The Ideology of Miss Thailand in National, Consumerist, and Transnational Space

Abstract

Every morning at 8:00 a.m. (with flag-raising) and every evening at 6:00 P.M. (with flag lowering) the official symbolic identity of Thailand is displayed by state on television. These displays are a graphic daily reminder of how nationalism, the military, and the media are tightly bound together in Thailand. Though it seems like a timeless tradition of respect for essential national symbols, this televized ritual is the result of a revolutionary order issued by the right-wing dictators who took power with the brutal October 6, 1976, massacre and military coup.1 These media productions are part of a Cold War mentality, shared by many countries in the free world, that depends on a deeply militarized understanding of identity and security. A gendered discourse on the militarization of national identity has a long history in Thailand. Cynthia Enloe writes that [m]ilitarization relies on distinct notions about masculinity, the state expending considerable resources to convince boys that military service is a natural part of becoming a man.2 This public expenditure to guarantee the congruence of manhood, militarization, and nationalism is most obviously seen in recruiting advertisements, but also works itself out in how the military and police are portrayed on the silver screen and television.3 The overlap between sport and war, too, is considerable in Thailand and the presidencies of amateur sporting associations are seemingly ex officio awarded to leading military officers.4 Yet, as Enloe also argues, such militarized masculine national discourses have staying power only if they are legitimized by women as