The objectives of this academic article are to describe Thailand‟s economy and tourism phenomenon significantly influenced by hit TV drama named Bupphesanniwat or Love Destiny, authored by “Rompaeng” pseudonym that caused the highly astounding popularity and success in Thailand. The research conducted by collecting information and news concerning with Bupphesanniwat that spread through mass media and social media with the period of collecting data: 22 February 2018 - 11 April 2018. The results of this study revealed that Bupphesanniwat novel produced into TV drama has an influence on Thai society in many aspects as follows: 1. Passing on continuing the Thai virtuous culture 2. Culture Tourism 3. Economic aspect particularly culture tourism industry and Thailand‟s historical tourist sites. This current mega-hit Bupphesanniwat also ignites the boom in Thainess popularity amongst almost Thai people of all ages, genders and occupations. It also demonstrated values of Thai literature not only creating enjoyment but it can further significantly develop and create value-added economy.
BUPPHESANNIWAT (LOVE DESTINY): LITERATURE AND CREATING VALUE ADDED THAI ECONOMY Sumalee Phonkhunsap E-mail : kookkik_kb@hotmail.com Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Rajabhat Maha Sarakham, University, Thailand Assoc Prof Dr Rattana Chanthao jratta@kku.ac.th Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand Abstract The objectives of this academic article are to describe Thailand‟s economy and tourism phenomenon significantly influenced by hit TV drama named Bupphesanniwat or Love Destiny, authored by “Rompaeng” pseudonym that caused the highly astounding popularity and success in Thailand The research conducted by collecting information and news concerning with Bupphesanniwat that spread through mass media and social media with the period of collecting data: 22 February 2018 - 11 April 2018 The results of this study revealed that Bupphesanniwat novel produced into TV drama has an influence on Thai society in many aspects as follows: Passing on continuing the Thai virtuous culture Culture Tourism Economic aspect particularly culture tourism industry and Thailand‟s historical tourist sites This current mega-hit Bupphesanniwat also ignites the boom in Thainess popularity amongst almost Thai people of all ages, genders and occupations It also demonstrated values of Thai literature not only creating enjoyment but it can further significantly develop and create value-added economy Keywords: Historical novel, Culture Tourism, Historical tourism, Economy, Local economy Introduction As a historical novel depicting Ayutthaya period, Bupphesanniwat, written by ―Rompaeng‖ or Chantayavee Sompreeda, TV scripts written by Sallaya, produced as TV drama at the first time in 2018 by Broadcast Thai Television Co., Ltd And has been put on air on 21 Febrary 2018 and and its popularity has surged ever since like a wildfire after only a few episodes It has rapidly become talk of the town amongst audiences who admire historical contents in the period of King Narai the Great contained in this hit TV drama, produced a highly addictive cocktail of fascinating themes and lured audiences to watch with its combination of fun and historical knowledge at the same time Created by human, literature is thus undeniably related closely to society Literature serves to capture the image of each society in each period thoroughly Many aspects of the environment has motivated authors to write a literature Inspired by just a few words 499 appeared in historical record, the author of Bupphesanniwat is written by depicting and reflecting how people make a living in the period of King Narai the Great Rompaeng once said about her novel that "In my feeling, It is quite difficult to write this novel because it is based on history It contains lots of connotations that readers are able to interpret in many ways indepently and deeply as they want to But I try to make it a neutral notion and themes as much as possible." (2012: 5) The novel is based on a time-travelling love story about a female archaeologists who was born in the reign of King Rama in the Rattanakosin period with a handsome young nobleman who was an ambassador during the reign of King Narai the Great, of Ayutthaya period Its themes and contents dating back to the past more than 300 years and illustrates the link between historical events and fictional characters harmoniously Reference: http://www.broadcastthai.com/ When the novel Bupphesanniwat was presented in the form of television drama, it caused a phenomenon in Thai society It is clear that this phenomenon has affected the tourism industry and the Thai economy significantly This article thus aims to study how literature influenced Thai society and economy The information and data collected is based on data presented about novels and this TV drama Bupphesanniwat was published through mass media, newspapers, magazines, radio and television including social media Data collection conducted from 22 February 2018 until 11 April 2018 The results of this study indicated the influences of literature Bupphesanniwat towards on Thai economy and tourism It also demonstrated that cultural capital plays a significant role for Thailand to further develop to add higher value for that Results From a novel to mega-hit TV drama phenomenon This literature has considerably a positive feedback and received the attention of the readers with more than 30 times published and become alert with a current trend among readers in Thailand It shows that Thai people also like to read literature and ignites hopes and inspiration for writers to create a quality literature on the market 500 When the novel Bupphesanniwat has become the television drama and put on air just a few early episodes, it results in the Bupphesanniwat phenomenon and the word "Or Chao" as the second personal pronoun that the hero always called the heroine in the TV drama has become mega-hit and has been trending rapidly on the social media such as on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram This TV drama was also up to be the most trending hashtag on Twitter in the first placement in the world while broadcasting The atmosphere of watching television together with the family was back again Members ranging from children to adults even the elderly addictively pay attention to watching this mega-hit TV drama, which is the phenomenon that not happened so long ago in Thailand, particularly the era where social media has plays a dominant role in almost every aspects of life This TV drama is considered as a family drama that attracts to all ages It is also fun with romantic-comedy plot and providing historical knowledge at the same time It causes Thai people to pay more attention to their roots and Thai history especially in the glorious period of Ayutthaya In addition, with its astounding popularity, the production team thus organizes to put on air the 9th episode of this mega-hit TV drama in the first class cinema; that is the first time in Thailand that TV drama can be broadcast in cinema Seree Wongmontha (2018) said that there were a wide range of interesting aspects that why Bupphesanniwat TV drama has become phenomenal nationwide and its phenomenon also contributed to the nation considerably , that is to say, it disseminated and provided the knowledge of Thai language and Thai history and brought back the proud to be Thai to new generation, providing morals on how to live valuably as well as helped promote historical and culture tourism, compatible with ―Niyom Thai‖ policy of Thai government It has led the government to focus on promoting Ayutthaya tourism and pay more attention to formulate the policy to promote Thai drama and Thai series go global Thai dress has become common in everyday life resulting from this mega-hit TV drama All these reasons contributing this TV drama became a valuable phenomenon in the wake of popular Thai and attracted new generation to pay more attention to study Thai history more deeply It is argued that there are only a few Thai literatures that will produce this kind of phenomenon If we consider factors leading to great achievement nationwide of this megahit TV drama, one factor results from literation‘s function to provide knowledge for reader considerably, it told a fascinating story based on historical background through characters with interesting action combined with the excellent television scripts makes it become phenomenal in Thai society undoubtedly Passing on and continuing the Thai virtuous culture Culture is a way of life associated with people all the time The daily life of people is unavoidably related to culture People are thus both creator and innovator of culture, in direct and indirect ways In order to make sure that culture will transform suitably according to the changing times (Office of the National Culture, Commission Ministry of Culture, 2008: 17) 501 Bupphesanniwat or Love Destiny considerably creates phenomenon in Thai society It motivates Thai people to look back to their strengths, namely, Thai culture, especially type of economic competition worldwide that are prone to connect economy with culture In order to promote economic development, culture based economy plays an important role in distributing income to the community The Bupphesanniwat Tv drama displays a variety of cultural aspects as follows: Aspect of art objects and artistic work Thai culture has a beautiful and delicate art objects and artistic work such as clothing, paintings, music, etc Bupphesanniwat TV drama demonstrates this attractiveness through the action and the characters Retro hair styles and ornaments of actors and actresses appeared on this TV soap opera are displayed delicately and production team seriously studied details based on historical record When the audience sees the costume of the character appeared on TV, the astounding popularity of dressing Thai costume has rapidly spread nationwide, mostly they usually dress Thai retro costume to travel to historical sites as appeared on this TV drama In addition, the Thai government seizes this opportunity to further to promote dressing Thai retro costumes dress during the Songkran Festival Thai cuisine Thai cuisine is considered as a culture In Bupphesanniwat TV drama, ―Katsurang‖ an archaeologist from Rattanakosin period, who is possessed in the body of ―Karaked‖, the female protagonist in the story cooked a variety of current Thai cuisine unknown for Thai period in the Ayutthaya to taste such as Green Mango with Sweet Fish Sauce, Grilled River Prawn with Thai spicy sauce, Korean Barbecue in Thai Style, etc These circumstances appeared on this TV drama is significantly considered as a stimuli for Thai economy caused by current mega-hit of Bupphesanniwat TV drama to grab opportunity to stimulate economy in general Lots of audiences want to eat many Thai cuisine menu appeared on Bupphesanniwat TV drama, Grilled River Prawn restaurant waiters and waitresses, for instance, dressed Thai retro costume to lure customers and Green Mango with Sweet Fish Sauce has become very popular and been selling like hot cakes In addition, Bupphesanniwat TV drama also referred to the person who actually exist according to historical record like ―Marie Guimar‖ or ―Thao Thong Geeb Ma‖ (Lady Thong Geeb Ma) who is reputed as the Queen of Thai traditional desserts Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine are considered as a Thailand‘s cultural wisdom Bupphesanniwat TV drama presented Thai folk wisdom as appeared on many scenes such as the scene where the hero and heroine must brush their teeth with a brunch of King Khoi (Siamese Rough Bush), the scene in which the heroine scrubbed her body with turmeric while bathing to make her skin smooth, the scene where the maids used tamarind to scrub the heroine‘s skin, the scene in which the heroine used kaffir lime to wash her hair, the scene where the maids and slaves chewing betel nuts in the house of ―Okya Horadhibbodi‖, the royal augur, the father of hero in the story The scene in which the hero grinded Phlai or Cassumunar ginger to heal the heroine‘s wound caused by being punished by a rattan stick All scenes that displayed the ways traditional Thai medicine had 502 been applied have a positive impact on Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine dissemination and even the Director-General of the Department of Traditional Thai Medicine and Alternative Medicine came to thank you this mega-hit TV drama to spread useful knowledge of Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine to audiences Thai tradition and Thai play Thai traditions in the past has become to be dynamically alive again when Bupphesanniwat TV drama put Thai traditions and Thai play on many scenes such as long boat competition between Thai noble men and commoners , the building of sand pagodas, or gor phra chedi sai in Thai (Sand chedi) This tradition apparently started as a way for local people to make merit, play performed by all male initiated in the period of Ayutthaya, was very popular amongst commoners, making merit and the scene of giving food offerings to a Buddhist monk, the scene of commoners listening to sermon in a temple as well as the scene the heroine played ―Tang Te‖, etc Mr Vira Rojpojchanarat, Minister of Culture referred to this current mega-hit TV drama that it is phenomenon compared equally to Korean hit series ―Dae Jang Keum‖ It ignites the boom for Thai people to pay atten to their Thai roots and culture and the prime minister assigned the ministry to further to continue its popularity by promoting TV drama, film production concerning Thai historical backround Furthermore, the ministry of culture together with this TV drama production will also participate and exhibit in Hong Kong Filmart 2018 It is thus observed that Thai culture presentation through TV drama created highly astounding interests to audiences and the audiences are motivated to imitate the way the actors/actresses dress, eat, play ,etc It is also considered as stimuli for Thai people to come study Thai culture in many aspects considerably and then they are able to appreciate the values of Thai culture as well as attracting tourists to travel to historical sites appeared on this mega-hit TV drama and want to study more on Thai culture Culture Tourism In the present time, the Thai tourism industry focuses on sustainable tourism or conservation tourism leading to develop into has developed into two new types of tourism: Ecotourism and Culture tourism Culture tourism is a travelling to cultural sites or traditional and cultural events organized in the local community for their amusement, including tourists are able to study and understand the local‘s belief, characteristics of society and culture such as Historical Tourism and Tradition and Art Tourism, etc The culture mentioned above is thus considered as a selling point in tourism It is a capital that can bring economic development, making money for people in the community Cultural capital, as it is called, can be employed to develop economic sector considerably (Karnarin Jaruwan, 2016: 1-3) With the popularity of Bupphesanniwat TV drama, more tourists, both Thai and foreign tourists, are interested in visiting historical sites , creating lots of incomes for the local in the community Organizing a tour at historical sited as appeared in the mega-hit 503 drama doubled tourists, particularly, Wat Chaiwatthanaram, where weekend visitors surged to nearly 20,000 Wat Chaiwatthanaram is an ancient temple located in Ayutthaya province that was used as a major scene in the early stages of the story, in which Kadsurang and Reungrit paid a visit to collect archaeological data The scene was rode a boat passing through the temple and saw the graciousness of the temple at night Furthermore, There are also other temples appeared in Bupphesanniwat TV drama such as Wat Phutthaisawan, Wat Phra Sri Sanphet And Wat Choeng Tha The important historical sites which appear in the story have become talk of the town and attracted thousands of tourists giving good benefits to local economy further developed from the current of the drama Tourism is one of the major economic activities of Ayutthaya province owing to it is a city that has a long history significantly reflecting Thai history and culture Tourists thus flock to travel in the province in a huge number constantly In the year 2017 the number of tourists to travel in Ayutthaya is about 7.5 million people Tourism has generated income spread into tourism business accounted for approximately 62.0% from Thai tourists, and foreign tourists accounted for about 38.0% of overallrevenue from tourists who come to visit Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province in 2018 influenced and inspired by the mega-hit ―Love Destiny‖ (Bupphesanniwat TV drama It results in floods of tourists in Ayutthaya and Lopburi doubled by 3-4 times and benefiting to local people that would earn income from Thai retro costume for rent, shop and restaurant business at least 2,000-5,000 million baht Cultural capital and Creative Economy "Creative Economy" can be defined in the case of Thailand : the concept of moving forwards economy economic based on the use of knowledge, creative education and the use of intellectual property linked to cultural foundations, the accumulation of knowledge of modern society and technology The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has classified the creative industries into four main categories: 1) Cultural Heritage such as handicrafts culture tourism and biodiversity and Thai traditional medicine as well as Thai cuisine 2) Art, i.e., performing arts and visual arts 3) Media such as movies and video, printing, broadcasting and music 4) Functional Creation such as fashion design, architecture, advertising and software (Piriya Phonpiirun, 2013:9) Mr Tanawat Pholvichai, Director of Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, revealed that many countries nowadays employed drama, series or movies popularity to move forwards their economy dynamically, namely, creative economy, This mega-hit drama has been attracted by foreign TV entrepreneurs such as China, Taiwan and Hong Kong Doing this may lead to an astounding popularity worldwide not less than 100,000 - 200,000 audiences, generating income to the country approximately of billion baht If its popularity can be ignited up to months, it will increase the amount of money to be doubled, or about 20,000 to 30,000 million expected by 2018 504 Bupphesanniwat TV drama demonstrated that Thailand has a cultural capital that can create and increase economic values such as travelling to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province as referred to scenes in this TV drama, has a positive impact on the people in local community to enable them to sell their unique product sales or cultural show,organizing tours for the Thai and foreign tourists Literature is classified as a type of Thai creative industry (NESDB) Bupphesanniwat TV drama has attracted many readers Many fans placed so many orders that the publisher is not able to have them printed on time It is then a good sign in the Thai publishing industry that there are increasing readers and the higher demand for Thai reading society even though in the period of social media occupied the social space Discussion and Conclusion It is not an overstatement to say that “Bupphesanniwat or Love Destiny‖ TV drama has turned a ―sure-fire hit‖ into a Thai TV phenomenon It is considered as the most successful TV drama giving huge impact nationwide It is not quite often that TV drama is able to attract most audiences in the country It also reflects influences of literature towards economic and social aspects and values of Thai literature Staring from a historical novel with a few reader to the great success in its ratings and popularity when produced into TV drama and lead to positive impact on economy to stimulate historical tourism and move forwards economy based on culture-based economy by adopting cultural capital to develop the country creatively References Charuwora, P (2016) Khati bok rot ong th eo: m b n watthanatham nong kh o hangwat k n hana bur Bangkok: khr ngk n ph iphr phonng nath ng wich k n khana Faculty of Arts Chulalongkorn University Phonphirun, P (2013) S tthakit s ngsan kap k nphatthan prath t Thai s tthas t parithat sath ban phatthana s t Journal Volume 7, January 1, 2013 Romphaeng (pseudonym) (2012) Bupphesanniwat 16th ed Bangkok: Happy Banana Wongmontha, S Bupphesanniwat Phenomenon Retrieved March 18, 2018 from http://www.thaipost.net/main/detail/5222 Office of the national Culture Commission (2008) Sư : Botb tl khw msam khantok nph iphr ng n Watthanatham : Bangkok : Ministry of Culture http://www.broadcastthai.com Retrieved March 22, 2018 https://web.facebook.com/search/top/?q=kresearchcenter Retrieved March 22, 2018 http://news.ch3thailand.com/economy/65570 Retrieved March 24, 2018 — 505 ... of Thai traditional desserts Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine Thai Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine are considered as a Thailand‘s cultural wisdom Bupphesanniwat TV drama presented Thai. .. influences of literature Bupphesanniwat towards on Thai economy and tourism It also demonstrated that cultural capital plays a significant role for Thailand to further develop to add higher value for... affected the tourism industry and the Thai economy significantly This article thus aims to study how literature influenced Thai society and economy The information and data collected is based on