Imagining a 'Free' Asia: The capturing of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit's 1960 visit to Burma on Film

The University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute is delighted to be inviting Dr Matthew Phillips (Aberystwyth University) for our seminar series.

Abstract:

On March 2 1960, Thailand’s King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit travelled to Burma for a three-day state visit. Over a century and a half since Burmese armies had flattened the historic Thai capital of Ayutthaya, the visit was highly symbolic. Speaking at a state banquet on the first day, King Bhumibol stated that the two countries had ‘learnt to overlook the differences of the past and to promote the friendly sentiments of the present.’ Throughout the trip a repeated emphasis on shared cultural traditions and contemporary economic priorities were used to cement common ground in a new era. 

This paper focuses on a film of the event, prepared and distributed by the Thai royal household and made with support from the United States Information Service (USIS). It explores how the film significantly altered the closed narrative of the visit, shifting the meaning of the event for a Thai audience to present the young King Bhumibol as a world conquering monarch and a leading figure of post-colonial politics. In this light, crowded streets were transformed into signs of devotion to the foreign king and moments of small talk were charged with additional meaning. Overall, I argue that the film formed part of an ever-widening propaganda campaign aimed at both securing the legitimacy of the monarchy at home while transforming the royal couple abroad into Asian icons of the Free World.