Notes on camp films in authoritarian Thailand

Abstract

© 2019, © 2019 SOAS University of London. Camp humour in the counterpublic sphere is one mode to express survivalist subversion when open resistance is not possible. This essay takes stock of camp aesthetics specifically in independent digital films that critique the Thai state while simultaneously healing the oppressed, through perversity, queer politics and satirical humour. The films discussed in this article use the following queer strategies: (1) the reversal of values through exaggeration and excess (Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy critiques authoritarian prescriptions for happiness, taking them to excess to unleash murder and mayhem); (2) revelling in sexual perversity through temporal postulations (Supernatural poses as complex layers of sci-fi Thai gay pornography, but is in fact social critique); (3) presenting postcolonial critique of the country through satire (Madam Anna, Nipples, Macaron, Ponyangkam and Basic Education satirizes Anna and the King); and (4) using poorly acted melodrama in drag to trigger the comedic uncanny (Behind the Painting is a remake of Sriburapha’s popular 1937 novel, a commentary on Thailand’s elite alignment with Japan).