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I NEED HIM

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Apo

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Someone pissed me off today. So here’s two men (who I love so fucking much) kissing.

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In the trailer for Shine, the moon is a persistent, almost haunting image. Thanwa is the lead singer of Moon Shine. He welcomes Trin to his hedonistic paradise with the words (translated): “Welcome to the other side of the moon.” The OST features the track “The Far Side of the Moon,” and Trin himself wears a moon-shaped pin on the lapel of his jacket.

In Thai literature and poetry, the moon carries layered meanings of love, longing, illusion, and impermanence. In Western lit, we recognize Juliet warning Romeo to not swear his love by the inconstant moon, and rightly so. Its phases reflect life’s rhythms in its tenderness, its betrayals, and its inevitable transformations. People come into our lives and people leave. Nothing stays the same.

We see the moon’s face, trace shapes and stories into its surface, but there’s always a side we cannot see, even as the sun illuminates it.

That hidden side—unseen, yet always present—feels like the heart of Shine.

It’s no accident that, during one of the most turbulent periods in Thai modern history, the moon emerges as the story’s central metaphor. It mirrors not just national upheaval, but personal revolutions as well.

Every character in Shine is changing - falling in love, breaking apart, becoming someone new. There is the change society sees, but there is also a transformation happening in private, far from public view.

We’re not just watching a love story. We’re watching people fight in the light while wrestling with their fundamental desires in the shadows. Society is in turmoil. Ideologies are in upheaval. The only constant in the lives of these characters is that by the end, they will be transformed, and nothing will ever be the same.

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Shine Press Conference

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Symbolism in Shine

The Moon

We have already seen two Trin looks that feature a moon pin 🌙

Thanwa's band is called Moonshine

The Shine OST by SlotMachine is called Far Side of the Moon.

We hear Thanwa say "welcome to the other side of the moon," when he meets Trin. That sounds like a reference to Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon which came out in 1973 and addresses issues like conflict, death and greed among others.

I also think of the song The Moon Represents My Heart, originally sung by Taiwanese singer Chen Fen-lan but made famous by Teresa Teng and also by queer icon Leslie Cheung. Apo has sung this song before accompanied by Mile on guitar 😊

There is also the Japanese saying "the moon looks beautiful tonight," which is an indirect way of confessing your love for someone.

All that to say, the moon is a very romantic symbol 🤍🖤

Now I shall ramble a bit about tarot card meanings for the moon and the sun which I shall put under here ⬇️

Tarot Card Meanings

The Moon: 🌛

This card can represent that something is not as it seems in your life. Pay attention to your dreams as your subconscious may be trying to tell you something. Trust your instincts to see past illusions.

The card can also indicate that you are letting fears or anxiety overwhelm you. Mental health issues may arise through dormant insecurities or repressed feelings.

The Sun: 🌞

In contrast, the sun card represents optimism, positivity, freedom and fun. Success and freedom and generally happy vibes will draw people towards you.

It indicates feelings of liberation, a carefree and self assured attitude.

Trin and Thanwa

I included the sun as well because on a surface level at least, it looks like Trin is the moon and Thanwa is the sun but I suspect that there is a lot more overlap between them than initially meets the eye.

There are a lot of other places to look for moon and sun interpretations, such as depictions in mythology for example and it is not lost on me that Apo's designs for his Skechers collaboration feature sun and moon motifs as well 😏 but I think I have gone on long enough 😅

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Shine's whole trailer looks amazing, but I'm already so excited/interested in this one shot of Apo's character, Trin.

The book that he's reading is the 1965 work Toward an Understanding of Homosexuality by Dr. Daniel Cappon.

Dr. Cappon was a professor of psychiatry who worked at the University of Toronto. Here's what the preface of his book says:

There are no homosexuals -- only people with homosexual problems. The idea of a third sex is as antiquated as the last century. No person with a homosexual problem, however extensive or deep, is merely an aberrant creature, a totally pathological specimen. Such a person remains, first and foremost, a person.

However, according to the a site covering the history of Lesbian and Gay liberation in Toronto (LGLC), many of Dr. Cappon's works also include the argument that homosexuality can be cured. For instance,

In 1968, during an address to the Ontario College of Family Physicians he stated that eighty percent of homosexuals who seek professional treatment are helped, and half of these are cured. In 1973, Cappon participated in a debate on homosexuality on CBC radio, where he warned that homosexuals were dangerous because they attracted others to homosexuality. In October 1973, Cappon wrote an article entitled 'The Homosexual Hoax: this aberration is not a right' and generated a great deal of negative response.

I've been reading Sanchai Chotirosseranee and Atit Pongpanit's amazing chapter on the "Thai Film Archive and Early Thai Queer Cinema" in The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas recently, which talks a lot about how the 60s were important time period in terms of queer history in Thailand.

In the 1950s, the Thai press began reporting extensively on cross-dressing kathoeys. Because of these new normalized forms of gender difference between masculine and feminine, there has been a notable rise in the creation of gender and sexual identity categories in the mid-1960s. These new categories...emerged in public discourse and become the basis of new homosexual and transgender identities and cultures’ formations in various Thai cities, particularly Bangkok. Jackson (2003) further points out that in the 1960s, Thai physicians and psychologists began to draw upon Western biomedical discourses to negatively address the issues of cross-dressing and homosexuality as “abnormal” and “deviant” (pg. 530)

In the trailer, Trin is asked by a student why foreign-educated intellectuals rely on Western theories to explain everyday life. Later, he's then shown reading a book that features Western ideas/medical discourses surrounding sexuality- the one by Dr. Cappon.

It's possible that these sections are disconnected, but I'm really excited by the idea that the series is going to grapple with topics related to sexuality, Western influence(s), and politics- perhaps separately, but perhaps maybe all together.

I'm so excited for the show just from the brief shots that have been shown in the trailer- I'm really looking forward to seeing the different ways that they touch on so many different topics!

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🌞🌛

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Come through with the questions that need answers, Shine!

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The music for KinnPorsche is so good

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Time for a dumb poll on the Shine trailer, because why not:

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Dr Trin

I love all the fussy little details in his blacker than black outfit.

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Historical context for Shine the series

(credit/source)

In 1969, Thailand was under a military government led by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, who was Prime Minister from 1963–1973. He is the successor of another dictator (Marshal Sarit). His regime was authoritarian, with no democratic elections, heavy censorship, royalist, conservative, and suppression of dissent.

His government has a strong alignment with the US, especially in the context of the Cold War+ the Vietnam War. Thailand allowed the US army to use Thai bases, making it a key anti-communist ally in Southeast Asia.

The political background at that time in my opinion, it's quite intense as the country was ruled by Military for decades (Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram 1938-1957, Sarit Thanarat 1959-1963, Thanom 1963-1973) and there's come a worldwide trend and a new waive in country - the scholars, university students and other left wing who're not happy about it. This's led to the big protest in Thai history led by university students called 14 October 1973 Uprising and 6 October 1976 Massacre to exile Marshal Thanom.

Thailand's art and music scenes were at a cultural crossroads — blending tradition with increasing Western influence due to political alliances and the Thai oversea students (like Dr. Trin) who came back home with the western education background.

Nowadays, we still pay homage to the historic events of the 14 October 1973 Uprising and the 6 October 1976 Massacre — especially at Thammasat University, where both took place. (Mile is an alumnus of the university.)* Thammasat served as the cradle of democracy during the 1973 uprising and became the site of brutal repression in 1976 — two defining moments in Thailand’s modern political history.

(*Kyuu separate note: you are an alum of an institution even if you don't graduate. Only Mile graduated but both he and Apo attended where they first met. Apo later transfered to another university where he graduated from.)

The founder of Thammasat University, Dr. Pridi Banomyong, was a professor, activist, politician, and senior statesman. He was one of the key leaders of the 1932 Siamese Revolution, which transformed Thailand from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. A recipient of a government scholarship, he studied in France, earning a master’s degree from the University of Caen and later a doctorate in law from the University of Paris in 1927.

Another imp historic figure is Dr. Puey Ungphakorn (1916–1999), a highly respected economist and technocrat who played a significant role in supporting democracy and the student movement in modern Thai history. He earned his PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University (1964 - 1972), later becoming its Rector (1975-1976). Dr. Puey firmly opposed the use of violence against student protesters leading up to the 6 October 1976 Massacre. Following the tragic event, he resigned, was falsely accused of communist sympathies, and spent the rest of his life in exile in the UK. In 2015, UNESCO recognized him for his unwavering ethical leadership and moral integrity.

((I think these two, esp. Dr. Puay might be an inspiration of Dr. Trin character))

If you enjoyed this and have a twitter account, please let the original author know!

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We love. We fight. We shine.

Shine The Series Poster