Representing nakleng: modernity, media and masculinities in Thailand (1948-2018)

This thesis presents a cultural history of the representation of nakleng − a traditional masculine figure that is rebranded and popularised in Thai popular culture − from 1948 to 2018. It argues that the tension between an emerging media industry’s desire to commoditise the fantasy of a heroic nakleng, and the state’s aspiration to criminalise and demonise the same figure, accounts for the pluralized and dynamic form of nakleng portrayals in various popular media. The study finds that nakleng figure in popular media represents the everchanging Thai masculine identity across seven decades in the local, national and global levels.