Behind the smile / produced by Alan Handel Productions.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Alan Handel Productions.

Alexander Street Press.

Series:

Filmakers library online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thailand--Social conditions.

Thailand.

Women employees--Thailand.

Women employees.

Work environment--Thailand.

Work environment.

Genre:

Documentary films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (45 minutes).

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Filmakers Library, 1998.

Language Note:

This edition in English.

System Details:

digital

data file

Summary:

Hundreds of thousands of Thai young women leave their rural homes to work in the factories of Bangkok. They are the backbone of Thailand s economic success, yet are looked upon as almost less than human. Behind the Smile explores the lives and culture of these young women who live in crowded dormitories or shacks with few possessions, homesick for their families. Yet the money they earn is so desparately needed by their families that they must stay for years in their grim servitude. Through portraits of three women, we see the human cost of the country's rapid industrialization. Amoan, at nineteen, has been working in a textile factory for five years amidst the endless dust and never ending noise. As a good Buddhist daughter, she sends all her money home and spends nothing on herself. Laiad and her husband had to leave their children in the village. They rarely see them. Willaiwon after working in the same factory for fourteen years for minimum wage has become a union organizer. A whole generation of women has disappeared from the villages, changing traditions for ever.

Notes:

Originally released as DVD.

Title from resource description page (viewed May 24, 2011).

Association for Asian Studies, 1998

OCLC:

747798251

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.