BANGKOK GOTHIC: SPACES OF TRANSGRESSION AND EXCESS IN THE CITY OF DIFFERENT ANGELS

The Thai name of Bangkok, Krung Thep, translates into English as the City of Angels. The full name of the place, Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, has frequently been claimed to be the world’s longest place name. Although specialists continue to debate whether such a claim can be justified, no one questions the fact that the name is excessive, to say the least.

Frequently declared “the most exotic Asian capital” by Western tourist guides, Bangkok has been a subject of many a theoretical analysis. At the beginning of the 21st century it remains the city of extremes and paradoxes. The following volume attempts to re-define Bangkok in terms of an intersection of multiple spaces of transgression and excess. The said “spaces” taken into consideration in the article can be broadly categorised as urban, economic and cultural respectively and can be found both in the city itself and in its representations in Thai media. A juxtaposition of superstition and advanced technology, ostentatious luxury and utmost poverty, this hot humid and monstrous metropolis is simultaneously both a paradise on earth and the underbelly of the world. Seen through the prism of its art, architecture and urban infrastructure, its commodification, cultural heritage and everyday life, its transgenderism and spiritualism, Bangkok becomes the City of Different Angels.

IMAGES FROM THE CITY OF DIFFERENT ANGELS

Less than ten years ago we were promised the end of the world. For a reason known only to the heavenly circles, the apocalypse was temporarily postponed. The miscalculations of Nostradamus and the lesser prophets of Microsoft were welcomed by some and resented by others, and as the years kept coming, the world settled back to its usual business. The apocalypse may have been called off, but the effects of a decade of anticipation remain visible not only in a score of hastily made disaster movies standing forgotten on the shelves of local video rentals. The turn of a century has always been an opportunity for a bout of decadence, but the turn of the millennium could only be called a pandemonium.

Gothic became a recognised cultural fashion at the end of the 18th century, originally defined in the context of late Romantic literature. Since then it has never really left the scene and “Gothicisms,” or in other words elements characteristic of the Gothic style, have been found in practically any cultural context. The end of the 20th century brought not only the largest to date Gothic revival, but also academic rehabilitation of the style and for the first time Gothic began to be discussed not only in terms of a narrow generic formula but also as a more fluid phenomenon transgressing genres, art forms and media, infecting every possible manifestation of culture with its presence. This, in turn, gave rise to a tendency to see Gothic as a critical instrument, successfully applied in analysing texts old and new.

Since as a literary form it originated from within Germanic cultures, Gothic was initially seen as a purely Western phenomenon. European colonialism proved successful in transporting the fashion to more exotic shores. In the context of the colonies, Gothic fascinations with the images of otherness began to be seen in a different light. But if the echoes of Gothic resound throughout post-colonial cultures, Gothic presence is also felt in the countries that have never fallen victim to European imperialism. Although undoubtedly seen as a Western influence, albeit in many cases an indirect one, Gothic has found a particularly fertile ground in Asia. Culturally appropriated and localised, it mutated into an impressive beast and became a phenomenon of its own.

In a way the Orientalisation of Gothic has brought it back to its origins. Exotic settings and the mythical excesses of the Orient were among very influential Gothic topics since the times of William Bedford’s Vathek. The simultaneous attraction and repulsion felt towards the Exotic Other can be seen as responsible for an introduction of a large number of Turks, Arabs, Asians and Eastern Europeans, particularly of Semitic origin, into Gothic plots. The Spain of Ambrosio, the Monk, may be a corrupt Catholic state in the clutches of the Inquisition, but it is also a land of immense Moorish cultural influence. Potocki’s Manuscript Found in Saragossa introduces the Moorish theme even more directly through the story of two Arabic temptresses. 19th century fascination with Ancient Egypt resounds in the stories of Conan Doyle and Lovecraft. Chinese opium trade can be seen behind the downfall of Dorian Gray and other English opium eaters. And the geographically-ignorant localisation of Transilvania as a Slavic/Eastern European country and the endowment of the world’s favourite vampire with markedly Semitic features speak for themselves.

Contemporary Gothic frequently presupposes the recognition of the Other as an integral part of one’s own self. It is only natural then to wonder what becomes of the Oriental Other, once it ceases to be judged against the Western background. The expression “Asian Gothic” may seem a blatant misapplication of fashionable critical terminology for some and an unexpected discovery of a new Gothic territory for others. But perhaps it is none of the above.

At the dawn of the 21st century reclassification of cultural elements from the point of view of other cultural elements seems a pointless exercise in rhetoric. It is certainly not the point of this book. My intention in putting together this selection of visual and textual commentary on contemporary Bangkok is a representation of the city as seen through “Gothic eyes.” The Thai name of Bangkok, Krung Thep, translates into English as the City of Angels. Frequently declared “the most exotic Asian capital” by Western tourist guides, the city has been a subject of many a theoretical analysis. For the purpose of this discussion, however, Bangkok becomes the City of Different Angels and Bangkok bats circling over Sanam Luang suddenly begin to look ominous, to say the least.

©2009