The Boonchu Comedy Series-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

The Boonchu Comedy Series

Published:2020-08-03 Issue: Volume: Page:
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Container-title:Southeast Asia on Screen
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Author:

Khuankaew Sasinee¹

Affiliation:

1. Chiang Mai University

Abstract

Research on Thai films after the 1997 economic crash identifies a strong nostalgia for unblemished Thai traditions, ones particularly represented through the countryside and the ideal rural family unit. However, this chapter aims to investigate the comedic Boonchu film series, dating from 1988 to 1996, to address how these films also valorize rural Thailand, a scenario constructed as real ‘Thainess.’ The chapter examines localism, a discourse promoted by the series as a means to undermine modernization, so revealing considerable anxiety around cultural and economic transformation. Nonetheless, the chapter argues that while the series idealizes rural identity as a means to defend Thai cultural values, it also offers a negotiation (rather than a rejection) of various influences of modernity.

Publisher

Amsterdam University Press

Reference24 articles.

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