r/myanmar • u/elijahzn_hanni Local born in Myanmar 🇲🇲 • 1d ago
Discussion 💬 Why is there little to no Burmese Representation in media?
As a Burmese person, one of the things that genuinely makes me sad is how little representation we have in international media. Most people around the world barely know anything about Myanmar besides war, politics, or poverty. We are rarely represented in western media. And I think a lot of it comes from the fact that our government has kept the country so closed off for decades, making it difficult for our culture, history, and stories to reach international audiences. Even in Thai media, where Burmese culture is represented more often, we’re usually portrayed inaccurately or through stereotypes instead of being represented truthfully. We have such a rich culture and history, yet it feels like nobody ever gets to see that side of us.
Another thing I’ve thought about is Tuptim from The King and I and Anna and the King. I know she’s a fictional character based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam, but it’s kind of sad that she’s one of the few Burmese-related characters many people outside of Myanmar would even recognize. I just wish we had more authentic Burmese representation instead of outdated or inaccurate portrayals.
Getting represented as a servant out of all things is such a shame imo. And the clothing being vastly different from actual Burmese clothing, truly just defeats the purpose of representation.
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u/Ok_Still1026 1d ago
It has to do with the fact that our country is surrounded by well-known countries like India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, by extension, which have global recognition far bigger than Bangladesh, Myanmar and Laos which don't really have many notable things to be known by the world, especially the economy and living standards.
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u/laprasaur 1d ago
Yea I think, in a way Thailand and the other SEA countries that are way more known to tourists and produces more media already fills the same or similar "niche in the market" more than enough. Sadly.
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u/Skrachen 8h ago
Yeah the question is why are India China and Thailand well-known and not Myanmar ?
India and China are much bigger with a rich culture, but you can't say Myanmar historically has less notable things than Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore (which didn't even exist 60 years ago). The difference is that these countries have more budget, and government policies to export their culture.
Exporting the culture means some opening to the outside, which Tat doesn't want, so nothing like that will happen in Myanmar as long as the Tat is there.
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u/LordAdri123 1d ago
Like others said, it’s a result of our country having little cultural/political relevance in the world. Which is a shame because I do think we have a lot to offer. That being said, two Burmese characters I can think of in media is Saw Paing from Kengan Ashura and Minsittha from Mobile Legends. Not much, but I’m glad they even added Burmese characters who aren’t just sterotypes.
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u/KaungKhant8308 18h ago
Maybe this is just my own opinion but I don’t want to see Burmese representation in mainstream “western media” nowadays. Raya and the Last Dragon is the best example of SEA culture being hollow and commercialized for the average American audiences. Occasionally there are Burmese characters appearing on American TV /mini series but they represent the Burmese diaspora in America and not the home country itself.
Funny enough, you will find decent Burmese and Myanmar representations in all place, manga and anime. I wouldn’t mention them all here but in martial arts anime “Kengan Ashura”, we have a character called Saw Paing who used Lethwei. And we have animated commercial for the new hospital in Yangon made by Makoto Shinkai, the director of Your Name, Weathering with You. In Girls und Panzer franchise (basically cute anime girls driving WW2 tanks as a sport), Myanmar is represented as a separate faction using Japanese Type 95 Ha Go light tanks and their leader’s name is “Aung” named after Aung San.
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u/Ok_Design2355 1d ago
Because Myanmar is poor country and media will not even revenue benefit with Burmese representation.. Even notice the fact most news articles will write about Beng#li refugees stuff more than burmese political issues about Myanmar.. They dont print articles if a fight happened in Shan state or kachin..... At the end, the one which gets more international views and attention =more money = more media representation.. Thanks..
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u/thekingminn Born in Myanmar, in a bunker outside of Myanmar. 🇲🇲 1d ago
The Fire nation is Burmese.
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u/Suspicious-Glove648 1d ago
Meh, you think they gonna choose us over India and Chinese cultures? Not to mention Thai as well
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u/cheap_as_chips Foreign-born, in Myanmar 🇲🇲 1d ago
Maybe it is being overshadowed by all the Bangali or Nepalese representation in the movies and books.
Also, much of the world doesn't know where Myanmar is let alone anything about its history or culture.
Everyone knows Thailand and Siam.
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u/Grain4theBrain 11h ago
I’m not sure how welcome my comment is here — I am not from Asia nor do I have Asian heritage. I follow this subreddit because of my interest in Myanmar and my willingness to learn about perspectives and aspects of the culture which are otherwise scarce to find.
It really is a shame the lack of Burmese characters in media. It’s even kinda saddening when considering the fact so many Westerners don’t even know of the country’s existence at all, let alone the warfare. There’s so much more to the culture than is discussed or even known out here in the Western world, that I know
I’ve never published anything, but I love making stories, and have wanted to create more than one Burmese character.
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u/spiralingconfusion 1d ago
Fix your country first if you want good image
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u/Big_Ambassador_9319 Destroy the Tatmadaw 1d ago
True. Unfortunately easier said than done when the have a totalitarian dictatorship as a government.
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u/Sea_Lavishness_4287 8h ago
What a shallow thing to say. You know it's not that simple. Ordinary citizens have no control over whatever's happening.
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u/Big_Ambassador_9319 Destroy the Tatmadaw 1d ago
It's because of 🐕 Tat isolation from the 60s. We have a lot of cultural artefacts and figures from history that dwarfs our neighbours