GENDER AND ISLAM IN INDONESIAN CINEMA ALICIA IZHARUDDIN Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia Editor-in-chiefs Stevi Jackson Department of Sociology University of York York, United Kingdom Olivia Khoo Monash University Clayton, Australia The Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia book series provides a welcome new forum for monographs and anthologies focussing on the intersections between gender, sexuality and culture across Asia. Titles in the series include multi- and interdisciplinary research by scholars within Asia as well as in North American, European and Australian academic contexts. The series provides a distinctive space for the exploration of topics of growing academic concern, from non-normative cultures of sexuality in Asia, to studies of gendered identities cross the region. The series will expand the field of Asian genders and sexualities by applying a cultural lens to current debates, including rural lives, migration patterns, religion, transgender identities, sex industry and family. Why explore gender/sex/culture through an area/Asia frame? What real-world or scholarly debates does this combination address? And, which Asia? At this stage, we intend to cast the net widely in terms of topics, and to consider Asia not through a narrow geographic lens but as part of a shifting terrain that will include diasporic Asia and West Asia. Research on gender and sexuality in Asia is growing precisely because it addresses real world questions about changing patterns of migration, changing meanings of ‘family’ in Asia. Chen Kuan Hsing’s Asia as Method (Duke University Press, 2010) highlights the theoretical debate in understanding decoloni- zation and deimperialization through globalization, hence highlighting inter-Asian debateson regional integration in the cold war era. Kale Bantique Fajardo’s Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities and Globalization (University of Minnesota Press, 2011) research on Filipino seafaring, masculinities and globalization engages in a “crosscurrents framework” where intersecting histories in the Philippines and the diaspora disturbs the usual geographical cultural context. Informed by these theoretical perspectives, wecall for a rethinking of Asia, not only in terms of a geographical location butalso within diaspora and migration flows. We want to assert our position that reading across Asian sites is actually an increasing necessity in addressing gender and sexualities. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15191 Alicia Izharuddin Gender and Islam in Indonesian Cinema Alicia Izharuddin University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia ISBN 978-981-10-2172-5 ISBN 978-981-10-2173-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2173-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961236 © The Editor(s) if applicable and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © peevee aka venkatesan perumal / Getty Images Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #22-06/08 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS None of this would have been possible without the guidance and mentor- ship of Ben Murtagh, Rachel Harrison, Mark Hobart, and Isolde Standish. I have spent years, many months, days, and weekends on this intense journey full of introspection and intellectual challenges—all made possible because of Gareth Hughes, Ephrem the cat, and my beloved parents, Mai, Iza, Jan, and Norazian. Friends and colleagues which I have made through- out my first field trip to Indonesia have offered boundless generosity in time, company, and ideas. These wonderful people include Savitri Siddharta and Fara, Norhayati Kaprawi, Harumi Supit, Granita Layungsari, Ekky Imanjaya, Tito Imanda, Eric Sasono, Katinka van Heeren, BJD Gayatri, Debra Yatim, Luluratna, Budi Irawanto, Mbak Elis of Pasar Festival, Mbak Nia and Pak Budi of Sinematek, and Intan Paramaditha. Little do they realise they have helped tremendously during what was one of the most challenging periods of my academic life. Warm thank yous to Yvonne Michalik and Felicia Hughes-Freeland for being simultaneously kind and rigorous readers and examiners. I also want to thank Thomas Barker for giving me the push to make the publication of this book possible in the first place. Gina Heathcote and Nadje al-Ali have shown massive amounts of sup- port during the initial writing up of this book for which I will be forever grateful. They are model scholars and colleagues that I have the privilege of being taught by and worked with. I also want to thank the wonderful and ever-patient librarians of SOAS Library for never catching me eat and sleep in my favourite carrel number D11. I am also grateful to the Faculty of v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Languages and Social Sciences at SOAS for awarding me funding and bursaries during the second and third year of my PhD. Deep and undying gratitude and love go to Kerrie Thornhill, Ellie Higgs, Jun Zubillaga Pow, and Nafiseh Sharifi for being excellent friends, colleagues, and listeners during my happiest and darkest days in London and Oxford. At the University of Malaya where I now teach and conduct research, I have had the support, generosity, understanding, and the highest order of collegiality from my colleagues Shanthi Thambiah, Maimuna Merican, Lai Suat Yan, Welyne Jeffrey Jehom, and Rusaslina Idrus. Special thanks go out to Mohd Sazali for being an efficient administrative assistant in the Gender Studies Department at the University of Malaya. Clarissa Lee, Por Heong Hong, and Hana Shazwin deserve special mention for being great friends during the final writing up of this book. CONTENTS 1 Gender and the Divine Pleasures of the Cinema 1 2 Dakwah at the Cinema: Identifying the Generic Parameters of Islamic Films 31 3 Visualising Muslim Women and Men: A Longue Durée 63 4 Gender, Islam, and the Nation in New Order Islamic Films 97 5 Empowered Muslim Femininities? Representations of Women in Post-New Order Film Islami 127 6 Poor, Polygamous, But Deeply Pious: Muslim Masculinities in Post-New Order Film Islami 155 7 Afterword 181 Bibliography 187 Index 203 vii GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Azas ‘Foundations of the family’ kekeluargaan Bapak ‘father’ or address for a man Cadar the face veil, sometimes known as the niqab Dangdut a popular musical genre with Malay, Arab, and Indian musical styles Ibu ‘mother’ or address for a woman Imam male Islamic leader Jilbab sometimes known as the hijab. Jilbab is a headscarf worn around the head, covering the hair, neck, ears, and chest area Kadi Islamic judge Kerudung loose headscarf for women, sometimes worn like a shawl over the head Kodrat pria men’s essence Kodrat wanita women’s essence Majelis Ulama National Council of Ulamas Indonesia (MUI) Pesantren Islamic boarding school Sinetron film made for television Syirik sorcery Ulama an Islamic cleric Ustazah female Islamic teacher and preacher Wali songo Nine Javanese mystics of myth and legend ix LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1 DVD cover of Khalifah (2011, dir. Nurman Hakim) Source: author’s own photographic reproduction 48 Fig. 2.2 Film poster for Ketika Cinta Bertasbih (When Love Glorifies God, 2009, dir. Chaerul Umam) 49 Fig. 6.1 Syahid experiments with the terrorist ‘suicide note’ on video in 3 Doa 3 Cinta (3 Wishes 3 Loves, 2008, dir. Nurman Hakim) 175 CHAPTER 1 Gender and the Divine Pleasures of the Cinema Since the early years of its inception, cinema has been used as a religious medium. The glow of the moving image mimics the aura of the holy altar. Figures on the screen evoke qualities of the divine: immortal(ised), beauti- ful, and awe-inspiring. More than a hundred years later, cinema has contin- ued to play this role while at the same mobilising other grand themes such as motherhood, war, and nation-building. In the biggest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, cinema has, for decades, been a discursive arena for explicating the role of Islam and its female and male adherents in the nation. Thus, films with an Islamic message or film Islami are boundary makers that establish the gendered principle of inclusion and exclusion. Film Islami in Indonesia goes by several other names and descriptions: film religi or religious films, film bernafaskan Islam (films that breathe Islam), film bernuansa Islam (films with Islamic ‘nuance’) and film dakwah (films with Islamic teachings). Despite its contested allusions to being ‘Islamic’, film Islami is a helpful generic term to categorise a host of films about Muslims who try to be better Muslims. Films of this genre incorporate Quranic verses in the dialogue and a host of Islamic symbols, such as the mosque, the veil, and the Islamic boarding school as significant features of the narrative. Its Muslim male and female characters overcome a spiritual crisis and convey an ‘Islamic message’ about the Muslim public and private sphere within their respective rigid gender roles.