Alternative Digital Movies As Malaysian National Cinema A
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Unfolding Time to Configure a Collective Entity: Alternative Digital Movies as Malaysian National Cinema A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Hsin-ning Chang April 2017 © 2017 Hsin-ning Chang. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Unfolding Time to Configure a Collective Entity: Alternative Digital Movies as Malaysian National Cinema by HSIN-NING CHANG has been approved for Interdisciplinary Arts and the College of Fine Arts by Erin Schlumpf Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies Elizabeth Sayrs Interim Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT CHANG, HSIN-NING, Ph.D., April 2017, Interdisciplinary Arts Unfolding Time to Configure a Collective Entity: Alternative Digital Movies as Malaysian National Cinema Director of dissertation: Erin Schlumpf This dissertation argues that the alternative digital movies that emerged in the early 21st century Malaysia have become a part of the Malaysian national cinema. This group of movies includes independent feature-length films, documentaries, short and experimental films and videos. They closely engage with the unique conditions of Malaysia’s economic development, ethnic relationships, and cultural practices, which together comprise significant understandings of the nationhood of Malaysia. The analyses and discussions of the content and practices of these films allow us not only to recognize the economic, social, and historical circumstances of Malaysia, but we also find how these movies reread and rework the existed imagination of the nation, and then actively contribute in configuring the collective entity of Malaysia. 4 DEDICATION To parents, family, friends, and cats in my life 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Prof. Erin Schlumpf, who took my project in without hesitation. The advice from you during my writing gave much strength to this thesis. Sincere thanks to the rest of my committee, Dr. Vladimir Marchenkov, Dr. Marina Peterson, Dr, Louis-Georges Schwartz, and Dr. Gene Ammarell. Besides your comments and questions as the committee members for this project, your classes during my graduate studies enabled me to research, think, and write as a scholar. Many people worked with me and helped me to get through this long process of writing: Animesh, Becca, and Don in the Writing Center of Ohio University; the family of Annah, Jim, and their new baby boy Isidoro. Thank you for walking through the jungle of messy English with me. I would also like to thank to Prof. Michael Gillespie for your advice during the early stage of this project. Friends who gave advice, encouragement, company, and support: Lu Dai-hua, Liu Jia-rong, Novia Chen Shih-shan, Ueng I-ching, Gordon Briggs, Seth Kim Se-young, Sho Ogawa, and Adel Wong Jing. Thank you all. To the filmmakers, musicians, and friends in Malaysia, thank you all for your time and hospitality during my research trips to Malaysia. Especially, Kok Siew-wai, the director of Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video, and Music Festival, thank you for the incredibly fun festival and your friendly reception of my participation and observation of the festival. Cheers to my tutors, fellows, and sisters of Athena Cinema and Athens International Film and Video Festival. Dr. Ruth Bradley, Mr. John Butler, Alexandra 6 Kamody, Dan Bruell, Dan Moray, Chris, Noah, Aaron, Julie, Logan, Jordan, Sean, Connor, Troy, Derek, Joe(s), Corinne, Josh, and the late Tyler Weymouth. It was great pleasure to know and work with you all. Finally, most appreciate and love to my parents, Tang Wei-li and Chang Yuan, as well as my brother, Chang Hsin-hung, my sister in law, Lulu Yan, the late ah-tsai, and all dear friends back in Taiwan. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: A Trajectory: Malaysia’s Development Plans and the On-going Composition of a Malaysian National Cinema....................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3: The Past That Gnaws into the Present: The New Millennium Kuala Lumpur and Three Films from the Digital Movement ................................................................... 74 Chapter 4: The Present That Revises the Past: Three Short Video Compilations .......... 110 Chapter 5: An Alternate Spirit: Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video and Music Festival (KLEX).............................................................................................................. 149 Chapter 6: Conclusion..................................................................................................... 187 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 199 8 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. A street scene on the way from Petaling Street (the Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur) to Masjid India (one of the Indian districts of Kuala Lumpur).......................... 73 Figure 2. The constant constructions in Kuala Lumpur .................................................. 109 Figure 3. A still shot of the shooting of Floating Sun (one of the three segments in 2013’s 3 Doors of Horror).......................................................................................................... 148 Figure 4. During a screening in Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video, and Music Festival in 2015 ............................................................................................................... 186 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In the past few decades, many questions have been raised concerning the rigidity and fixity of the notion of national cinema. The concept of transnational cinema has seemingly offered a resolution for understanding how movies interact with (or depart from) the idea of nationhood. When considering the transnational lens, the large-scale migration and displacement of people during and after the colonial era as well as the world wars all suggest constant crossover among ethnicities and cultural groups inside and outside of national boundaries. The movement of peoples has inspired many artistic productions to express the experiences of persons living between nations and cultural identities. In addition, the invention of new technologies, such as the Internet and digital filmmaking and projecting equipment, has further complicated the way film and videos are made and distributed in the global landscape. Given the many insufficiencies in the framework for national cinema, investigations of transnational films, however, often still concern the films’ distinct characteristics in relation to a certain national context (Higbee and Lim 12). The framework of transnational cinema cannot fully substitute national cinema, and it continues to adopt what the rubric of national cinema provides. Therefore, focusing on the alternative digital movies in Malaysia, I see the conjunction between transnational cinema and national cinema. This dissertation further argues that national framework continues superseding the transnational one in the case of alternative digital movies in Malaysia. Meanwhile, many scholars defend the use of national cinema. They find that the problems of studies on national cinema only occur when the use of the nation refers to an 10 inherent hegemony of cultural specificities and national identity (Yoshimoto 259; Choi 173). Considering the pros and cons in the framework of national cinema, this dissertation stops taking national cinema as a concept that describes a unified category and retools the concept to investigate the interrelations between the cinematic presentations and practices in a nation and the ongoing formation of the nationhood. In this way, national cinema, as an analytic tool, helps illustrate not only the specific qualities of films from a given national context but also the cinema practices from a transnational landscape. By investigating alternative digital movies in Malaysia— including digital independent feature-length films, documentaries, short and experimental films and videos— this dissertation introduces the active digital film practices that have emerged in Malaysia since 2000. I aim to provide this cinematic phenomenon in Malaysia as a case study for thinking about the interrelations between a national cinema and the constitution of a national society. The alternative digital movies first appear as unlikely candidates for discussing the national cinema in Malaysia. They act on the margins of popular film culture, and Malaysia’s general moviegoers often do not recognize their existence. In addition, there are many reasons to position these digital films in a transnational category. For instance, they initially receive attention because of their circulation in international film festivals and on the Internet. Nevertheless, I argue that, even with many