Author Information
Supamonta Supanan, Bangkok University, ThailandOrisa Boonyamanond, Bangkok University, Thailand
Abstract
Boys’ Love and Girls’ Love Thai series have become a significant soft power that creates the phenomenon of popularity in several countries across Asia. These series also reflect social issues to attract audiences and raise awareness of gender diversity and equality. Recently, Thailand officially enforced the Marriage Equality Law on 23 January 2025 (UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia, 2025). Notably, the number of these series has kept increasing continuously, particularly from GMMTV, one of the leading Thai entertainment production companies in Thailand. The objectives of this study were to analyze the representation and construction of the main characters in the series. This study conducted a textual analysis of 20 Boys’ Love and Girls’ Love series produced by GMMTV, over a five-year span in the early 2020s, as defined by the researcher. The study focused on the construction of identities, occupational roles, and relationships, guided by Stuart Hall’s representation theory. The findings revealed that the main characters are valued and given social space, demonstrating that they exist and lead meaningful lives. In contrast, when portrayed in mainstream series, they are often marginalized or overlooked. Storytelling emphasizes learning, personal growth, self-acceptance, and the ability to bring about societal change through a variety of occupational roles, such as doctors, teachers, forest protection officers, entrepreneurs, scholars, and lawyers, among others. They demonstrate their ability to contribute to society and drive change. The construction of occupational identities generates new representations that challenge traditional Thai values. These narratives function as cultural capital that may foster a deeper understanding of gender diversity in the future.
Paper Information
Conference: SEACAH2026Stream: Humanities - Media, Film Studies, Theatre, Communication
This paper is part of the SEACAH2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Supanan S., & Boonyamanond O. (2026) Representation and Construction of Main Characters’ Occupational Identities in Boys’ Love and Girls’ Love Thai Series Produced by GMMTV ISSN: 2760-5698 – The Southeast Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities 2026 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 13-26) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2760-5698.2026.2
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2760-5698.2026.2
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