Signification and Social Construction of Reality through Narrative in the Film Nakhon-Sawan

Abstract

        This academic article uses the research method and collects data from films, interviews with film directors, academic articles, and related research. It uses the concept of documentary films, auteur theory, film narration, textual analysis, and signification and social construction of reality.

        The study found that the film Nakhon-Sawan uses the reproduction of symbols to create a world of meaning about death through film, manipulating emotions of sadness and memories. It also uses the storytelling conventions of documentary films to open up a space of thought for viewers to feel involved with the events and become one with the world of film.

        The highlight of the storytelling through the perspective of the film director is the use of a unique technique that does not tell the life of the characters singly, but rather the placement or arrangement of the events of the fictional story under the traces of the real story (syntagmatic) and the connection of the two parts (paradigmatic). The outstanding personality of this film is the use of the power of the truth of life to communicate the laws of nature to connect the world of the audience and the world of the director. The meaning that appears through the storytelling, images, colors, and characters, whether in the real world (personal documentary) or the world of the film (characters) through the ash-floating ceremony at the Two-Color River, Pak Nam Pho, Nakhon Sawan Province, is the connection point between the real story and the fiction. The director has attempted to break the storytelling structure, but the power of the story is reduced under the conditions of certain powers that are determined by social conditions and culture. Such conditions are related to the social power structure that has the power to determine signs through the media or films.