Reimagining the Pre-Islamic Past: Narratives of Conversion in Two 1960 Malay Films

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dc.contributor.advisorAndaya, Barbara
dc.contributor.authorLim Bin Adam Lim, Herman
dc.contributor.departmentAsian Studies
dc.date.accessioned2023-09-28T20:14:39Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractDescribed in newspapers as the first Malay-language films to deal with the coming of Islam to Southeast Asia, 'Noor Islam' and 'Isi Neraka' (1960) reinterpret the cultural memory of Malay conversion into Islam for the silver screen. This thesis explores how the pre-Islamic past was reimagined in these films, situating them within the continued negotiations over Islamic identity and ‘race’ in Malaya and Singapore at a time of intense decolonisation, where such identity categories remained in flux. I investigate what visual metonyms were used to connote Muslimness—as opposed to non-Muslimness—and where these visual vocabularies might be coming from. By using the concept of ‘inter-ocularity’, I show how these films were embedded within a web of visual vocabularies from across the Indian Ocean, drawing from circulating ephemeral art, theatrical traditions, and the films of India and Egypt. These various visual media drew from one another, simultaneously reinforcing the longevity of image tropes. Replicating Orientalist tropes of the ‘Problem Hindu’, the Malayan makers of 'Noor Islam' actively adapted such images to portray the pre-Islamic past as a time of demonic deities and virgin sacrifices, in contrast to Islam’s role as an illuminating force for good. The makers of 'Isi Neraka', on the other hand, appeared to build upon the genre of Sandiwara, a popular theatrical form focused on social issues at the time, to explore what happens to the relationships between people in a Malay society that recently converted to Islam. Hence, the consequences of transgressing Malay cultural norms such as durhaka or insubordination and disobeying one’s parents take centre stage. I therefore emphasise how images and discourses work together to perpetuate enduring essentialised ideas about identity, tightening and sharpening the limits for what constitutes Muslimness and Malayness.
dc.description.degreeM.A.
dc.embargo.liftdate2025-09-27
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/106063
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa
dc.subjectIslam in motion pictures
dc.subjectConversion--Islam
dc.titleReimagining the Pre-Islamic Past: Narratives of Conversion in Two 1960 Malay Films
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.dcmiText
dcterms.spatialMalaya
dcterms.spatialSingapore
local.identifier.alturihttp://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:11840

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M.A. - Asian Studies