When it premiered again in 2021, “The White Lotus” was a pointy class satire geared toward skewering high-end tourism and the elite one-percenters keen to pay $9,000 an evening to loosen up. Written and directed by Mike White, the darkly comedian thriller adopted the entitled visitors and beleaguered staff at an opulent Maui resort over the course of an more and more tense week.
A vacation spot that was purported to be a refuge from the world’s issues as an alternative turned a microcosm for them, a spot the place the category divide and legacy of American imperialism have been on vivid show. “The White Lotus,” which was filmed its first season on location on the 4 Seasons in Maui, by some means made an unique resort look like a poisonous strain cooker. Working there was not simply soul-crushing, it may even kill you.
Season 2, a bed room farce set at a stunning beachfront resort in Sicily, checked out intercourse, cash and energy. Each installments lampooned the rich and depicted folks dying beneath tragic circumstances in picturesque places. And maybe counterintuitively, each seasons led to a tourism increase within the filming places. One way or the other, a present that sharply critiqued luxurious journey additionally functioned as a shiny commercial for it.
This contradiction is much more pronounced in Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” which premiered on HBO final month. Set on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, the most recent installment follows custom by opening with a useless physique. However it additionally explores new themes, together with the conflict between Western materialism and Japanese spirituality, notably Buddhism. This season’s fictional White Lotus is thought for its wellness program. Friends are inspired to place away their telephones in the course of their keep and avail themselves of choices like yoga, meditation and therapeutic massage.
Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook and Patrick Schwarzenegger in “The White Lotus.” Characters are inspired to place away their telephones for the week.
(Fabio Lovino / HBO)
Hollywood motion pictures and TV exhibits are inclined to deal with the extra decadent features of Thai tradition — from the all-night Full Moon Celebration to intercourse tourism in Bangkok. The crew behind “The White Lotus” wished to showcase different sides of the nation.
“Obviously that exists here, but it doesn’t define Thai culture,” govt producer David Bernad stated in a telephone interview final month from Bangkok, the place the present was having a splashy native premiere attended by its solid, together with Thai-born Ok-pop star Lalisa Manobal, a.okay.a. Blackpink’s Lisa, who stars as a employee on the resort. “What we attempted to do is depict Thailand in an authentic way — the beauty of the people and the culture — in a way that hopefully brings more positive interest back to Thailand.”
The season was made in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the 4 Seasons, which as soon as once more served as a filming location for the sequence. The federal government of Thailand additionally supplied beneficiant tax rebates to the manufacturing. HBO collaborated with a slew of manufacturers to create an array of “White Lotus”-inspired merchandise, together with $98 scented candles, $48 sunscreen, $325 in a single day baggage, $725 attire and $4.50 flavored espresso creamers. Regardless of its usually darkish themes and cynical tackle humanity, the present clearly has grow to be an aspirational advertising car for manufacturers throughout the spectrum. Why, precisely, is a present about horrible folks behaving badly (and dying) so interesting to those firms?
“I genuinely don’t know the answer. It’s a very weird thing,” Bernad stated. “It’s surreal, knowing that the original construction of the show was so intimate and small. For me, it still feels strange that anyone is paying attention.”
Given what a popular culture juggernaut “The White Lotus” has grow to be, it’s straightforward to neglect it was conceived as a stopgap — a present that could possibly be made shortly and safely in a single, remoted location through the top of the COVID-19 pandemic, when HBO was in determined want of contemporary programming.
The unique plan was to movie in Australia, the place strict lockdowns helped hold the pandemic in test. When that proved too tough, Hawaii turned the plain selection. The setting supplied beautiful pure magnificence but in addition wealthy themes to discover, notably American colonialism and the plight of Native Hawaiians.
Equally, Season 2 was virtually set in France however wound up in Sicily after a scouting journey to Taormina, the place a tour information advised them the legend behind the ornamental moor’s head statues discovered within the area that turned a motif within the sequence. “That was the kickoff to Mike wanting to write this bedroom farce season about sexual politics,” Bernad stated.
Season 3 was at all times envisioned as an “exploration of Eastern versus Western philosophy,” Bernad stated. However Plan A was to movie in Japan, a rustic the place they’d been eager to make one thing for years. Largely as a courtesy to HBO, White and Bernad additionally visited Thailand. (White had destructive associations with Koh Samui particularly as a result of he’d been sequestered on the island after getting eradicated from “The Amazing Race.”)
Thai Ok-pop artist Lisa Manobal is without doubt one of the stars in “The White Lotus.” Season 3 of the present was at all times envisioned as an “exploration of Eastern versus Western philosophy.”
(Stefano Delia / HBO)
However in the end they have been charmed by the nation and its folks. White additionally was struck by a match of inspiration when he got here down with bronchitis whereas within the metropolis of Chiang Mai. He was handled with potent steroids and “hallucinated the entire season,” Bernad stated. “Honestly, the next day, we were scouting in the van, and he told me about his dream. It’s basically what we shot — his steroid-induced dream.”
Relocating the present to Thailand, the place greater than 90% of the inhabitants is Buddhist, “allowed us to explore Buddhism as a religion and a philosophy,” Bernad stated. Certainly one of their artistic objectives was presenting a extra nuanced model of Thai tradition than is typical of Western media. “It’s usually like ‘The Hangover Part II,’ exploiting the darker side of Bangkok. But that’s not what we set out to do,” he stated.
One of many characters this season, Piper Ratliff (Sarah Catherine Hook), is a non secular research main who has dragged her rich Southern household to Thailand in order that she will be able to interview a Buddhist monk for her thesis. Her religious curiosity is baffling to her household, who’re skeptical of the numerous wellness choices on the resort.
Koh Samui is “like detox island,” a spot well-heeled vacationers come to have interaction in practices they affiliate with Buddhism however are sometimes a mishmash of various religious traditions, stated Brooke Schedneck, a non secular research professor at Rhodes Faculty whose analysis facilities on Buddhism and non secular tourism in Thailand. “Everyone coming off the plane [in Koh Samui] has their yoga mats,” she stated. Locations just like the fictional White Lotus “draw on this idea of Thailand as a Buddhist place but [offer] wellness options that don’t necessarily connect to Buddhism.” (You’d by no means observe yoga in a Buddhist temple, as an illustration.)
“I think it’s really funny how … most of them are going to this wellness resort, and then they’re like, ‘I don’t want to do wellness. Why do I have to do this?’” Schedneck stated of the resort’s spoiled visitors. ”It exhibits the individualistic, Western mindset of ‘I want to do whatever I want.’”
But the contradiction between East and West will not be as stark as one may assume. Some Westerners wrongly assume that as a result of Buddhism is so prevalent in Thailand, it means persons are much less fascinated about materials issues. “The idea that Buddhism can encompass and encourage wealth is something that’s difficult for people to grasp,” Schedneck stated.
For the 4 Seasons, “The White Lotus” has been an undeniably highly effective advertising device — regardless of the demise and dissolute conduct that goes on on the resorts within the sequence. The formal partnership, launched forward of Season 3, means the corporate can use “White Lotus” IP and do branded activations, together with poolside cabanas and viewing events, at its resorts. The 4 Seasons additionally just lately introduced a 20-day tour by which visitors will journey aboard the corporate’s personal jet to the present’s three filming places.
As a part of its partnership with HBO and “The White Lotus,” the 4 Seasons is that includes meals and experiences impressed by the present. (Courtesy of 4 Seasons Resorts)
A poolside villa on the 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui, featured within the present. (Courtesy of 4 Seasons Resorts)
As a part of its advertising analysis, the corporate conducts month-to-month surveys with high-net-worth people. The questionnaire now consists of questions on “The White Lotus.” Of the millennials surveyed, 88% have been conscious of each manufacturers, and 71% stated they have been extremely prone to go to properties featured within the sequence.
“We know that if we pick the right show, and if the hotel has been featured in the right way, it has a huge business impact, and it’s the best PR we can do,” stated Marc Speichert, govt vp and chief industrial officer on the 4 Seasons. He’s already seeing a surge of on-line curiosity within the Koh Samui property: Visits to the location are up almost 600% over the identical time final yr.
“Everybody knows that this is obviously a fiction. The White Lotus isn’t the Four Seasons, per se. It just uses the hotel as a backdrop. The PR that we’re getting is about how incredible the hotel looks,” Speichert stated. (He stated that characters like Belinda, performed by Natasha Rothwell in Seasons 1 and three, and Valentina, performed by Sabrina Impacciatore in Season 2, replicate the sort of people that do work on the 4 Seasons.)
Earlier seasons of “The White Lotus” led to a surge of tourists to Maui and Sicily. In Thailand, the place tourism is a serious business, an inflow could be welcome. The nation noticed 35 million overseas guests final yr, in accordance with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which goals to extend that quantity to 40 million in 2025.
“Thailand acting as the setting of ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 allows us to reach a truly global audience, and offers a unique opportunity to showcase Thailand’s breathtaking landscapes, rich culinary scene, vibrant culture, natural beauty and, most importantly, the people and the warmth of Thai hospitality,” stated Chompu Marusachot, director of the TAT’s New York workplace.
A rise in guests could be an financial boon for Thailand, however there may be additionally concern concerning the potential environmental impression extra guests would have on the nation, notably Koh Samui, which already struggles with a scarcity of contemporary water and an overflowing landfill, in accordance with studies from native residents. Different Hollywood productions provide cautionary tales: “The Beach,” launched in 2000, helped flip Maya Bay on the island of Ko Phi Phi Leh into a serious vacationer vacation spot that acquired as many as 5,000 guests a day. Due to the ensuing air pollution, an estimated 80% of the coral within the bay was destroyed. Authorities finally closed the seashore for a number of years and now limit entry. HBO didn’t present remark when requested concerning the environmental impression of filming “The White Lotus” in Koh Samui.
However for Bernad, making the sequence in Thailand taught him the significance of treading calmly. “You have to come in with a humility that you’re not imposing your way of production,” he stated. “You’re learning from the local crew and producers, and adjusting to their needs.” Good recommendation for producers — and vacationers — alike.