Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films
Early Malaysian national cinema disseminates a social reconstruction process aimed at reconstructing Malay supremacy at the centre of a specific geographical, political, economic and cultural space. Aptly termed as ‘Malaynisation’, this process occurred during the Golden Age of Malaysian cinema t...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/38731/ http://eprints.usm.my/38731/1/_Negotiating_class%2C_ethnicity_and_modernity-_the_%E2%80%98Malaynisation%E2%80%99_of_P._Ramlee_and_his_films.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848878550530129920 |
|---|---|
| author | Ahmad, Mahyuddin Lee, Yuen Beng |
| author_facet | Ahmad, Mahyuddin Lee, Yuen Beng |
| author_sort | Ahmad, Mahyuddin |
| building | USM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Early Malaysian national cinema disseminates a social reconstruction process aimed at
reconstructing Malay supremacy at the centre of a specific geographical, political,
economic and cultural space. Aptly termed as ‘Malaynisation’, this process occurred
during the Golden Age of Malaysian cinema through the films of P. Ramlee. While
existing as a capitalist film culture located within an ethnically diverse society, early
Malaysian cinema through Ramlee have produced a significant number of monoethnic
representations solely focused on the culture, language and lifestyles of the
Malays. As such, the articulation of the politics of inclusion and exclusion in Ramlee’s
films articulates a right-wing nationalist sentiment that upholds the sovereignty of the
dominant Malays while undermining other ethnic communities. The nature of these
representations enunciates the context of an ‘imagined community’ which locates the
formation of a particular type of nationalism within a social, political and cultural
communicative space. This paper examines the construction of the ‘modern Malay’
identity in Ramlee’s films and the nationalist discourse in Ramlee’s films as an attempt
at producing the idea of a nation as a continuous narrative of national progression by
presenting the postcolonial Malays as a modern, successful and dominant force |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:33:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | usm-38731 |
| institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T17:33:07Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | usm-387312018-02-08T03:40:43Z http://eprints.usm.my/38731/ Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films Ahmad, Mahyuddin Lee, Yuen Beng N1-(9211) Visual arts PN1993-1999 Motion pictures TR845-899 Cinematography. Motion pictures Early Malaysian national cinema disseminates a social reconstruction process aimed at reconstructing Malay supremacy at the centre of a specific geographical, political, economic and cultural space. Aptly termed as ‘Malaynisation’, this process occurred during the Golden Age of Malaysian cinema through the films of P. Ramlee. While existing as a capitalist film culture located within an ethnically diverse society, early Malaysian cinema through Ramlee have produced a significant number of monoethnic representations solely focused on the culture, language and lifestyles of the Malays. As such, the articulation of the politics of inclusion and exclusion in Ramlee’s films articulates a right-wing nationalist sentiment that upholds the sovereignty of the dominant Malays while undermining other ethnic communities. The nature of these representations enunciates the context of an ‘imagined community’ which locates the formation of a particular type of nationalism within a social, political and cultural communicative space. This paper examines the construction of the ‘modern Malay’ identity in Ramlee’s films and the nationalist discourse in Ramlee’s films as an attempt at producing the idea of a nation as a continuous narrative of national progression by presenting the postcolonial Malays as a modern, successful and dominant force Taylor & Francis (Routledge) 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/38731/1/_Negotiating_class%2C_ethnicity_and_modernity-_the_%E2%80%98Malaynisation%E2%80%99_of_P._Ramlee_and_his_films.pdf Ahmad, Mahyuddin and Lee, Yuen Beng (2015) Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films. Asian Journal of Communication, 25 (4). pp. 408-421. ISSN 1742-0911 https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2014.968595 |
| spellingShingle | N1-(9211) Visual arts PN1993-1999 Motion pictures TR845-899 Cinematography. Motion pictures Ahmad, Mahyuddin Lee, Yuen Beng Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title | Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title_full | Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title_fullStr | Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title_short | Negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films |
| title_sort | negotiating class, ethnicity and modernity: the ‘malaynisation’ of p. ramlee and his films |
| topic | N1-(9211) Visual arts PN1993-1999 Motion pictures TR845-899 Cinematography. Motion pictures |
| url | http://eprints.usm.my/38731/ http://eprints.usm.my/38731/ http://eprints.usm.my/38731/1/_Negotiating_class%2C_ethnicity_and_modernity-_the_%E2%80%98Malaynisation%E2%80%99_of_P._Ramlee_and_his_films.pdf |