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Border and Mobility – Kerr Et Al Urban Studies: Border and Mobility – Kerr et al. (Eds) © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-58034-3 Children in Indonesian cinema during colonialism: The border of cross-identity S. Wibawa Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia ABSTRACT: This essay will examine how the image of children in Indonesian cinema embodies cross-cultural identity framed by dissonance ideas of Indonesia as a nation during colonialism. I employ the discourse of national cinema to explore how the idea of a nation in the cinema emerged while Indonesia, as a state, did not exist. National cinema has been trans- formed from a classical definition of the limited singular identity of a nation into a complex discourse within the nation. Furthermore, the nation in national cinema is not seen merely from the perspective of the banality of a national symbol, but as the discourse that appears in the cinema and within the nation. In this context, film can be placed as a historical site that reveals the dynamic discourse of the nation. Thus, since the first Indonesian cinema during colonialism has placed children in its main narrative, I argue that Indonesian film during colo- nialism utilises children’s images to develop a national consciousness to construct the identity of Indonesia within a colonial framework. From this perspective, children are constructed to convey the cross identity of the Dutch East Indies as the Dutch colony and Indonesia as an emerged-imagined nation. The image of children, thus, becomes a cultural agent that crosses the border of identity and culture within the change of Indonesia as a nation. Keywords: Children, Indonesian cinema, colonialism, cultural, identity 1 INTRODUCTION A bold question relating to Indonesian cinema is “How do they project Indonesia-ness?”. Relating to this is the question of how children’s depiction in Indonesian cinema represents the nation. As an independent state, Indonesia declared its proclamation in 1945 against Dutch colonialism. However, cinema cultures in Dutch East indies started in the early 1900s while film production started in the 1920s, marked by the first local film production in 1926. This film, loetoeng Kasaroeng, is acknowledged as the first local film made in Indonesia, by a Dutch filmmaker with local casting, setting and narrative. Indonesia’s film culture started as part of the colonial film industry with a historical screening in 1900 (Masak, 2016). Until 1942, before the Japanese occupation, more than one hundred films were produced, predom- inantly by Chinese film businesses (Setijadi-Dunn & Barker, 2010; Masak, 2016). A question arises then about how these colonial films can be integrated after the nation’s independence. This historical complexity, at some stage, affected the way cinema projected this social prac- tice as suggested by Graeme Turner (2006). Turner argues that film is seen as a social practice representation that is related to produc- tion and consumption of the communities and determined by the dominant power, ideology, or the objectives of the film production. A film, or films, continuously develops a reality of a discursive site of ideological framing that discloses the dynamic discourse of the nation through its narratives which includes children’s figures in the film narrative. Applying Ben Anderson’s definition of a nation contributes an understanding that Indonesia as a nation is formed as “an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign”. In this context, Anderson’s idea provides a basic idea of national cinema as a place 87 for “imagining the nation” as an “imagined community” (Abe, Tortellini & King, 2008; 2). Therefore, there is a discursive space to identify how the films that were produced during Dutch colonialism embody ideas of Indonesian national identity. A study in early cinema by Nanna Verhoeff (2006) argues that, as a concept, the nation in national cinema is embodied within three semantic layers: “the national, the nationalist and the nation-ness” (2006, p. 19). Verhoef argues that the national signifies a film narrative’s place of origin which includes nation-ness as “a sense of belonging and of cultural ownership” that produces the nationalist and the value of nationalism (p. 160). Verhoef asserts that film narratives provide a “constant interaction between nationality of films to identity in films” (pp. 160–161). These embedded values in cinema narrative have been part of an ongoing discourse on national cinema. Critical discourses on national cinema (Higson, 1989) suggest that a cinema does not merely depict a “homogenous national culture and identity” (Higson, 1989, p. 44). In an Indonesian context, cinema during the Dutch period can be seen as a “dialectical engagement” with transnational cinema in a way to identify a construction of national identity through a range of discourses of actions, practices and rituals (Choi, 2011). However, while several scholars have discussed the discourse of Indonesian national cinema (Said, 1991; Heider, 1991; Sen, 1994; Robert, 2000; Barker, 2011; Paramaditha, 2014), there is a lack of specific discourse on Indonesian cinema during colonialism. Therefore, this paper intends to fill the gap on how Indonesian-ness was projected during the Dutch period in Indonesia. A study by Christopher A. Woodrich (2014) asserts that a subliminal identity of Indonesian nation-ness has also been established in early Indonesian films during Dutch colonial- ism. By examining four films written by Saroen, a famous Indonesian journalist-cum-film writer, Woodrich argues that these films depict a positive hope of Indonesian independence. Woodrich argues that Saroen contrasted a spirit of a dynamic city against uninteresting old village life to portray a Dutch East Indies as the Indonesian modern nation in the future. By reading Saroen’s films, Woodrich endorses that Indonesia as a nation has been developed while it was a Dutch colony. Then, how does the first fiction film that was also made during colonialism depict these issues? Loetoeng Kasaroeng reflects Verhoeff’s sense of a nation’s belonging. The film is attrib- uted with being the first film made in Indonesia with local casting and story. Kristanto (2005) indicates that this film features children, the first film that presents children in its main narra- tive. In this context, Veronique Benei (2008) suggests a relationship between children as citi- zens and a state in a way placing children to represent the nation’s values (p.72). Furthermore, since the first fiction film in Indonesia casts children in the main role, and borrowing Benei’s thesis, I argue that Indonesian film during colonialism utilises children’s images to develop a national consciousness to construct the identity of Indonesia within a colonial framework. From this perspective, children are constructed to convey the cross-identity of the Dutch East Indies as the Dutch colony and Indonesia as an emerged-imagined nation. The image of children, thus becomes a cultural agent that crosses the border of identity and culture within the change of Indonesia as a nation. Examining early Indonesian films and identifying which films use children in the cast is challenging. Firstly, there are no copies of those films. This widens the research gap on Indonesian cinema before and after independence (Sen, 1995; Heider, 1991; Woodrich, 2014). This study relies on synopses and second sources such as film posters, news and references. Secondly, in general, film reviews or synopses only focus on famous casts, or the director and the film company. At some level, it is hard to define the cast of children figures, though it’s possible and has been done. Thirdly, the semantic issue and language differences in the written reviews produce another challenge to identify which films actually present children in the cast. The keyword “anak” in Indonesian language cannot be easily translated as a term “child” into English. “Anak” possibly means the child figure; however, it could be referring differently to a son or daughter of someone. However, after carefully examining some synop- ses and film references, several films that were produced during the periods of Dutch coloni- alism that present a children’s cast in the main narratives were identified, such as: Loetoeng Kasaroeng (1926), Poei Sie Giok Pa loey Tay (1935), Anaknja Siloeman Oeler Poeti (1936), and Rentjong Atjeh (1940). 88 2 DISCUSSION Loetoeng Kasaroeng1 (1926) is adapted from a famous folktale from West Java, Indonesia. The story is about a love journey of Purbasari, and Purbararang. Loetoeng Kasaroeng was made by L Heuveldorp of the Java Film Company. This company was invited by the Dutch govern- ment to produce a documentary. However, after getting support from the mayor of Bandung city, the company produced Loetoeng Kasaroeng. The mayor insisted the film should present Sundanese culture, thus a folktale was chosen to be the story, starring children of the Mayor. Poei Sie Giok Pa loey Tay (1935) is a film about a boy named Poei Sie Giok. His mother, Tjoei Hoa is a famous figure in their martial arts community and trained him in martial arts. One day, Sie Giok beats another student from a martial art school owned by Loei Lo Ho. Lo ho is then also killed in another fight thus his wife takes revenge for him against Tjoei Hoa. This film presents cultural hybridity by mixing local context with the Chinese origin of the story. Another example is Anaknja Siloeman Oeler Poeti (1936)2. This film is about a boy who looks for his father while his mother is the white snake ghost. People around this boy keep abusing him which makes him run away to the forest where his mother lives. Rentjong Atjeh (1940)3 features a story of children whose parents were killed by a pirate called Bintara. These children, Mar- yam, Rusna, and Daud, survived the attack. Maryam is held in a pirate’s ship while Rusna and Daud escape to the jungle.
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