Political Implication in Suspended Movies in Thailand, 2014-2019

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were 1) to study the structure of films that have been withheld from distribution in Thailand during 2014-2019; and 2) to find out the political implications hidden in the structure of films that have been withheld from distribution in Thailand during 2014-2019. It was a documentary research using a semiotic analysis approach along with a structuralist analysis approach. The results found that 1) the structure of the three films that were withheld for political reasons during the study period. There were the relationships of the characters organized into two pairs of opposites: good-bad and action-being acted upon. The characters on the government side were placed as bad characters and doers. The film emphasized the image of the government oppressing the people without suffering any ill consequences; and 2) the political connotation that “a government that exceeded its limits was not a good government” showed that films with political content that the National Film and Video Censorship Board at the time chose to suppress from release that was a film which attacked the government that had authoritarian characteristics, corruption and was above the law.