Autoethnographic attempt at Ong Bak

A Collection of Thoughts

Following on from my previous post about my initial encounter with Ong Bak, I have done research into specific aspects of the film that were of relevance to my initial reactions recorded on Twitter. I have watched limited martial arts films and the majority of them were western produced films (I’m talking Rush Hour). The Thai film industry was already renowned for its horror and teen movies and has seen success in the box office since 1997 however research into Ong Bak showed that the Thai film was a worldwide success and started the breakthrough of Thai action films. The prominent type of Thai action movies that are successful are those showing exciting Thai boxing (Muay Thai). Thai films do not use martial arts which aims to chase the antagonists, instead they design the fighting scenes to be beautiful and exciting combining Muay Thai with acrobatic moves and combat which…

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Ong Bak – An Autoethnograpic account

A Collection of Thoughts

With the ever increasing awareness of martial arts including Muay Thai, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Karate, Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), Hapkido, Taekwondo and many others I decided to focus this autoethnographic account on the martial arts film genre. Martial arts films generally fall into the action film category and usually contain one or more martial arts fights between characters. The first martial arts film which drew attention for the Western audience was ‘Enter the Dragon’ starring Bruce Lee.

A popular strain of Mixed Martial Arts is Thai Boxing or more commonly referred to as Muay Thai. Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and was developed several hundreds of years ago as a form of close-combat that utilises the entire body as a weapon. Muay Thai is referred to as “The Art of Eight Limbs” because it utilises eight points of contact and the body mimics weapons of war. The…

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Understanding State of Play

A Collection of Thoughts

Following on from my first blog about the film ‘State of Play’ based on South Korean pro gamers playing Star Craft, I have done some research into certain thoughts and epiphany which I observed whilst viewing the film.

The first point I broke down through research was; “Korean culture is very minimalistic players don’t own many possessions and sleep on thin mats instead of in beds – this was very interesting to note”. Research revealed that Koreans spend a lot of time cleaning their floors due to the lifestyle centred on the floor. Dining tables are normally very low to the ground as dinner is usually eaten on the floor. Even today, most people sleep on the floor (Lee 2016).

My second point which I researched into focused on players living together. “Professional players live together in a house with up to 14 players under the one roof. Is this…

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An autoethnographic response to State of Play

A Collection of Thoughts

When I first heard the term Autoethnography I will admit I was worried such a big word could only mean lots of hard work. Researching more into the word through the readings by Ellis, Adams and Bochner (2011) I learnt that “Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyse personal experience in order to understand cultural experience” (Ellis et al. 2011, pg. 1).

Essentially a researcher makes themselves the subject of research by using their own thoughts, feelings and observations. First analysis comes from observations and then moves internally into thoughts and feelings about these observations.

My first autoethnographic experience occurred in the tutorial this week ran by Chris. We were shown a documentary called ‘State of Play’ which focused around competitive gaming and specifically a popular video game Star Craft. The film followed Lee Jae Dong a professional gamer, ParkYo Han a…

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