Why do Southeast Asian Cultures Deserve a VOICE & IMPACT?
Author: Chutema Seng | Posted on March 12, 2022
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This is a brief interview conducted with Mr. Lyseng Kea, a famous Thai novelist and filmmaker. The interview mainly focuses on the important aspects of Southeast Asian culture to present its cultural values, identity and spread this identity through the interpretation of film and literature.
We believe that it is very important for Southeast Asian cultures to present to the world and our cultures truly deserve to have a voice and impact for many reasons. Although Southeast Asian cultures and traditions display and vary greatly compared to the West cultures, we as Asians, have a very unique identity and values in terms of what we believe in and respect that has been passed down from our heritage ancestors, decades after decades.
The magnificent and intrinsic values of Southeast Asian cultures truly reflect and shape our people’s lives, and most importantly it affects our value. This also includes what we consider as RIGHT or WRONG.
Mr. Lyseng also added that, “This is how the society we live in influences our CHOICE, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a choice. We do have a choice, and our choice can also influence others and ultimately help shape our society and build a stronger community”.
For the past centuries, Southeast Asian cultures were being neglected and disregarded from the central attention due to the post-colonial power and the IMF Financial Crisis in 1997 that scraped across the Southeast Asia region. We believe that this is now the time to take action, raise awareness, and speak for our cultures and traditions. We aim to bring an impact by encouraging the preservation of diverse values and gaining a mutual understanding of Southeast Asian basic foundations and important elements, including language, customs, and cultural traditions.
Moreover, Film and Literature is a great utilization and implementation that was also recommended by Mr. Lyseng. He firmly believed that Film and Literature have a powerful and influential impact in showcasing and spreading our voices, our message, and our identity to the other parts of the world, just by visual and written texts. This will allow viewers across other platforms in the world to observe and learn about a specific situation or historical events and aspire them to recognize and appreciate different cultural attitudes, diverse communities, and predicaments or interpretations of the selected work medium.