Thai Gangster Films: Construction of Male Characters Who Reject Social Control

Abstract

        This research paper aims to present the main points and the key findings from the research study titled The Representation of Male Characters Who Reject Social Control in Thai Gangster Film.  The objectives were to study meaning construction of male characters who reject social control in Thai gangster films and to study the decoding of the meaning of the audience with direct experience of gangsters through in-depth interviews. The first part investigated the construction of gangster characters who appear in the role of the hero, 7 characters from 7 films. These include the following films: Dangerous Years (1996), Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters (1997), Born Blood (2002), Dek Dehn (2005), Fireball (2009), Friends Never Die (2012), and Gangsters (2012). The second part is the interpretation from two audiences who have first-hand experience of gangsters using audience reception analysis according to cultural studies by Stuart Hall.

        The results showed that Thai gangster films are considered as the space of reproduction and clashes between a set of dominant ideologies and a set of counter ideologies, through narrative elements and character attribute elements, which is always present in the films.

        However, the dominant feature under the tradition of semanticization of male characters who deny social control is the tactics of the set of counter ideologies that legitimize the characters as being in a "gray" space under the set of dominant ideologies. This consists of the following strategies:

(1) constructing the image of an adolescent character as a lesser person in the society, (2) constructing ideal masculinity but not conforming to social norms, (3) combining both the inclusion and exclusion strategies, (4) victory in the early stages before returning to normal in the later stages (Plot), (5) resisting some aspects while accepting others, and (6) combining the contradictions between the reality and the imaginary through the characters and the setting strategies,.

        In deciphering the meaning by the audience with first-hand experience of gangsters, it was found that the subjects often deciphered the meaning with a standpoint that negotiated the meaning with what the films offer. Although the films constructed the characters to have human characteristics that combine the aspects of being a hero and being a villain, the subjects chose to negotiate almost all the meanings presented. The negotiation of meaning is aimed to show the identity and the position in the society of their own group in the real world, which is different from the fantasy world.