Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape

Since P. Ramlee, no other filmmaker but Yasmin Ahmad has been capable of creating a significant impact in Malaysian cinema. She achieved this through her films that have persistently challenged not only the conventions of Malaysian cinema, but also daringly exposed societal taboos and its hypocrisie...

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Main Author: Lee, Yuen Beng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pusat Pengajian Seni 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.usm.my/38735/
http://eprints.usm.my/38735/1/Yasmin_Ahmad-_Auteuring_a_New_Malaysian_Cinematic_Landscape_.pdf
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author Lee, Yuen Beng
author_facet Lee, Yuen Beng
author_sort Lee, Yuen Beng
building USM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Since P. Ramlee, no other filmmaker but Yasmin Ahmad has been capable of creating a significant impact in Malaysian cinema. She achieved this through her films that have persistently challenged not only the conventions of Malaysian cinema, but also daringly exposed societal taboos and its hypocrisies on the cinematic screen. All her six films differ from the conservative, unadventurous and conventional Malaysian films that revolve around the tiresome, "tried and tested", monotonous entertainment containing elements of love (suka), sadness (duka) and humour (jenaka). Her films, which are criticisms about the failings of the Malaysian society and in particular the Malays, employ cosmopolitan themes of humour, love and humanism to move beyond merely focusing on race and ethnicity. In doing so, her films paradoxically employ the "sensitive" issue of interethnic relations to highlight the struggles faced by common Malaysians within and between cultures and religions. By highlighting the everyday problems faced by everyday people, Yasmin Ahmad has extensively altered the Malaysian cinematic landscape by removing demarcations along racial, ethnic, religion, cultural, age and gender lines. This allows her films to move beyond being focused on multiculturalism and to contest more socially, culturally and politically issues closely related to Malaysians
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spelling usm-387352018-02-08T04:22:05Z http://eprints.usm.my/38735/ Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape Lee, Yuen Beng PN1993-1999 Motion pictures Since P. Ramlee, no other filmmaker but Yasmin Ahmad has been capable of creating a significant impact in Malaysian cinema. She achieved this through her films that have persistently challenged not only the conventions of Malaysian cinema, but also daringly exposed societal taboos and its hypocrisies on the cinematic screen. All her six films differ from the conservative, unadventurous and conventional Malaysian films that revolve around the tiresome, "tried and tested", monotonous entertainment containing elements of love (suka), sadness (duka) and humour (jenaka). Her films, which are criticisms about the failings of the Malaysian society and in particular the Malays, employ cosmopolitan themes of humour, love and humanism to move beyond merely focusing on race and ethnicity. In doing so, her films paradoxically employ the "sensitive" issue of interethnic relations to highlight the struggles faced by common Malaysians within and between cultures and religions. By highlighting the everyday problems faced by everyday people, Yasmin Ahmad has extensively altered the Malaysian cinematic landscape by removing demarcations along racial, ethnic, religion, cultural, age and gender lines. This allows her films to move beyond being focused on multiculturalism and to contest more socially, culturally and politically issues closely related to Malaysians Pusat Pengajian Seni 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/38735/1/Yasmin_Ahmad-_Auteuring_a_New_Malaysian_Cinematic_Landscape_.pdf Lee, Yuen Beng (2015) Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape. Wacana Seni : Journal of Arts Discourse, 14. ISSN 2180-4311 http://wacanaseni.usm.my/WACANA%20SENI%20JOURNAL%20OF%20ARTS%20DISCOURSE/wacanaSeni_v14/WS-ART%204.pdf
spellingShingle PN1993-1999 Motion pictures
Lee, Yuen Beng
Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title_full Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title_fullStr Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title_full_unstemmed Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title_short Yasmin Ahmad: Auteuring a New Malaysian Cinematic Landscape
title_sort yasmin ahmad: auteuring a new malaysian cinematic landscape
topic PN1993-1999 Motion pictures
url http://eprints.usm.my/38735/
http://eprints.usm.my/38735/
http://eprints.usm.my/38735/1/Yasmin_Ahmad-_Auteuring_a_New_Malaysian_Cinematic_Landscape_.pdf