The Construction of the Symbolic Meaning of the Monarchy in Contemporary Thai Society

Nirundon, Chanankan

This thesis focuses on the fabricated image and the public representation of King Bhumibol - the current King of Thailand in two contemporary documentary films "My King" in 2012 and "Bhumibol - The People's King" in 2013. The primary purpose of this study is to examine how the fabricated image of the current King of Thailand has been constructed through the utilization of contemporary documentary films. The study argued that Bhumibol has borrowed the fabricated image and public representation from the European context, i.e. the fabricated public representation of Louis XIV. Indeed, the study has been inspired by the work of Peter Burke in 1992 entitled "The Fabrication of Louis XIV". The aforementioned work of Burke, articles on the analysis of documentary films, literatures about the importance of images in Thai society were considered altogether in the empirical part of this study. The study pinpointed eleven specific attributes of the public representation of Bhumibol from the two documentary films. The characteristics consisted of "August", "Father of the People", "Generous", "Godlike", "Glorious", "Hero of the Nation", "Invincible", "Laborious", "Modernized", "Pious", and "Wise". On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that the public representation of Bhumibol does...

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