Historical Context is a must! A BL spin on an important historical event in Thailand.
‘When Light Fades’ begins within a university campus where students are running wild trying to get out of the building, the main character, Ravin witness a harrowing sight and loses everything. Ravin and his friends: Sila and Mada venture into the jungle for safety while following their ideology.
With this drama, historical context is essential when watching, on October 6th 1976 in Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, a massacre occurred. Prior to this, protests began in Thailand due to Thanom Kittikachorn, the Prime Minister of Thailand came back from being exiled in 1973 when he staged a coup on his own government to consolidate absolute power. He was exiled when bloody protests happened and to restore peace the King exiled him. When he came back to Thailand, students began protesting again but right wing media outlets and royalist groups accused these protesters of being communist and defaming the monarchy. The whole world was terrified of communism coming into each country, so the Red Scare happened everywhere. So in fear of this, these student activists were called communists even though they weren’t, so cause distrust on their protests. Following this, police and paramilitary forces mobbed Thammasat University using war grade weapons to explode and shoot at the protesters to stop them. Severe violence happened in this university caused by paramilitaries such as lynching, sexual assaults, and desecration of bodies. 3,000+ students were arrested.
Students began fleeing to the jungles in Thailand and joined the Communist Party of Thailand ( CPT ) where bases were already set up and allowed these students to join them. A side note, but other students hid underground and changed their identities to avoid getting caught. These students who fled to the jungles were being trained in guerrila warfare, this is a style of fighting where a small group of soldiers blend into local towns or villages and use speed and stealth to attack larger armies. They often use their surroundings to fight the enemies as the enemies are not familiar with the territory.
This matters to this drama, as Ravin enters the CPT with his friends and we see their experience in hiding in these harsh conditions when they are constantly on watch to keep safe from the government. Of course, not everything is fully accurate but this drama was made to highlight what happened in 1976. At the beginning of the drama, we are told that the drama is not intended to support either side and they are not raising awareness politically but to rise a question of whether love remains a choice they are free to make in a society where their bodies and hearts deny them to feel right.
This drama was a masterpiece, of course like all dramas it was missing a few bits which would enhance the plot, but it is quite hard to portray a historical drama based on real events without getting political. It focuses on the love between Ravin and Yue as they have their own struggles and trauma from the events that happened before they met in the jungle. I urge everyone to give this a watch, it is not to be missed.
With this drama, historical context is essential when watching, on October 6th 1976 in Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, a massacre occurred. Prior to this, protests began in Thailand due to Thanom Kittikachorn, the Prime Minister of Thailand came back from being exiled in 1973 when he staged a coup on his own government to consolidate absolute power. He was exiled when bloody protests happened and to restore peace the King exiled him. When he came back to Thailand, students began protesting again but right wing media outlets and royalist groups accused these protesters of being communist and defaming the monarchy. The whole world was terrified of communism coming into each country, so the Red Scare happened everywhere. So in fear of this, these student activists were called communists even though they weren’t, so cause distrust on their protests. Following this, police and paramilitary forces mobbed Thammasat University using war grade weapons to explode and shoot at the protesters to stop them. Severe violence happened in this university caused by paramilitaries such as lynching, sexual assaults, and desecration of bodies. 3,000+ students were arrested.
Students began fleeing to the jungles in Thailand and joined the Communist Party of Thailand ( CPT ) where bases were already set up and allowed these students to join them. A side note, but other students hid underground and changed their identities to avoid getting caught. These students who fled to the jungles were being trained in guerrila warfare, this is a style of fighting where a small group of soldiers blend into local towns or villages and use speed and stealth to attack larger armies. They often use their surroundings to fight the enemies as the enemies are not familiar with the territory.
This matters to this drama, as Ravin enters the CPT with his friends and we see their experience in hiding in these harsh conditions when they are constantly on watch to keep safe from the government. Of course, not everything is fully accurate but this drama was made to highlight what happened in 1976. At the beginning of the drama, we are told that the drama is not intended to support either side and they are not raising awareness politically but to rise a question of whether love remains a choice they are free to make in a society where their bodies and hearts deny them to feel right.
This drama was a masterpiece, of course like all dramas it was missing a few bits which would enhance the plot, but it is quite hard to portray a historical drama based on real events without getting political. It focuses on the love between Ravin and Yue as they have their own struggles and trauma from the events that happened before they met in the jungle. I urge everyone to give this a watch, it is not to be missed.
Was this review helpful to you?
