iieiiei1eWrkers - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

Roi Pa was turned from a serial of over 100-episode in 1957 into a one-shot
film and 22-episode drama in 1986. During the past three decades Roi Pa has
been reprinted twice, in Bangkok in 1977 and Tantawan, its sister magazine, in
1982. It appeared on television in 1967 and was adapted into a two-part
film. Its second film adaptation in 1986 was screened on Chinese New Year
holiday, the peak season of the film industry.
Mm first appeared in Kuan Ruan, a conservative middle-class womens' magazine
in 1984-1985. It was immediately filmed after its publication in hardback.
However, it was released under its •new title, Mia Tang or the Wedded Wife,
on May Day of 1986. The 22-episode drama was broadcasted a month earlier,
in April, and scheduled in the daily afternoon slot with the addition of an
omnibus edition on Saturday.
The Ketthip production of Mia Tang is its second radio version following the
Nilikanon company's adaptation based on the original novel. This company
produces the work of three women novelists; Busayamas, Chuwong Chayajinda
and Nantana Wirachon and with its conservative outlook tends to adhere to the
conventional romance, though innovative productions are made from tinie to
time. Ketthip on the contrary, is more receptive to new challenges as its radio
production of Mia Tang demonstrates. While this is confined by structures
established by the film script and the novel it strives to appeal to its audience
through the use of melodrania. The following analysis of Roi Pa and Mm is
based on the 1986 version of film/radio adaptations. Quotations are from the
radio scripts unless otherwise stated.
In this new version, Chalong Pakdiwichit, the director of Roi . Pa, continues to
argue for an evolutionary 'pro,qress' that does not depart from the secure terrain
of religion. The three stages of the hero's biography reveal the rationale of
this central discourse. As the director put it,
"one cannot understand the heroic mission of Sua Kfinsak without
looking l,ack into his temple boy childhood and education."
Within the framework provided by the status quo it is suggested that commoner
can rise via religious virtues and the education system.
At present, Bangkok has a circulation of 280,000 - 300,000 and is the
top weekly serial magazine. Its readership is equally divided between
male and female, as opposed to its male-oriented outlook when it started
three decades ago. Although Tantawan began as a women's magazine it
now has a sizable male readership.
Quoted in the promotional material of the film, Rol Pa.
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