Global Fandom Jamboree: Wikanda Promkhuntong (Thailand)

An image taken at Angkor Wat in 2019 at a possible spot where Chow Mo-wan (Tony Lueng) whispered his secret into the wall.

My engagement with fan studies began with an exploration of contemporary auteur culture, in which crossover fans play a key part in sustaining the reputation of East Asian transnational filmmakers such as Wong Kar-wai. With the revival of cinephilia and the diversity of works in fan studies, I have been interested in the meeting point and divergence between these two strands of thinking. In 2016, I presented a paper at the Association for Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference in Malaysia on cinephile pilgrimage to Angkor Wat featured in the final sequence of In the Mood for Love (2000). A magic moment happened during the Q&A as a professor in Theology stood up to share his experience of doing a reenactment in Cambodia just before the conference. From there, I had an opportunity to co-edit a special issue on Fandom and Cinephilia in Southeast Asia for Plaridel, a Philippine Journal of Communication, Media, and Society, with the help of Dr. Bertha Chin. With these beginnings, below is my humble reflection on fan studies in Thailand where I am now based.

1.     When we set out to gather works for the special issue in 2017, I thought we would be flooded with submissions. What I soon realized was that despite the public and academic interests, not many had existing research ready to publish. There were a number of Master’s students in Anthropology writing about specific fandoms but it would take some time to develop their papers in English. At least two works I encountered at local conferences also did not engage with theoretical development in fan studies at all. Having asked around for any books related to fan studies in the Thai language, Assoc. Prof. Natthanai Prasannam, who was writing his own monograph on Thai yaoi fandom at the time, pointed me to an edited collection published in 2015, with a chapter suggesting the arrival of fan studies in the country. The chapter by Assoc. Prof. Kanchana Kaewthep is important in at least two ways. First, it introduces fan studies to Thai readers, with references to Jenkin’s works amongst others. Second, the writer includes a list of 40 theses published between 1992-2010 that reveal the transition from audience studies to the interest in fan cultures from around 2006 onwards. From Kaewthep’s list, there are works that explore fans of different television programmes (several theses focused on fans of the singing contest/reality TV called ‘Academy Fantasia’ broadcasted in 2004-2015). As expected, there are works on fans of South Korean and Japanese popular culture, football fans and fans of local singers. Apart from these, a particular account that stands out for me is a comparative study of ‘mae yok’ in Bangkok and Phitsanulok (North of Thailand). The term mae yok is commonly used to describe female fans of local staged performances (mae means mother and yok means to lift up something). In my memory of growing up in the South of Thailand, mae-yok were/are ladies who buy garlands to offer to the performers during the shows and offer monetary support to their favorite performers. The reference to the mother-child relation also suggests the role of these fans in nurturing young talents. 

2.     Reflecting on the use of local terms, I am also reminded of works on transcultural fandom that unpack different types of fan culture through cultural-specific terms such as idol (aidoru) and otaku. Kaewthep’s chapter is titled Fan jah chan ma laew ja or I’m coming, my fan. The phrase is from a well-known song ‘Fan jah’ (2002) by one of the Thai legendary pop singers. In this song, the term ‘fan’ refers to a common English word appropriated by Thais to describe someone as a boyfriend/girlfriend (sometimes to casually refer to a husband/wife). The double meanings of ‘fan’ as being a media fan and someone in a relationship means that Thais often use other related words to talk about being a fan/part of a fandom. In the early 2000s, the term fan pun tae or an absolute fan was used to refer to someone who is a serious fan of something. The term came from a TV show, which contestants have to answer questions to show their expertise on a particular subject to win prizes. At the height of the popularity of South Korean TV drama, the word thing was used in the media as a pathologizing way to describe young female fans who were ‘crazy’ about Korean related-things. The term thing, in this context, is shorten from thing-hu or the edge of ear lopes, a required length of haircut that public Thai high schools girls have to comply to. Countering this generalized view on fans, Mary Ainslie’s article on Thai fans of K-drama (2016) importantly highlights the use of Korean associations as a way for young Thai fans to assert their own sense of selves within the dominant Thai identity. To date, the term thing has been replaced by ‘dom’ or ‘fc’ which does not have such negative connotation. 

3.     It is important to note that since the 2014 coup d’état and the growing totalitarianism in Thailand, fandom has been associated with youth democratization movement and regional solidarity. The notable case is the #milkteaalliance, which started in 2020 in relation to a Thai boys’ love TV star, Vachirawit ‘Bright’ Chivaaree, who liked a tweet containing images of cityscapes in different places with the description indicating that Hong Kong is a country. This led to strong negative reactions from his mainland Chinese fans, and further criticism towards his girlfriend ‘New’ who, at some point, made a remark deemed unfavorable towards China on social media. As these stars faced intense situations, fans from Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan (places that commonly drink tea with milk) subsequently ‘united’ to express solidarity to Bright and New. The hashtag #milkteaalliance has since been used to show solidarity with those going through political struggles against repressive regimes (the subject which a Thai colleague Metaveevinij is working on). With the pandemic and public enquiries on the management of the situation and the vaccine procurement plan, there has also been demands by fans of film stars/celebrity figures to ‘call out’ and put pressure on the military-led government. Hence, the previous circumstance in which Thai stars rarely expressed political views for fear of losing their fan base has drastically changed. This development also coincides with the growing micro-celebrities via Facebook and TikTok whose political commentaries attract extensive fans/followers and sponsorship from pro-democracy brands. The relationship between media fans and activism also extends to different forms of participatory culture. Notable examples are the use of The Hunger Games’s (2012) three-finger salute and the use of the term ‘Parasite’ with and without a direct reference to the South Korean film to express discontent with the socio-political situations. 

: A photograph taken a university rally in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic to express discontent with the current repressive political regime. Many references to popular culture were used to express fannishness and solidary including the Hunger Games’s three-finger salute.

4.     Apart from these developments, there are many types of fan engagements in Thailand that would benefit further exploration and the exchange of frameworks with colleagues outside the country. In relation to Thai cinema, the Thai Film Archive has been doing great works in bringing inter-generational fans of legendary film stars together to celebrate anniversaries, discuss their memories, exhibit archival finds that could generate further research. In my brief exploration into fans of the 1960s Thai actor Mitr Chaibancha, I was made aware of many different fan groups who celebrated Mitr’s legacy in many ways. The figure of Mitr as a legendary national star resonates with Trinidad (2021) work that explores fan-star relations in the history of Filipino cinema that worth a cross-cultural exploration. In terms of historical transcultural fandom, prior to the phenomenon of Japanese and South Korean popular culture, the star-fan relations between Thailand and Hong Kong and Thailand and India is another large area to explore, along with reflections on inter-Asia cultural links via migration and film/media distribution networks. With the revival of classic films through online streaming platforms, conversations on long-term/former fans of various imported movies have also emerged.

Guests attending the ‘Mitr-Mythology’ exhibition at the Thai Film Archive. The legendary Thai actor Mitr Chaibancha (1934-1970) has extensive inter-generational fans who gathered annually to celebrate his life and work. The screen in the photograph projects footage from the star’s funeral, where hundreds of thousands gathered to mourn the death of their beloved star, who tragically fell from a helicopter while shooting the movie he also directed. The memory of the funeral has since been revisited in the film October Sonata (2009). There has also been various shrines set up with his statues. 

As media and film studies in Thailand are largely part of Communication Arts faculties (with the focus on practical side of things), there are a lot of room to grow fan studies (as well as critical studies of film/media/screen cultures itself), both in terms of supporting emerging scholars and bridging interested parties (including the growing network of cinephiles, artists, curators and critics) interested in the subject together.  

The house of one of Mitr’s long-term fans at Petchaburi’s province where Mitr came from. The owner turns his personal memorabilia into a mini exhibition for interested tourists

After completing her PhD from Aberystwyth University, Wales, Wikanda Promkhuntong joined the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand where she teaches in the Cultural Studies programme. She has published on auteur stars and their fans and different aspects of film cultures related to transnational East Asian cinema. In recent years, she has been exploring the subject of fan tourism/cinephile pilgrimage in relation to vernacular cultural memories and local/regional politics of space. Her engagement with fan studies is a hybrid between auteurs and fans, paratexts and palimpsests, digital engagements and physical cultural sites.