Cross-Cultural Emotional Effects of Thai Television Dramas among Cambodian Audiences

• In Event: 232. Emotional and Intimate Variations: Historicizing and Contextualizing Affect amid Changing Political Economies in Mainland Southeast Asia, Part 1. Sponsored by the Thailand/Laos/Cambodia Studies Group

Abstract

Thai TV dramas which have been a staple of the nation’s TV landscape for over four decades, tend to be what Thai people call “lakorn nam nao” (polluted soaps). The namnao or polluted characteristic lies in their portrayal of unreal life, presenting a visual grammar of lavish and luxurious settings, over-exaggerated acting, and melodramatic plots. In the late 2000s, Thai television dramas became an export commodity, with viewers in Southeast Asia and China finding melodramatic plots, the presence of evil female characters and over-exaggerating emotion in Thai dramas an alternative to ubiquitous Korean dramas.
Based on my research project focusing on the cross-cultural consumption of Thai soap operas in Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, this paper looks particularly on the perceptions of Cambodian audiences on the dramatic and persuasive effect of Thai lakorn. Despite the localized cultural references and nationalism at the heart of Thai TV dramas, Cambodia audience find proximity in Thai romantic love, revenges, and ghost stories. While Cambodian viewers spurn Korean drama series for a perceived lack of emotional expression, they find attraction in over-exaggerated emotion in Thai lakorn. The paper asks to what extent, emotional effects in Thai lakorn challenge or conform to traditional narratives about morality in Cambodia.

Author

• Amporn Jirattikorn, Chiang Mai University