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Analysis of Nang Nak Through the Lens of War, Culture, Religion, and Societal Norms

Monsters, vengeful dead people, possessed individual, and other main characters of horror

films deviate from what we, as humans, consider natural or known. In his works on the horror

genre, Noel Carroll argues that it’s precisely their anomalous characteristics that piques our

interest. We don’t necessarily have a neighbor who recently died from childbirth and continues to

linger in this world because of her love for her husband. It is not every day that we get to witness

love that literally transcends death. So, we get curious of films like Nang Nak even though the

scenes cause fear. Even though Mae Nak distresses us by murdering people, we still watch the film

because we want to discover, prove, and confirm her ‘existence’ as a ghost (Carroll, 2002). The

fear is necessary to feed our curiosity.

What makes Nang Nak more interesting is the way it reflects various anxieties and

creatively framed it in the context of war, culture, religion, and societal norms. First, Mak’s

experiences showed how war anxiety/trauma greatly affects someone’s mental health; it even

proved detrimental to mundane activities like sleeping. On the other hand, in connection to Mak

being conscripted, we see the anxiety of the one left behind –Mae Nak, who had no idea if her

husband was still alive all the while grappling with domestic responsibilities and ensuring the

safety of her unborn child. We were also shown the sufferings of the two in an intense and

alternating manner –Mak fighting for his life after being gravely injured and Nak struggling in

ploughing the field and in giving birth. These give us a glimpse of the rich Thai culture, particularly

in a faith-oriented past centered in Buddhism as well as an emphasis on agriculture. There’s also

a striking difference between genders reflected in Mak’s and Nak’s sufferings with Mak being

treated by a Buddhist monk, while Nak was left to the care of an incompetent midwife. This leads
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to the survival of one and the demise of the other. This brings us to the spiritual undertones of the

film bringing about anxiety in putting your life to the mercy of gods or in the hands of religious

figures like shamans. This is aggravated by the unreliability of traditional medicine as well as the

myriad of superstitious beliefs as repeatedly mentioned by minor characters in the story. Some

examples were the negative connotation of having closed windows during childbirth and the act

of looking in between the legs to confirm ghosts. All these ties to the general idea of horror genre

which taps into our curiosity of the unknown. The residents in Phra Khanong are aware of Nak’s

death and they also know that she will come for those who try to inform her husband. However,

they don’t know when or how exactly she will take her revenge. We were never shown the ghost

form of Nak when she is about to murder the villagers; all we see are their terrified expressions

followed by their corpses. This taps into the anxiety that we, humans, feel on beings unknown to

us.

Lastly, one of the main reasons of the unfortunate events that transpired in the film is Nak’s

inability to let go. It’s worth noting that one of the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism is the

importance of non-attachment. I believe that given the cultural context, the film successfully

delineated this principle and effectively framed it to the daily lives of Thai people, of war, family,

marriage, and community.

References:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror. In Horror, The Film Reader. Jancovich, M (Ed.). Routledge.