Woman, Man, Bangkok: Love, Sex, and Popular Culture in ThailandDuring the early decades of the twentieth century, Thailand's capital, Bangkok, took on an increasingly cosmopolitan character-a development fueled both by global economic forces and a local revolution in communications. The 1920s were a particularly dynamic period of social and cultural transformation that had a profound impact on the development of Thai modernity. This book examines the growth of a polyphonous and often vociferous Thai public, a public that used a range of new media outlets to express themselves and clamor for a more just and equitable social order. Scot BarmZ mines a rich lode of previously ignored cultural ephemera found in popular newspapers, magazines, novels, short stories, film booklets, and cartoons to create a vibrant cultural history of early modern Thailand that moves beyond conventional, elite-based historical studies of the period. By focusing on such controversies and conflicts as the status of women, relations between the sexes, class antagonisms, and the growth of a commercial mass culture, this book offers a new interpretation of the key decade of the 1920s and its significance for contemporary Thailand. |
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Absolute Monarchy baht Bangkok Barmé beauty behavior brothel caption cartoon cartoonist century Chalat Chinese Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn University contemporary Contested Nationalism Copeland critical cultural D'ok Daily Mail debate discussion early elite example female education filmmaking gender girls graphic History husband idea issue January June Keyun kh'ong Khun Kulap Kulap Saipradit Kunlasatri Luang Wichit Wathakan magazine male Manit Wasuwat marriage middle class modern Mongkut monogamy moral nari newspaper official Phaphayon sayam Phathanakorn Phibun Phra Phraya political polygamy popular Prajadhipok prostitutes published Queen Suriyothai r'uang Ratsad'on relations role romance royal Sam'on satang Satri niphon Satri thai Sawaeng Sayam rat sexual Siam Siam Cinema Company Siam's Siamese Siamese women Sikrung Singapore social story Suphap-burut Suwadee Thai Film Thai Society's Expectations Thailand Thalang Thammasat University Thao Suranari theater Thianwan tion Vajiravudh Wasuwat wife wives woman writing Ying thai young women