anything they want without realizing if it would hurt others. Which the purpose of what they are doing is that they just want to have some space to release their stress.
Actually we could say that it’s like an awkwardness that was trapped inside for so long because of the morals of society that frame them, but when there is a chance given by the person who have power, certainly, people who want to let go of their frustrations would immediately grab that opportunity for being their true self without worrying anything.
“You only need to have enough money to donate to the school to rule it.”
This dialogue show us the power of the money. In this society, you can do anything you want if you think you have enough money to erase all the evidences that can bring you down into troubles.
In Thailand, there are many cases that police choose to end the investigation because the defendant is the person who has more power and have more money. And in this drama, there is also the dialogue that says
“If no one can ever make a difference, a nobody like us can’t either.”
Which we can interpret and apply it to real life that if no one initiates it, no change will occur. The fact that people did not dare to take the initiative to do something differently, the problems that have been pending for a long time will never be solved.
This scene is showing that some rich people are unaware of the inequality in society. When Lita, the fiancé of Thyme, came to Gorya’s house, she was so surprised with many things in the house that actually is very normal which this show the gap between the richest and poorest thais that growing every years.
Which in Thailand, there is only 0.1% of the Thai population who are so rich that they own 46.5% of all of Thailand’s total assets.
There are still many reality that showing the inequality in Thailand which what was showing in F4 Thailand are just part of all of the problems. Maybe we as a citizen can also find a way to solve it or at least come out and share the existing problem so that more people are aware of it.
3 Comments
Comments are closed.
Love this article😍. I’ve seen all of the F4 versions, and the one aspect of this drama that I don’t like the most is the violence, which I find to be too overwhelming. Also, I agree that F4 Thailand is very comparable to reality in Thai society because the plotline of F4 Thailand is focused on inequality and the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor, which I believe is similar to what happens in Thai society. The first episode of this drama, in my opinion, demonstrated that people usually and always support people who wield power and don’t give a damn about what matters even they re ruining someone’s life.
I also watch this version of F4, and I totally agree that this series always presenting the gaps and differences between rich and poor people which we can obviously see it in our reality. I also love that this article compare each scene with important dialogue which makes me understand a lot more.
Interesting article, I’m the one who watch F4 Thailand but I never watched the previous version so I don’t know what the plotline of the other version is. However, the point is so obvious it’s about bullying and inequality of class in society as you mentioned. The character of F4 which is the richest family in the country when they make some mistake will be solved with money because there is one scene where the protagonist destroys things in the school but the problem was solved by his mother asking the secretary to bring money to the school to close the news. On the other hand, if someone who is in a middle class or poor family destroys things or damages a school would have been punished. Therefore, this is probably the gap between the richest and poorest in the series that is clearly occurring in Thai society.