Thailand is in a perpetual and (vicious) cycle of politics—which even has its own Thai term: wongchon ubat. That phrase is an all-encompassing term for the recurrence of coups in Thailand, where there have been almost 30 attempts (whether successful or unsuccessful) since 1912.
Wongchon ubat could be explained in several steps, although this serves as a severe oversimplification. First, a coup starts from a fragile democracy in hopes of “resetting” politics and national order. After the seizure of power, the junta then holds tight control on the media, reorganizes state institutions, and drafts a reformation towards a new democracy that maintains military power. Once the situation is “stabilized”, the junta commissions a new constitution that redistributes power to the military, monarchy and elites. Under the new constitution, an election is then proceeded—although under a “managed” environment that allows the disqualification of opposing political figures, restriction of criticism towards the junta and the monarchy, and media control by the state. As the new governments are elected, they operate under a limited autonomy—for new policies (especially the ones that are progressive and populist) provoke elite resistance. The new elected government then receives pressure from the military and royalist institutions, for example, by the new senate made under the junta powers that are allowed to override the parliament. Parties could be dissolved, new leaders can be impeached, and even the legislation could be blocked. As political frustrations grow, political polarization appears; and as conflicts stack on top of each other, national crises then form.
These national crises are often the justification for a military intervention; from this, then, another coup forms. These chronic cycles of coups keep on happening out of public frustrations—hoping for new and improved moral and national order. But, in reality, these coups are a tool to further let Thai’s plutocratic elites keep staying in power. Every other coup and new court ruling, although seeming to “reset” the political climate, preserves the underlying hierarchy that upholds the elite’s interests.
One example is the progressive Future Forward Party led by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, which was disqualified from serving the parliament after the 2019 election over the alleged ownership of media shares—which was in fact a minor technicality that had transformed into an excuse for his removal. The Constitutional Court then dissolved his party altogether in 2020, ruling that a loan from Thanatorn to his party constituted an illegal donation. The cycle then continues with Pita Limjaroenrat and his Move Forward Party which won the 2023 election. Despite winning the election however, he was blocked from his premiership by a Senate appointed under the 2017 Constitution drafted by the junta. Now the party faces a potential dissolution over its attempt to reform Thailand’s strict lèse majesté law. These examples show a clear pattern showing the perpetuation of the elite’s monopoly over power.
Parasite Family (2022) operates with these logics of cycles. This experimental short uses rediscovered film negatives representing Thai families of affluence, manipulates it through analog and digital means, and finally utilizing AI to further distort its images. It shows powerful men and their families to emphasize the point that powers descend from the descendants of power itself. Director Prapat Jiwarangsan animates these portraits to show that while some of them are gone, their powers still exist within the political climate of Thailand. The techniques of manipulating the images that are used: analog, digital, then AI, is one way to signify the temporal: the pre-digital, mid-digital, and the current post-digital age. The director then argues that, as time progresses, the parasitic qualities of these powerful families are made more apparent by using AI as a representation of current times.
Now, Thailand is facing another political conflict: the 2024 election scandal that accused its Senate members of collusion and vote fixing, to the ongoing tensions on the Cambodian-Thai border. The talks of there being an upcoming coup is going around, although all is still uncertain. As the vicious cycle of politics keeps perpetuating in Thailand, the issues portrayed in Parasite Family will continue being relevant. As history repeats itself over and over again, let us acknowledge the underlying powers of the Thailand military-monarchy-bureaucracy. Let us question and ultimately fight the powers that be. (Timmie) (Ed. Vanis)
Film Details
Parasite Family
Prapat Jiwarangsan | 5 min | 2021 | Thailand
Official Selection for Docs Docs: Short!
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
