The Boonchu Comedy Series: Pre-1990s Thai Localism and Modernity

Thai films are regarded as major indicators of the modernization of twentieth-century Thailand. Prior to 1997, Thai films were mainly produced for a domestic market only, employing a presentational film style that focused upon producing visceral pleasures for local audiences (Ainslie 2017). Often known as the golden age of Thai cinema, this era lasted throughout the 1960s and produced a significant volume of films, deploying a mixture of genre traits such as romance, melodrama, action and comedy. Such films were deeply intertwined with both sociopolitical and cultural contexts; for instance, the 1970 superhero film Insee thong (The Golden Eagle, Mit