Representation of Teenagers in Taiwanese & Thailand TV Drama: From “It Started with a Kiss” to “Kiss Me”

Abstract

The present paper explains the differences or changes exposed after the Thai remake of a Taiwanese television drama and demonstrates the textual features before and after the remake, including gender, love and other values and ideologies, as well as local cultural implications showed in the drama. This paper takes the Thai remake of a Taiwanese teen drama as the research topic, specifically the drama “It Started with a Kiss” (2005) from Taiwan and “Kiss Me” (2015) as the Thai drama.

This investigation focuses on cross-cultural studies, image and gender discourse, and cultural diamond theory. First, it introduces the background of “It Started with a Kiss” (2005) and “Kiss Me” (2015). Secondly, through an extensive text narrative analysis, the theme, plot, main actor, actress and scenes of the Taiwan and the Thailand version are compared. The cultural similarities and differences, between Taiwan and Thailand, reflected on both dramas’ analysis, are presented in a cross-cultural comparison. Thirdly, the variation after the remake on the Thai drama is explained based on the images, the gender, and finally, the author attempts to understand the cultural differences between Thailand and Taiwan on the production of both dramas.

The results show that the actors and actresses in the Taiwan drama “It Started with a Kiss” motivate, support each other, and both roles grow up together. The story is also close to the reality of the Taiwanese society, and the plot presents the characteristics of the local culture in Taiwan such as: food, clothing, and Taiwanese language. While on the other hand, the Thai drama “Kiss Me” revolves around the protagonist’s amorousness process, mostly focused on the first love. The scenes of the drama are more dreamlike which goes along with the idea that young generation of Thailand have. At the same time, it reveals some features of Thailand’s local culture.