Jamaluddin Aziz

Saka and the Abject

Abstract Malay horror films have made a comeback since the government of Malaysia in 2004 gradually relaxed the ban. Since then, Malaysian cinema has been flooded with horror films, and this causes concern among politicians as they argue that horror films can impede the growth of the mind, as the values perpetuated by horror films are seen to go against the governments effort to promote scientific and critical thinking among Malaysians. We argue that understanding the current view that consigns this film genre to the feminine side of the binary system, hence, the irrational as opposed to the rational or masculine, is one of the reasons for such concern. Employing Julia Kristevas concept of abjection in the tradition of feminist psychoanalysis as the theoretical framework, this paper looks at the mother character and her relationship with Saka in a contemporary Malay horror film to reveal the ideological work of such masculine ideology. Saka is a mystical figure that is “invited’ into a family and is passed down through the matrilineal line from one generation to the next. We argue that even though Saka is used as an entrapment for female liberatory possibilities, it ironically mirrors the destabilization of masculine dominance. We do this by illustrating how female characters in the genre are typecast and Saka functions as a masculine substitute that reinforces this idea, which ultimately is used to investigate female sexuality; hence, playing the typical role of masculine ideological dominance.

Investigating the missing "I" in Zubaidah⋯ my story: A dialogic consideration

Abstract This paper starts with the question: What drives/motivates someone to write about his or her own life? This question is ubiquitous and has been one of the major concerns in the study of autobiographical writings. It has been argued that such writings, though personal, are seen as a way of liberating women from the shackle of male oppression. Autobiography allows women to have a voice, and to have it heard too. In effect, women find agency in their writing, allowing them to be and feel like subjects. The development of critical theory such as postmodernism further complicates the relationship between writing and female subjectivity as it foregrounds the irrevocable fragmentation of the subject. Employing Lynne Pearces feminist reading of Bakthins dialogics as theoretical framework, this paper suggests an alternative reading to Zubaidah … My Story, arguing that what critics of autobiography can do is to re-engage with and then re-evaluate the poetics of perception, foregrounding the urgency of reconstructing female reality. Hinging on my role as a reader, I argue that one way to re-engage and re-evaluate the constituents of the writers subjectivity is to dialogically approach the text as it is within this reconstruction that her story is elevated from mere historical account to culturally relevant communication of the female self.

EXPLOITATION AND NEW ORIENTALISM IN SAM KADI’S THE CITIZEN

September 9 /2011 (henceforth 9/11) is a global cultural moment as it redefines the way America interprets the world and the way the world interprets the US. This is especially true in the representation of Arabs in Hollywood films as the Arabs were seen as the culprit of the momentous event. It inevitably cements the idea that the Arab as the other, this has become a fundamental structure of the American psyche. Pre 9/11, Hollywood has produced a significant amount of films covering Arab characters in a variety of Arab stereotypes, which were limited to what was known from the stories of the orientalist European and their legends about the mysterious East. We argue that while the negative stereotype continues in post 9/11 films, the ideological workings, however, are different. We have observed that Hollywood post 9/11 are keener to hire Arab actors to play Arab characters, which usually were played by Pakistani or non-Arab actors. Therefore, this paper examines the exploitation of Arab characters played by Arab actors in Hollywood films post 9/11 by focusing on The Citizen (2012) directed by Sam Kadi. Employing New Orientalism theory, this paper uses textual analysis as the method, focusing on how the Arab Characters are being exploited in this film.