VSA3750

Indonesian and Southeast Asian film and television

David Hanan

8 points - 4 hours per week - First semester - Clayton - Prerequisites: Two subjects of visual culture at second-year level

Objectives By the completion of this subject students are expected to have demonstrated the following: an ability to discuss Southeast Asian texts in ways that show some understanding of historical specificity and cultural differences; some awareness of the historical circumstances of Indonesia's emergence from colonial domination by the Dutch, the various periods of its history as a nation undergoing modernisation since 1945, and how certain views of history, and national, political and religious ideologies, constitute dominant discourses in Indonesian film and media; a knowledge of how information is regulated and controlled by various formal and informal systems of censorship in Indonesia, and by state management of the structure of the media; and of the responses of Indonesian film artists, writers and journalists, and key figures in popular culture to these forms of social control; some understanding of the relation between Indonesian film and televisual texts, and other key aspects of Indonesian cultural production.

Synopsis A study of Indonesian cinema since the coming of independence in 1950, examining the Indonesian cinema both as an industry and as a site of expression for Indonesian artists, and of a unique and varied popular culture, in the context of a changing political climate and intense government regulation. Attention will be paid throughout the subject to the historical, political, cultural and religious backgrounds of Indonesian society. Films and other material will be included that explore both traditional aspects of Indonesian society (Islam and Hindu-Buddhism) and modernity (the Indonesian avant-garde and independents). Also included will be screenings and discussion of news items on Indonesian Government television (TVRI), and discussion of structural change in the media with the introduction and rapid expansion of commercial television in Indonesia and the availability of outside information via satellite. There will also be some discussion of Thai and Filipino cinema and of the influence of Hong Kong and Indian Cinema in the Southeast Asian region, and a general introduction to the various situations of the media in the ASEAN countries.

Assessment Essay (2000 words): 33% - Essay (3000 words): 50% - Examination (1 hour): 17%

Preliminary reading

Legge J D Indonesia Prentice-Hall, 1980

Recommended texts

Hanan D Course reader for 'Indonesian and Southeast Asian film and television' Dept Visual Arts, Monash U, 1993
Heider K Indonesian cinema: National culture on screen U Hawaii P, 1991
Hooker V (ed.) Culture and society in new order Indonesia, 1965-1990 OUP, 1993
Said S Shadows on the silver screen: A social history of Indonesian film Lontar, 1991
Sen K (ed.) Histories and stories: Cinema in new order Indonesia Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash U, 1988
Sen K Indonesian cinema: Framing the new order Zed, 1994

Back to the 1999 Arts Handbook