Empowered femininities? It is worth exploring the relationship between women and film religi in which female characters assume the role of boundary markers of nation and religion. The reference to women as markers of the boundaries of national ideology is a common theme in post-colonial nations-states, serving as symbolic representations in the rhetoric of inclusion… Continue reading More thoughts on femininities in Indonesian Islamically-themed cinema
Tag: film
Is there an emergence of new masculinities in Indonesia’s Islamic cinema?
When new femininities are introduced in the new wave of religious film-making, different strands of masculinities also emerge albeit in more implicit ways. Like heterosexuality, non-disability, and whiteness, masculinity is often referred to as ‘unmarked’ social category in which male dominance has been historically treated as the ‘norm’ while ‘gender’ is often taken to be… Continue reading Is there an emergence of new masculinities in Indonesia’s Islamic cinema?
A brief note on Islamic film-making in Indonesia
The ways in which cinema and religion are intertwined are not unique to Indonesia nor to Islam. The rise of Pentecostal “video-films” in Ghana, the Hollywood mainstreaming of ‘Ben Hur’ and Mel Gibson’s ‘The passion of Christ’, and the popular reception of ‘Karunamayudu’, a Telegu retelling of the story of Jesus, watched by over 100… Continue reading A brief note on Islamic film-making in Indonesia
The gender politics of conversion narratives in film religi
Ayat-ayat cinta (Verses of love, 2008, dir. Hanung Bramantyo) and Syahadat cinta (Shahada of love, 2008, dir. Gunawan Panggaru) portray the religious conversion of two Christian female characters, Maria and Pricilia respectively, to Islam after developing an intimate relationship with the Muslim male protagonists. The women convert to Islam for different reasons. For Maria, it… Continue reading The gender politics of conversion narratives in film religi
Some notes on sluttiness in Jalang
The best part about being a researcher in film and media is the joy of discovering half-forgotten ‘gems’, like the Malaysian film called Jalang (2009). Jalang (Malay for slut, whore, wayward butterfly, you get the idea) is the ground-breaking cinematic masterpiece by Nazir Jamaluddin about a high-flying young woman Maria who apparently sleeps her way… Continue reading Some notes on sluttiness in Jalang
The women of Indonesia's Film Religi
Film religi is an Indonesian cultural phenomenon quite unlike any other in Southeast Asia. It is a film genre that is focused on religion (mainly Islam) and its attendant hot issues like polygamy, deviant prophets, interfaith relations, and global ‘terrorism’. Riding on the popularity of the hugely successful Ayat-ayat Cinta (Verses of Love, 2008), a… Continue reading The women of Indonesia's Film Religi
Contesting narratives of the divine: Film religi and Islamic discourses in post-Soeharto Indonesia
Uploading more of my junk here. The following is my research proposal: The recent upsurge in Islamically-themed films, or film religi, in Indonesia can be viewed as a reflection of the increasing prominence of Islam discernible in the media and consumption patterns (Widodo, 2008). Following the commercial success of Ayat-ayat Cinta (Verses of Love) in… Continue reading Contesting narratives of the divine: Film religi and Islamic discourses in post-Soeharto Indonesia
The hidden penis: on censorship, the female gaze and the queer eye
Memory can sometimes be a strange beast. While thinking about this piece, I suddenly remembered an article that Cath Elliot wrote on the Bad Sex in Literature award two years ago under the title, Flaccid prose and the first comment the article provoked: flaccid is an unnecessary man-hating word to use in the title. I’m… Continue reading The hidden penis: on censorship, the female gaze and the queer eye
Film review: Diagnosing Difference
This review also appears on Bitch Magazine’s latest issue No. 45, codenamed Art/See. As an undergraduate in genetics, I learned about “abnormal gender” from medical texts, which taught me that the line between what was female and what was male was clear; anything in between was a chromosomal disorder and an aberration in nature. The… Continue reading Film review: Diagnosing Difference
Film Review: The Mosque in Morgantown
First published at Feminist Review. Muslimah Media Watch has also the goods. Reading the official synopsis of The Mosque in Morgantown, I quickly got the impression that it was a documentary film that revolved around the battle between journalist-activist Asra Nomani and “the extremists” in her hometown Morgantown, West Virginia. It is the kind of… Continue reading Film Review: The Mosque in Morgantown
Alicia Izharuddin 