Smirking against Power: Cynicism and Parody in Contemporary Thai Pro-Democracy Movement (2020–2023)

Abstract

The 2020–23 wave of protests in Thailand forever changed the country’s political landscape. While stemming from and inspired by the 2011 protests, its ability to undermine the hegemony of form and the eternal state of Thailand remains unmatched. People no longer act as if everything is normal but have started to acknowledge the underlying problems. Through parodies and cynicism, they expose the fragility of the eternal state. The Internet has made it easier for subversive acts to spread. To evade censorship, subversive acts use metaphorical and paradoxical parody as a tool to disguise messages as innocuous. Thailand has experienced turbulence in the past decades with the interregnum crisis. People who believed in the regime have become ta sawang (disillusioned)—but with the draconian lèse-majesté law, they have no way to voice their dissent except through cynicism and parody.