Indonesian and Southeast Asian film and television
Not offered in Semester 2, 1997
David Hanan
12 points
* 5 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton
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; and 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). The subject will also include 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 together with a general introduction to the various situations of the media in the ASEAN countries. Diploma students will be required to undertake rigorous research and display a capacity to synthesise their knowledge on a high level using a variety of theoretical models to account for the phenomena they are analysing. As well Diploma students will of course be required to display an ability to conduct close and sustained analyses of texts, and to relate the texts to their institutional frameworks of production.
Assessment Essay (3000 words): 30%
* Second essay (3000 words): 35%
* Special study paper (1500 words): 15%
* Visual test (1.5 hours):
20%
Preliminary reading
Legge J D Indonesia Prentice-Hall
Recommended reading
Hanan D Course reader for `Indonesian and Southeast Asian film and television' Dept of Visual Arts, Monash University
Hooker V (ed.) Culture and society in new order Indonesia 1965-1990 OUP
Said S Shadows on the silver screen. A social history of Indonesian film Lontar Press
Sen K (ed.) Histories and stories. Cinema in new order Indonesia Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University
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