Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

GAY, LESBI AND WARIA AUDIENCES IN INDONESIA

2011; Routledge; Volume: 39; Issue: 115 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13639811.2011.614088

1469-8382

Ben Murtagh,

Asian Studies and History

Abstract Since the fall of President Suharto in 1998, Indonesian cinema has been noted for its concern with the representation of gay and lesbi sexualities. However, even during the New Order (1966–1998) a small number of films were produced which represented non-normative genders and sexualities. To date there has been no research on how Indonesia's sexual minorities respond to representations of themselves in film. Drawing on a number of focus groups conducted with gay, lesbi and waria Indonesians in Surabaya in 2008, this article examines the variety of responses and discussions that arose from watching Wahyu Sihombing's 1988 film Istana kecantikan (Palace of beauty). These responses are contextualised by examining the press reports of the film when it was screened at the 1988 Indonesian Film Festival. While this film has recently been disparaged by film-literate critics as being depressing and homophobic, this article demonstrates that it was still seen as meaningful to many of the gay and waria focus group participants. The more film-literate discussants however, particularly from the lesbi group, responded to the film far less positively. Whilst informing the researcher as to the possible variety of meanings that audiences might draw from the film, this research method also highlights the potential role that viewing such films may play in prompting gay, lesbi and waria individuals to think about their own identities in new ways. Notes 1Thanks are due to a number of Indonesian gay, waria and lesbi informants whose names are not given for obvious reasons. Their input has been fundamental to my understanding of the variety of possible readings of the movies discussed. I am particularly grateful to all at Gaya Nusantara for being so accommodating when I conducted focus groups there in November-December 2008. My trip to Indonesia in late 2008 was partially funded by the Research Committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the UK (ASEASUK). Finally, I should note my appreciation to Felicia Hughes-Freeland and an anonymous reviewer for their detailed comments on earlier drafts of this article. 2 Arisan!, a film about 30-something elite Jakarta folk, drew healthy audience figures and also a number of local film awards including best film, leading male actor, supporting male actor, supporting female actor and editing in the Film Festival Indonesia awards of 2004 (Kristanto Citation2007: 411). Certainly it touched on a number of controversial themes, but it was the two gay kisses which meant that the film became a news event reported globally. See for example Harvey Citation(2004); Asmarani Citation(2004). Another example of a film becoming a news story is the case of the 2006 protests by Islamic groups in Surabaya against the poster for Upi's 2006 film, Realita cinta dan rock 'n' roll (Dian Citation2006). [Editor's note: see also Hughes-Freeland in this issue.] 3Following Boellstorff (Citation2005: 8), I recognise the Indonesian terms lesbi and gay to be distinct from the English 'lesbian' and 'gay' The Indonesian term normal, which is used by gay Indonesians refers to dominant understandings of modern sexuality (ibid. 2005: 8) and should similarly be seen as distinct from the English term 'normal'. Waria is an accepted term for Indonesian male to female transvestites. Waria, who will often see themselves as men with women's souls (Boellstorff Citation2005), dress as women and therefore in their attraction to men are expressing a desire for the other rather than the same. Waria occupy a visible and recognised – though this does not imply accepted – place in Indonesian society and this includes their representation in mass media. [Editor's note: see also Alcano, this issue.] 4This is not the case with waria. As Boellstorff (Citation2005: 69-70) states: 'I have never heard warias cite mass media as the means by which they first saw themselves as warias; they learn of the waria subject positions from their social environs.' 5Besides mainstream Indonesian releases, various foreign films with a gay theme have been screened at least with a limited run, in Indonesian cinemas. In addition to more recent films such as Brokeback mountain (dir. Ang Lee, 2005), news articles as far back as the 1980s report on the novelty of films with a gay or lesbian storyline. For example, in an article in Pikiran Rakyat, Eddy Iskandar Citation(1987) noted the Indonesian release of Blue velvet (dir. David Lynch,1986) and Berlin affair (dir. Liliani Cavani, 1985) – two foreign films with a 'unique theme' of 'sexual deviance' (kelainan seksual), sadomasochism in the former, lesbianism in the latter. Commenting that Indonesian audiences were already used to films about 'men who undergo a sex change (lelaki yang berubah kelamin) or about waria, the author pondered whether national films which took non-normative sexualities as their theme would be of interest to local audiences (diminati penonton). 6Clearly, one of the reasons that gay and lesbian film festivals are so appealing is that a space is created where the non-heteronormative dominates. In the Indonesian context it is interesting to note that several of the main Internet articles on gay and lesbi cinema in Indonesia stem from screenings at the Q!Film Festival – and arguably showing a film in such a space created particular expectations in the mind of the audience. Nonetheless, several Indonesians I have spoken to who are less open (terbuka) about their gay identity, but who have nonetheless watched films with a gay theme at the cinema or purchased DVDs/ VCDs to watch at home, informed me that they would never attend the Q!Film Festival for fear of being seen by friends or work colleagues who did not know about their sexuality. 7I am currently engaged in an ongoing project looking at the representations of non-normative sexualities in Indonesian cinema, from the early 1970s to the present day. In addition to my own analysis of the films, the research draws on original scripts, interviews with actors and directors, contemporary reviews and news and magazine articles and elicitation sessions using focus groups and individual respondents. Several articles have already been published or are forthcoming (Murtagh Citation2006; Citation2008; Citation2010; Citationforthcoming) and a monograph devoted to this subject is in preparation. 8In a number of contemporary articles from 1988, the fact that Toni sleeps with both Nico and Siska is explained by the fact that he is 'bisex' or 'ACDC'. 9 Tjoet Nja' Dhien tells the story of the Acehnese heroine who led the struggle against the Dutch in the Aceh Wars at the beginning of the 20th Century. The film won eight awards in total including best film, best leading woman (Christine Hakim), best screenplay, best original story and best director (all Eros Djarot). 10I have not been able to find viewing figures for Istana kecantikan, though certain press reports are illuminating with regard to how the film was received by Indonesian audiences at the time. An article in the Surabaya Post (Jks roc Citation1988) relates the results of a readers' poll of their preferred film of that year, held soon after the 1988 Indonesian Film Festival prizes were announced. Readers sent in postcards naming their favourite films, and intriguingly Tjoet Nja' Dhien the most popular film, which secured 2,182 votes or 37% of the total, had not even been screened in Surabaya at that point. Istana kecantikan did not make it into the top ten, a point that the report considers particularly interesting given that it had been nominated for best film and had already been screened in Surabaya. The film won only 119 votes or around 2% of the total. A report in Suara Pembaruan (Citation1988) looking at viewing figures for 'first-run cinemas' in Jakarta for the third week of December 1988 compared the performance of three national films playing that week all of which might be considered candidates for a long run; Istana kecantikan, Tjoet Nja' Dhien and popular comedy Jodoh boleh diatur (A match can be arranged, dir. Ami Prijono 1988). In two of the cinemas discussed (Kartika Chandra and Cineplex Astor) Istana kecantikan was attracting about a third of the audience figures pulled in by Tjoet Nja' Dhien. At Studio 21, Istana kecantikan attracted two-thirds of its rival's audience. Jodoh boleh diatur was also far more popular than Istana kecantikan. While these figures are only a snapshot, they reaffirm the figures from the Surabaya Post poll; despite its relative triumph in the Indonesian Film Festival Awards, Istana kecantikan was far less successful in attracting audiences. Whether this is because of the unique and contentious theme remains a matter of conjecture. 11English in the original. 12At the time of writing an earlier article on this film (Murtagh Citation2006), these reports were not available to me. 13In another report of the same event, the speaker is given the name Theo, and it is interesting that the screening of the film seems to have given rise to a wider discussion about sexuality and explaining why some people were gay. The report in Harian Neraca notes that Theo had rejected the idea that being gay was a result of rejecting God's will, but rather was an instinct present since childhood (Z.A. Citation1988). 14'Asalkan soal politis tentang dugaan pengesahan gaya hidup kaum gay dikesampingkan'. 15In addition to Istana kecantikan, there was the effeminate Emon played by Didi Pepet in Catatan Si Boy (Boy's diary, dir. Nasry Cheppy, 1988) and the gay character of Hadi played by Cok Simbara in Terang bulan di tengah hari (Moonlight at midday, dir. Chaerul Umam, 1988). 16'Apakah dengan semakin banyaknya film tentang gay atau yang menampilkan gay merupakan bukti bahwa mereka bukan saja memang ada, akan tetapi sudah masuk dalam pergaulan umum tanpa rasa sungkan lagi.' 17Joko Anwar, who has been closely associated with what he himself is accredited as calling the gay world (dunia gay), is probably one of the most film-literate individuals working in the Indonesian cinema industry today as is certainly exemplified by his three recent films (Janji Joni [2005], Kala [2007], Pintu terlarang [2009]) which clearly reference Indonesian and western cinematic and television traditions. 18The Orkney case involved nine children from five different families (from one of the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland) being taken into care. They were taken from their homes simultaneously in what the media dubbed 'dawn raids'. The children were subsequently returned to their parents and no charges were brought (Kitzinger Citation2000: 64). 19I am particularly grateful to a reviewer of this article for drawing my attention to this research. 20See Murtagh Citation(2010) for a discussion of this film. 21Bobo's research focused on black American women's responses to the film adaptation of The colour purple. She found that while journalistic reviews and subsequent academic writing tended to criticise the film for presenting 'a negative image of black men in particular and the black family in general' (Bobo Citation1989: 332), 'black female viewers "rewrote" the work and were able to uncover something worthwhile and progressive from the film.' (Bobo Citation1988). 22As Katz and Liebes (Citation1990: 49) remind us with regard to television audiences: 'Audiences differ from one another – and from professional students of popular culture – in their experience of the text and their decoding of it.' 23Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual. Note that on the Gaya Nusantara website, the acronym GLW (Gay, Lesbian dan Waria) is also used . 24This is perhaps reflective of the difficulty in obtaining or seeing anything but the most recent Indonesian releases. 25Cf. Boellstorff's study of gay men in Makassar, Denpasar and Surabaya which argues that it is through marriage and having children that gay and lesbi Indonesians show their proper citizenship in the modern Indonesian nation. While recognising that there is a minority of gay men who choose not to marry, for most gay men the failure to love and thus to enter into heterosexual marriage is seen as a failure of self and citizenship (Boellstorff Citation2005: 107). 26Slang term meaning 'female guy'. 27English language term used. 28Neither had I in my analysis of the film – reflecting what I now recognise to have been my own specific interest in the gay storyline of the movie. 29The lesbi group had also been similarly critical of the eroticised representation of women in Gadis metropolis which we had discussed the previous week. They had been particularly critical of the erotic clothing which they argued was 'impolite (tak sopan)'. 30Mathias Muchus (Nico) is a popular actor to this day and the star effect, as has been described particularly by Richard Dyer Citation(1998), may well enforce the positive disposition towards the character of Nico. 31I italicise MSM here as I see it as another example of an English acronym that has been absorbed into the Indonesian language – at least by activists – but with its own specific local meaning.