Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films

Ahmad, Mahyuddin and Lee, Yuen Beng (2015) Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films. Asian Journal of Communication, 25 (4). pp. 408-421. ISSN 1742-0911

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Abstract

Early Malaysian national cinema disseminates a social reconstruction process aimed at reconstructing Malay supremacy at the centre of a specific geographical, political, economic and cultural space. Aptly termed as ‘Malaynisation’, this process occurred during the Golden Age of Malaysian cinema through the films of P. Ramlee. While existing as a capitalist film culture located within an ethnically diverse society, early Malaysian cinema through Ramlee have produced a significant number of monoethnic representations solely focused on the culture, language and lifestyles of the Malays. As such, the articulation of the politics of inclusion and exclusion in Ramlee’s films articulates a right-wing nationalist sentiment that upholds the sovereignty of the dominant Malays while undermining other ethnic communities. The nature of these representations enunciates the context of an ‘imagined community’ which locates the formation of a particular type of nationalism within a social, political and cultural communicative space. This paper examines the construction of the ‘modern Malay’ identity in Ramlee’s films and the nationalist discourse in Ramlee’s films as an attempt at producing the idea of a nation as a continuous narrative of national progression by presenting the postcolonial Malays as a modern, successful and dominant force

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR > N1-(9211) Visual arts P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993-1999 Motion pictures T Technology > TR Photography > TR845-899 Cinematography. Motion pictures
Divisions:	Pusat Pengajian Komunikasi (School of Communication) > Article
Depositing User:	Administrator Automasi
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2018 03:40
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2018 03:40
URI:	http://eprints.usm.my/id/eprint/38731

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