{"title":"我们能不能不要只谈论男人?两部马来电影的贝克德尔检验、叙事突出性与女性声音","authors":"J. Aziz, Fuzirah Hashim, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor","doi":"10.17576/jkmjc-2022-3804-17","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Western feminist film scholars’ claim that female characters are often defined in relation to their male counterparts resonates well in contemporary film and gender studies. This claim highlights the representational biases towards male privilege and primacy as visible signifiers; the ramification of this biasness is the invisibility of female subjectivity that renders them voiceless. Therefore, inquiries into female subjectivity in films outside of Hollywood context are crucial. This paper aims at identifying and comparing the representation of female characters in two Malaysian films of two genres - romance and horror - to highlight the consonance between female voice with feminine consciousness and empowerment. This study administers the Bechdel Test on two films selected using criterion sampling - 3 Temujanji and Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam - and suggests a novel approach by adding the analysis of the film using the concept of narrative salience. The analyses using both methods revealed contradictory results. 3 Temujanji, although failed most of the test, is revealed through narrative salience as assiduous towards feminine consciousness and empowerment. Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, which passed the test, ironically and ideologically contained female voices within the patriarchal value system. The finding contributes towards the theorisation that women's voices in Malaysian films can be considered as an integral part of the acoustic register of films that enhances film analysis technique. Scriptwriters and filmmakers can utilise the test as a reference in which women can define themselves 'not in relation to men', while creating female characters who progressively think beyond patriarchy and androcentrism. Keywords: Women empowerment, Malay films, acoustic register, narrative salience, Hollywood.","PeriodicalId":45197,"journal":{"name":"Jurnal Komunikasi-Malaysian Journal of Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Can We Not Just Talk About Men? The Bechdel Test, Narrative Salience and Female Voices in Two Selected Malay Films\",\"authors\":\"J. Aziz, Fuzirah Hashim, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor\",\"doi\":\"10.17576/jkmjc-2022-3804-17\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Western feminist film scholars’ claim that female characters are often defined in relation to their male counterparts resonates well in contemporary film and gender studies. This claim highlights the representational biases towards male privilege and primacy as visible signifiers; the ramification of this biasness is the invisibility of female subjectivity that renders them voiceless. Therefore, inquiries into female subjectivity in films outside of Hollywood context are crucial. This paper aims at identifying and comparing the representation of female characters in two Malaysian films of two genres - romance and horror - to highlight the consonance between female voice with feminine consciousness and empowerment. This study administers the Bechdel Test on two films selected using criterion sampling - 3 Temujanji and Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam - and suggests a novel approach by adding the analysis of the film using the concept of narrative salience. The analyses using both methods revealed contradictory results. 3 Temujanji, although failed most of the test, is revealed through narrative salience as assiduous towards feminine consciousness and empowerment. Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, which passed the test, ironically and ideologically contained female voices within the patriarchal value system. The finding contributes towards the theorisation that women's voices in Malaysian films can be considered as an integral part of the acoustic register of films that enhances film analysis technique. Scriptwriters and filmmakers can utilise the test as a reference in which women can define themselves 'not in relation to men', while creating female characters who progressively think beyond patriarchy and androcentrism. Keywords: Women empowerment, Malay films, acoustic register, narrative salience, Hollywood.\",\"PeriodicalId\":45197,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Jurnal Komunikasi-Malaysian Journal of Communication\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-12-31\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Jurnal Komunikasi-Malaysian Journal of Communication\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2022-3804-17\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"COMMUNICATION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Jurnal Komunikasi-Malaysian Journal of Communication","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2022-3804-17","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
Can We Not Just Talk About Men? The Bechdel Test, Narrative Salience and Female Voices in Two Selected Malay Films
Western feminist film scholars’ claim that female characters are often defined in relation to their male counterparts resonates well in contemporary film and gender studies. This claim highlights the representational biases towards male privilege and primacy as visible signifiers; the ramification of this biasness is the invisibility of female subjectivity that renders them voiceless. Therefore, inquiries into female subjectivity in films outside of Hollywood context are crucial. This paper aims at identifying and comparing the representation of female characters in two Malaysian films of two genres - romance and horror - to highlight the consonance between female voice with feminine consciousness and empowerment. This study administers the Bechdel Test on two films selected using criterion sampling - 3 Temujanji and Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam - and suggests a novel approach by adding the analysis of the film using the concept of narrative salience. The analyses using both methods revealed contradictory results. 3 Temujanji, although failed most of the test, is revealed through narrative salience as assiduous towards feminine consciousness and empowerment. Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, which passed the test, ironically and ideologically contained female voices within the patriarchal value system. The finding contributes towards the theorisation that women's voices in Malaysian films can be considered as an integral part of the acoustic register of films that enhances film analysis technique. Scriptwriters and filmmakers can utilise the test as a reference in which women can define themselves 'not in relation to men', while creating female characters who progressively think beyond patriarchy and androcentrism. Keywords: Women empowerment, Malay films, acoustic register, narrative salience, Hollywood.
期刊介绍:
All scholars are invited to submit manuscripts to Jurnal Komunikasi, Malaysian Journal of Communication. This journal provides a forum for empirical inquiries on human and mass communication and welcome conceptual, philosophical and theoretical essays or debates, book reviews and essay reviews directly contributing to communication or indirectly affecting it as a discipline. We suggest the following broad areas of research: -Communication and Policies -Globalization and Social Impact -Youth and Media Globalisation -Audience Analysis -Media, Democracy and Integration -Media Literacy and Media Education -Media and Development -Health Communication -Politics, Hegemony and the Media -ICT and Power -Gender and Sexuality in The Media -Social Media and Subcultures -Media, Popular Culture and Society -Media and Religion -Media and Identity -War, Conflict and Crisis Communication -Strategic Communication and Information Management