FEMININITY REDEFINITION IN THE CON EARTIST: AN EMPOWERMENT OF THE NORTHEASTERN WOMEN

บทคัดย่อ

Religious beliefs and patriarchal social structure of the Northeast, Thailand, caused the regional females who lived in this underprivileged area of the country to suffer a great deal from gender inequality since the beginning of the history. Using the locations in this part of Thailand to shoot the film, the Con Heartist, a romantic comedy, presents Ina Jitimaim, the lead female character who underwent monetary scams shammed by two Northeastern males. In this article, the exploration of femininities possessed by Ina who represents the Northeastern females were analyzed. The qualitative research approach was employed to investigate the embedded purpose and the results found from the investigation were presented in the form of descriptive analysis. It was found that although Ina was initially constructed to be the typical Northeastern girl who submitted to her beloved younger male at the opening of the film, her characterization of womanhood was empowered to become the non-stereotypical, experienced, and strong Northeastern female at the second half of the film. It could be assumed that the changes that happened to the Northeastern femininities were derived from the endorsements from both the government and the private sectors’ collaborations to strengthen the women in the region to be better educated and more capable.