
Mikkel Bang Fossum and Rebecca Graversen deliver a thirty minute insight into the masculine identity of sex tourism. The views of the men under the qualitative microscope of Love Me Long Time are juxtaposed to the stereotype embedded within the narrative of sex tourism; in that the films present these subjects not as 'prowlers of the desperate' but more seekers of love and romance, a quintessential human 'need' which has been diluted in their own respective homelands.
Yet, despite the focus on European men within this film, it is the agency and empowerment which shines through the actions of Thai women which allows the narrative of this film to flourish. The men, who are deeply-rooted in a monogamy-centred colonial sphere, struggle to deal with the reality of the streets of Koh Samui, reflecting on the sorrow of seeing 'their girl' with another tourist. The relationships presented by Fossum and Graversen display the complexities embedded within the exchange of sexual capital, in particular the themes of post-colonialism, gender and power.
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