Representations Of Borderland In Malaysian And Indonesian Cinemas

Abstract

This  paper  focuses  on  21st  century  cinematic  representations  of  frontier  living  in  the Malaysian and Indonesian borderland. These representations raise the question of the power relationship  between  the  progressive  'centre‘  and  the  less  advanced  'periphery‘.  Many  of these Borderlands films deal with the issue of identity and belonging as a question of power relations  among  filmmakers,  the  people  and  the  state.  And  some  that  transect  the  political and  cultural  borders  of  Southeast  Asian  cinemas  stem  from  the  filmmakers‘  growing recognition  of  the  nationalist  processes  of  cultural  delimitation  and  border  reinforcement. This  investigation  reads  Dain  Said‘s  film,  Bunohan  (2012,  Malaysia)  and  concentrates  on representations  of  the  borderland  as  a  site  of  encounter  between  the  traditions,  the  modern nation state system and its citizens in these peripheral areas. This paper draws on a chapter from my doctoral thesis, which looks at cinema as a cultural space through the representation of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.