SEMIOTICS OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE, PART 3
Dear friends and colleagues
I went to Bangkok last month to see the first Bangkok Biennale. After, as I sat down in the plane that would return me to Manila, the piped music began with the tune of In the bleak mid-winter [1]. I looked out of my window at Bangkok airport; there was not a cloud in the sky, the temperature was probably 28 degrees or more. The music did not feel very appropriate.
Of course, part of the interest in South-east Asian Christmas trees and décor generally is how they translate such imagery of Northern European winter to the tropics. Here are some snaps I took:
No. 1, our first example (outside the catholic cathedral of Bangkok) is relatively traditional though the profusion of presents under the tree does point out an explicit connection between consumerism (gifts) and Christmas – shame upon you Thai Christians!
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country and most of the Christmas trees I saw were set in the very lavish shopping malls along Rama I Road. If you remember my semiotic discussions in the last two years of Christmas trees in Singapore and the Philippines the Christmas Tree is in this region above all else a triangle, often quite geometric. No. 2 is a perfect example of this with no attempt to represent branches or leaves. No. 3 is an amazingly perfect example of this geometricization. It is so perfect that it has even had children.[2] No. 4 is not so unusual but I thought the way it paired with the dress and the giant bow was rather elegant.
Elsewhere Christmas was associated with bright lights and deer. No. 5. There were in fact an extraordinary large herd of deer or reindeer scattered through the malls.
Christmas was also associated with sheer Koonsian banality. No. 6
Obviously, all this décor was aimed at a westernized middle class and the ex-pats. It was meant to encourage them to spend, spend, spend. However, the emphasis on lights and a lot of lights (No. 7) was intriguing.
When I stopped to get some delicious but rather expensive street food (No. 8 – inside No. 7) I was amazed to see the term, “Festival of Light”. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights has long passed so is this a conflation of Christmas, Diwali and Consumerism?
Nearby there was a sort of large amusement park with more giant Christmas banality, (No. 9) many Christmas trees which were used as backdrops for selfies and happy snaps (No. 10) and, towering above it all an enormous illuminated geometric Christmas tree along with giant presents transported by balloons and a massive and exceptionally obese Father Christmas. (No. 11)
Some of the biennale was installed in the malls – which was why I was going through them.[3] I pondered on why the Thais were erecting quite so many geometric triangles (aka Christmas trees) and the next day I think I understood because I went to see the parts of the biennale installed beneath Wat Arun and Wat Prayoon. (No. 12) The stupas of Buddhist temples in Thailand are often extended into something similar to a Christmas tree shape. Maybe, we are all like the Javanese, however sub-consciously, and when we see an upright triangle we think of the sacred mountain.
At the end of that day, which had been a very long one, I sat, somewhat foot-sore, in the café of the last venue I visited, drinking lemon tea and watching a bizarre video about the Biennale. Endless images of Marina Abramovich, Kusama, Lee Bul and still more Marina Abramovich. Then the video concluded with an animation set on one of the bridges of Bangkok: balloons appearing, joining together to form a stupa – or is it a Christmas tree? (No. 13)
Next Tuesday I will report on the actual art I saw in Bangkok.
Hoping (see No. 14) that 2019 will be a World of Happiness for all of you,
Tony
- Written by Christina Rossetti the first verse goes
In the Bleak midwinter
Frosty wind makes moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water as a stone;
Snow has fallen snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago. ↑
- BTW. I thought it very interesting that people were so offended that Donald and Melania had multiple Christmas trees in the white house. The assumption being that a Christmas tree should be iconic and therefore singular. ↑
- Yes, I admit it. I also did some Christmas shopping! ↑