Panel on Women’s Representation under Patriarchy

This panel explores what happen when male filmmakers make films about female lead characters.

Many scholars have undertaken studies on Islamic films in Indonesia. Yet, how female issues are represented in Islamic films has not been covered sufficiently by scholars. The article reveals how female issues are represented in contemporary Islamic films. The issue of polygyny was chosen due to the wide controversy concerning this issue. The issue of female agency is also very important to be studied since Islam is sometimes considered as discouraging the role of women. In this article, my object of analysis is films Surga yang Tak Dirindukan, Jilbab Traveler: Love Sparks in Korea and Ketika Cinta Bertasbih. From the analysis of films, I unpacked the ideological content of the films. In analysing the films, I borrowed the literature of film studies and used gender as my perspective. However, as my research concerns on the ideology of the films, I focused my analysis of films on their narrative elements. Nevertheless, in Indonesian Islamic films there are signs of active agency even though there are also some limitations. The films also show that the practice of polygyny is mostly unpleasant for women. The directors display their differed ideological orientations that show how value and culture within certain societies put women in their frames. Thus, films could be used to make challenge to the power of patriarchy.

Play Video

This paper discusses how female character (Srintil) is represented in the film “Sang Penari” (“The Dancer”, dir: Ifa Isfansyah, 2011). Women in popular films are important to look at, because film is an arena for negotiating ideas and practices around us. Moreover, women in the world of popular culture have always been an important focus for discussion, on the one hand women have power on the popular culture, on the other hand there are questions about the power owned by women on the popular culture. Specifically, the questions in this paper are, “Is Srintil as a ronggeng represented powerfully in the film The Dancer?” and “how empowered is Srintil as a ronggeng in this film dealing with various parties within the patriarchal community?” Women’s empowerment or agency is the key in seeing women’s representation. In the discussion of this film we can see the dynamics of Srintil’s agency, there are a number of points that indicate Srintil has a strong agency as a ronggeng, but in many ways, Srintil lost her agency.

Keywords: ronggeng, Sang Penari, women’s agency, power, resistance

Play Video

This paper will talk about the paternal absence, female protagonist and the archaic mother in two Joko Anwar’s horror films, namely Satan’s Slave and Impetigore. The discussion will argue that both films are crucial in seeing the change in Indonesian film narrative and industry that follows the global women movement, in which the female protagonist and the archaic mother antagonist play a role in creating films that are free of Indonesia New Order Patriarch and hetero-normativity narrative amidst the fact that New Order traces are still found in other horror films with similar themes. The paper concluded that collaborations of female producers, crew and actors alongside with progressive male directors, opens a door to commercially and critically successful films.

Play Video

This paper pays attention to statistics that show films and filmmakers who convey messages or statements according to women’s perspectives through (1) the female main protagonist character and (2) the elements of storytelling. I define the main character in this research as the most important character in the film, the character that is followed by the film’s story (and spectators) to face and conquer the dramatic challenges that lie before them. Because the statistics show that there are a lot more male than female filmmakers (in this case, directors, producers, and screenwriters), there is a strong assumption that filmmakers with the female main protagonist characters are mostly male. The results of the statistical calculations, which here include developments over time, provide a basis for discussion of the possibilities of connection between filmmaker genders and film statements or messages that support women’s roles and positions. How likely is a film with statements like this made by male filmmakers?