Film in Contemporary Southeast Asia : Cultural Interpretation and Social Intervention

This book discusses contemporary film in all the main countries of Southeast Asia, and the social practices and ideologies which films either represent or oppose. It shows how film acquires signification through cultural interpretation, and how film also serves as a site of contestations between social and political agents seeking to promote, challenge, or erase certain meanings, messages or ideas from public circulation. A unique feature of the book is that it focuses as much on films as it does on the societies from which these films emerge: it considers the reasons for film-makers taking the positions they take; the positions and counter-positions taken; the response of different communities; and the extent to which these interventions are connected to global flows of culture and capital. The wide range of subjects covered include documentaries as political interventions in Singapore; political film-makers’ collectives in the Philippines, and films about prostitution in Cambodia and patriotism in Malaysia, and the Chinese in Indonesia. The book analyses films from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, across a broad range of productions – such as mainstream and independent features across genres (for example comedy, patriotic, political, historical genres) alongside documentary, classic and diasporic films. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Southeast Asian film as a site of cultural interpretation and social intervention Contextualizing film in contemporary Southeast Asia: the decade in review Note References 2. From contested histories to ethnic tourism: cinematic representations of Shans and Shanland on the Burmese silver screen Tracking film history in Burma Representing ‘minorities’ A thumbnail sketch of Burmese-Shan relations over the longue durée Middle-class nationalism and the nascent motion picture industry Cinema in independent Burma Post-1962 motion picture production Shans on the Burmese silver screen Representing Shan and Burmese history on the silver screen Notes References 3. Toward a Laotian independent cinema? Introduction Laotian independent cinema: the strange case of Som Ock Southiponh Conclusion Notes References 4 Screening the crisis of monetary masculinity in Rithy Panh’s One Night After the War and Burnt Theatre Introduction: Rithy Panh and his films Of money and masculinity: a fictional film within a fictional film Becoming Hanu(man): the rape scene in One Night After the War Burnt Theatre (2006) In the shadow of the mother: a story within stories Gender and masculinities: the geopolitical body of the nation Of mothers and madness Conclusion: ‘Srei Taxi’ (Taxi Girl) Notes References 5. When memories collide: revisiting war in Vietnam and the diaspora Transnational Vietnamese cinema and the return of the stateless Archival eruptions: Vietnam, Israel and the U.S. Evacuation into exile Conclusion Notes References 6. Malay(sian) patriotic films as racial crisis and intervention Patriotism and racial crisis in Malay patriotic films From patriotism to racism Flopping patriotism and the threefold crisis of Malay cinema Racial crisis redoubled and paralleled Notes References 7. ‘Our People’: telemovies, bangsa and nationalism 3.0 in Sabah, Malaysia Orang Kita and attitudes towards alterity in Sabah Bangsa and the first two waves of Sabahan nationalism Nationalism 3.0 and PTI ‘Our People’ Conclusion Notes References 8. The hero in passage: the Chinese and the activist youth in Riri Riza’s Gie A new subjectivity and filmic response to social change The youth and the moral nation Political consciousness and scenes on the street The family and the reconfiguration of the Chinese Women and the communist figure Conclusion: film, public ryes and the relevance of history Notes References 9. Alternative vision in neoliberal Singapore: memories, places, and voices in the films of Tan Pin Pin The history of Singapore Arts policies and the creative economy of a neoliberal global city Contesting history Urbanization and the rapidly changing landscape Voices from the margins Conclusion Notes References 10. Documentary filmmaking, civil activism, and the new media in Singapore: the case of Martyn See as citizen journalist Reframing civic intervention in Singapore Police investigation and See’s blogging activities Further activities to challenge the dominant codes Concluding remarks Notes References 11. Cinema and state in crisis: political film collectives and people’s struggle in the Philippines Primordial ambivalence of the nation Diasporic nation, diasporic citizens From historical to virtual OCW Middle class ethos of national citizenry Political film collectives: oppositional mode of production and reception Epilog: crisis of disasters of the state References 12. Nostalgic parodies and migrant ironies in two Thai comedy films Yam Yasothon and Noo Hin the Movie in the context of Thai comedy films Nostalgic parodies in Yam Yasothon Migrant ironies in Noo Hin the Movie Conclusion Notes References Index This book discusses contemporary film in all the main countries of Southeast Asia, and the social practices and ideologies which films either represent or oppose. It shows how film acquires signification through cultural interpretation, and how film also serves as a site of contestations between social and political agents seeking to promote, challenge, or erase certain meanings, messages or ideas from public circulation. A unique feature of the book is that it focuses as much on films as it does on the societies from which these films emerge: it considers the reasons for film-makers taking the positions they take; the positions and counter-positions taken; the response of different communities; and the extent to which these interventions are connected to global flows of culture and capital.The wide range of subjects covered include documentaries as political interventions in Singapore; political film-makers'collectives in the Philippines, and films about prostitution in Cambodia and patriotism in Malaysia, and the Chinese in Indonesia. The book analyses films from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, across a broad range of productions – such as mainstream and independent features across genres (for example comedy, patriotic, political, historical genres) alongside documentary, classic and diasporic films.Chapter 7 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. In the past decade, having long been under the shadow of the more established East Asian cinemas, film in Southeast Asia has emerged as an exciting new field of enquiry for scholars across disciplines. There has been a profusion of new scholarly works of diffused foci produced in the same period, mostly dispersed across wide-ranging journals, volumes, the internet and other media sources. Although the new input has helped to shed some light on the field, David Hanan’s observation in 2001 that little has been published in English about film in Southeast Asia remains as true in essence today as it was ten years ago. There remain large gaps in knowledge on film in the region. Since the publication of Hanan’s now-classic but out-of-print edited volume, Film in South East Asia: Views from the Region (2001), no other book on film in the region had been published, until this volume.1This book studies film but it does not narrow the enquiry to a film type or a particular genre such as fictional narrative, documentary or independent but engages instead with a broad range of productions. Aside from mainstream and independent features across genres (comedy, musical comedy, political, patriotic, national, historical, etc.), it examines also documentary, classic and diasporic films, as well as telemovies... Introduction: Southeast Asian film as a site of cultural interpretation and social intervention / David C. L. Lim From contested histories to ethnic tourism: cinematic representations of shans and shanland on the Burmese silver screen / Jane M. Ferguson Toward a Laotian independent cinema? / Panivong Norindr Screening the crisis of monetary masculinity in Rithy Panh's One night after the war and burnt theater / Boreth Ly When memories collide: revisiting war in Vietnam and the diaspora / Vo Hong Chuong-Dai Malay(sian) patriotic films as racial crisis and intervention / David C.L. Lim "Our people": telemovies, bangsa and nationalism 3.0 in Sabah, Malaysia / Hiroyuki Yamamoto The hero in passage: the Chinese and the activist youth in Riri Riza's Gie / Abidin Kusno Alternative vision in neoliberal Singapore: memories, places, and voices in the films of Tan Pin Pin / Kenneth Paul Tan Documentary filmmaking, civil activism, and the new media in Singapore: the case of Martyn See as citizen journalist / Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi Cinema and state in crisis: political film collectives and people's struggle in the Philippines / Rolando B. Tolentino Nostalgic parodies and migrant ironies in two Thai comedy films / Pattana Kitiarsa. Scholars of Southeast Asian art and culture examine recent cinema in the region, considering a broad range of types, including mainstream, independent, documentary, classic, and diasporic. Among the topics are cinematic representations of Shans and Shanland on the Burmese silver screen, screening the crisis of monetary masculinity in Tithy Pahn's One Night After the War and Burnt Theater, Malay(sian) patriotic films as racial crisis and intervention, the Chinese and the activist youth in Riri Riza's Gie, alternative vision in neoliberal Singapore, and nostalgic parodies and migrant ironies in two Thai comedy films. The 12 essays are from a 2009 symposium in Kyoto, Japan. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)