WorldcrunchDr Andrew Russell is a lecture in the School of Creative Technologies at the University of Portsmouth.
His research interests include Southeast Asian cinema, the slow cinema aesthetic, and the link between art and film culture. He is also interested in the way in which Western film and television misrepresent other areas of the globe, relying on versions of antiquated stereotypes.
In the TV show’s new season, Thailand is portrayed as a playground for white debauchery, where anything goes. Despite its obvious criticism of a certain kind of tourism, the show still reduces the country to a digestible set of iconic images for the audience, just like many Hollywood movies.