The Development of Local Comics Style in Thailand: Contested Aesthetics and Cultural Nationalism

• In Event: Manga/Comics and Transnational Flows of Culture in Asia

Abstract

In the past 15 years, the comics industry in Southeast Asia has developed significantly. As many researchers have pointed out, in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia, works by local comic artists are continuously published. A similar phenomenon can be seen also in Thailand. In the 1990s, only a few titles of local comics were published by minor publishers and they were known only among a small group of dedicated fans. However, in this decade, major comic publishers have turned to focus more on using local artists. Now local comic works are receiving more attention as a form of entertainment media in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.
In Thailand, there are arguments both for and against recent style of local comics. The criticisms mainly focus on its similarity to Japanese style, while the supporters emphasize that there are “traditional” aspects in the story and the aesthetic style. However, considering this confrontation in terms of transnational flows of culture, the fact that these “opposite” ideas are both based on the cultural nationalism is overlooked. The history of a so-called “traditional style”, in other words, the fact that the development of Thai entertainment industry in the 20th century depended greatly on imported content is hardly brought into discussion.
This presentation will discuss the construction of local style by Thai comic artists as a case study that shows a result from the relationship of globalization and cultural nationalism in the Southeast Asia.

Author

• Mashima Tojirakarn, Kyoto University