Author(s)

Yuetongtong Qu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Yuetongtong Qu

ABSTRACT

Thai films have spread throughout Asia through action films, horror films, youth romance films, remake networks, cinema releases, and digital dissemination. This development raises a question that cannot be fully explained by common terms of cultural imperialism: what happens when cultural products from the global South gain audiences and continue their influence through regional paths that do not begin with Western recognition? By re-examining Ong-Bak (2003), Shutter (2004) and First Love (2010), this paper views cultural communication as an intermediary practice rather than a neutral commodity circulation. The article argues that Thai films develop cultural agency by placing globally recognized types in the local meaning structure: a disciplined body oriented by collective responsibility, a concrete karmic debt, and a daily modernity shaped by abstinence, effort and relational emotions. The spread across Asia provides a broader space for these meanings to be understood and, to a limited extent, weakens their dependence on the Western verification system. However, visibility is not equal to cultural authority. Capital, platforms, key institutions and translation resources are still unevenly distributed, while regional communication may reconstruct a new hierarchical order within Asia. Therefore, the flow of Thai films does not really expand the group of people who can organize cultural significance, but does not mean the arrival of a new cultural center.

KEYWORDS

Thai cinema; Cultural agency; Inter-Asian circulation; Popular culture; Cultural decolonization

CITE THIS PAPER

Yuetongtong Qu. Making Meaning Travel: Thai Cinema, Cultural Agency and the Limits of Inter-Asian Decolonization. Media and Communication Research (2026). Vol. 7, No. 2, 132-142. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/mediacr.2026.070214.

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