Whose Voice? Love Legend of Phra Khanong: A Case of "Mak, Nak and People of Phra Khanong"
Whose Voice? Love Legend of Phra Khanong: A Case of "Mak, Nak and People of Phra Khanong"
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2016-04
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eng
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application/pdf
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15 pages
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The Seventh Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities (ACAH2016) – International Academic Forum (IAFOR)” Date: April 7th – 10th, 2016 at Art Center of Kobe, Kobe Japan
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Abstract
The love legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong was perceived and portrayed as a haunting,
revenge and furious ghost story for almost a century. In 1999, Nonzee Nimibutr’s version
of Nang Nak was claimed as the first version that humanized Mae Nak and depicted
tragic aspect of her as a mournful young lady who devoted her life to her husband, a
strong stereotype of how Thai girl (in the past) should conduct. However, Nimibutr had
also highlighted the aspect of Buddhist Animism that finally ended ‘the life of Mae Nak’
in this story. The truth is Mae Nak has never died. In 2013, Banjong Pisanthanakun and
his team had recreated a comedy version of this legend to retell a reverse aspect from
Mak, Nak’s husband, and his friends. This version declared a turning point of how this
legend has been perceived and also how the contemporary Thai society has evolved.
The research began to question and revisited this legend. In order to investigating the
roots of personal and political conflicts in the legend and in contemporary Thai society,
the researcher embarked on the collaboration of revising the story of Mak, Nak as
individuals and the society of Phra Khanong.
This research paper examines and reinterprets individualism and community. The
concept of ‘ghost’ and the sense of belonging in the community have been explored and
questioned. The first stage play of ‘Mak, Nak and People of Phra Khanong’ is performed
in June 20th, at the Prague Quadrennial 2015 with about 200 audiences.