<p>This month, Thai television station Channel Seven — with ample members of the military in attendance — held <a href="https://prachatai.com/journal/2017/06/71912">a press conference</a> announcing a new military-themed series named ‘Love Missions’. The show marks the military’s most explicit intervention in the country’s soap opera or lakorn industry yet.</p> <p></p>

<div> <div>Thai soap operas play a crucial social role in constructing political ideas of nationalism, Buddhism and morality. This mechanism, however, is not a stagnant process. The recent airing of a nationalistic soap has shown how Thai soaps adapt to changing political contexts. </div></div>