Genders and Sexualities in Indonesian Cinema
Constructing gay, lesbi and waria identities on screen
By Ben Murtagh
To Be Published August 13th 2013 by Routledge – 224 pages
Indonesia has a long and rich tradition of homosexual and transgender cultures, and the past 40 years in particular has seen an increased visibility of sexual minorities in the country, which has been reflected through film and popular culture. This book examines how representations of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals and communities have developed in Indonesian cinema during this period. The book first explores Indonesian engagement with waria (male-to-female transgender) identities and the emerging representation of gay and lesbi Indonesians during Suharto’s New Order regime (1966-98), before going on to the reimagining of these positions following the fall of the New Order, a period which saw the rebirth of the film industry with a new generation of directors, producers and actors. Using original interview research and focus groups with gay, lesbi and waria identified Indonesians, alongside the films themselves and a wealth of archival sources, the book contrasts the ways in which transgendered lives are actually lived with their representations on screen.
1. Introduction 2. Wadam, Waria and the Story of a Man who Became a Woman: Non-normative Genders in the 1970s 3. The First Indonesian Gay Movie: Gay men in the cinema of the 1980s 4. Lesbi in the Metropolis: Stories of sex and salvation in Indonesian cinema of the 1990s 5. Modern Gay Men and Fear of the Queer Unwanted: Positive images from the Reform Era 6. Old Concerns in a New Era? Images of lesbi in the new millennium 7. A Proliferation of Storylines: Alternative masculinities in mainstream cinema
Ben Murtagh is Senior Lecturer in Indonesian and Malay at SOAS, University of London and managing editor of the journal Indonesia and the Malay World.