Visualising Muslim Women and Men: A Longue Durée

Abstract

Representations of women in Indonesian cinema, particularly those in the New Order period, have often been described as centred around the Freudian model of virgin-mother/virago-whore. That the limited range of feminine representations in Indonesian cinema is a symptom of a lack of women behind the scenes can be attributed to the gender inequality in the political economy of the industry itself. In some cases, the binary model of femininity is a product of changing economic imperatives. Market demands and ‘disorderly’ women of the 1990s triumphed over New Order regulations on sex and violence contributing to the disintegration of the order-disorder-order narrative cycle upon which the New Order government depended to symbolise its legitimacy. The film industry is a risk-averse industry in which large financial investments are marshalled into making a commercial film. Being risk averse, filmmakers are more inclined to produce narratives that may appeal to the majority of audiences. This may include narratives whose storytelling devices reproduce sexist and titillating material to conform with the assumption that sexual objectification of women sells and that safe images of domestic and demure women do not challenge the viewer’s sensibilities. The film industry is also the preserve of the elite that privileges those with greater financial resources. The industry may indeed be a microcosm of a society where men in general are politically and financially more powerful than women.