Watching competencies: Malay women, Turkish serial dramas and Islamic modernity | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Volume 19, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1740-8296
  • E-ISSN: 2040-0918

Abstract

This article discusses the emergence of Turkish serial dramas as a site for contestation over the impact of Islamic modernity on Malay women in contemporary Malaysia. Despite its popularity among Malay women, Turkish serial drama has been criticized for misleading and confusing the audience about Islamic history, faith, culture and civilization. The controversy over this television genre raises the question of how Malay women, constrained within their position of being female subjects of the state, manage to circumvent the authorities and watch this Turkish serial drama. They are not supposed to challenge social norms, moral propriety, cultural identity and the state vision of modernity. Therefore, this article argues that although Malay women exhibit excitement towards this television genre, they consistently use Islamic knowledge to develop watching skills and become more sceptical as well as competent in interpreting popular Islamic texts. The findings also show that Islam in the Malay world is culturally diverse, progressive and flexible.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • FRGS (Award FRGS/1/2018/SSI08/UM/02/1)
  • Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/macp_00075_1
2023-11-23
2024-04-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Anderson, K. and Jack, D. (1991), ‘Learning to listen: Interview techniques and analyses’, in S. N. Gluck and D. Patai (eds), Women+s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral, New York: Routledge, pp. 1126.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ang, I. (1985), Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination, London and New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bernama (2006), ‘Monitor and screen programmes including cartoon, say Puteri UMNO’, Bernama Daily Malaysian News, 17 November, n.pag.
  4. Bernama (2007), ‘Foreign dramas more popular because they thrive on supernatural’, Bernama Daily Malaysian News, 11 April, Factiva Database.
  5. Bidin, K. (2002), ‘Bae Yong Jun chased by sizeable offer’, Utusan Malaysia, 11 April, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Blanchett, C. (2023), ‘Acceptance speech for Best Actress: Tar’, 76th British Academy Film Awards, London, 20 February.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bourdieu, P. (1979), A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (trans. R. Nice), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Brunsdon, C. (1997), Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes, London and New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Brunsdon, C. (2005), Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes, 2nd ed., London and New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis e-Library.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cari (2017a), ‘Edisi Terhina Lagi: LPF Arah Asteruk [ASTRO] Tapis Drama Turki Sebab Menghina Islam Kata’ (‘Another humiliated edition: LPF requests that Asteruk [ASTRO] censor Turkish drama for insulting Islam’), Cari, 2 June, https://b.cari.com.my/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1045337&extra=&page=1. Accessed 30 May 2022.
  11. Cari (2017b), ‘Many extreme scenes, netizens object to Ottoman history drama showing in Malaysia’, Cari, 31 May, https://b.cari.com.my/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1045025&extra=&page=1&mobile=2&mobile=. Accessed 28 February 2022.
  12. Cavalho, M. (2021), ‘We cannot regulate online content’, The Star, 1 December, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/12/01/we-cannot-regulate-online-content. Accessed 3 January 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Chinyong Liow, J. (2004), ‘Political Islam in Malaysia: Problematising discourse and practice in the UMNO–PAS “Islamisation race”’, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 42:2, pp. 184205.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Chua, B. H. (2008), ‘Structure of identification and distancing in watching East Asian television drama’, in B. H. Chua and K. Iwabuchi (ed.), East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 7390.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Code, L. (1991), What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge, Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Farinordin, F. A. (2003), ‘Hooked on foreign soaps’, New Straits Times, 15 February, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Franz, D., Marsh, H. E., Chen, J. I. and Teo, A. R. (2019), ‘Using Facebook for qualitative research: Brief primer’, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21:8, p. e13544.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Gadamer, H. ([1960] 1989), Truth and Method (trans. J. Weinsheimer and D. Marshall), rev. ed., London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Giddens, A. (1990), The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Giddens, A. (1991), Modernity and Self Identity, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Hall, S. (1973), ‘Encoding and decoding in the television discourse’, Council of Europe Colloquy on Training in the Critical Reading of Televisual Language, 27–28 September, Leicester: Council and Centre for Mass Communication Research, University of Leicester, pp. 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Hall, S. ([1990] 2001), ‘Cultural studies and its theoretical legacies’, in V. Leitch, W. Cain, L. Finke, B. Johnson, J. McGowan and J. Williams (eds), Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, New York and London: Norton & Company, pp. 1895910.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Hudson, C. and Md Syed, M. A. (2014), ‘Women and television in Malaysia: Soaps, transnational pleasure and modernity’, in J. Kim (ed.), Reading Asian Television Drama: Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries, New York: I. B. Tauris, pp. 12546.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Kaptan, Y. and Algan, E. (eds) (2020), Television in Turkey: Local Production, Transnational Expansion and Political Aspirations, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Kessler, C. S. (1992), ‘Archaism and modernity: Contemporary Malay political culture’, in J. S. Kahn and F. L. K. Wah (eds), Fragmented Vision: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Malaysia, Sydney: Asian Studies Association of Australia in Association with Allen & Unwin, pp. 13357.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Khoo, G. C. (2006), Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature, Vancouver and Singapore: UBC Press and NUS Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Lauretis, T. de (1987), Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction, Bloomington, IN and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Lee, D. T. F., Woo, J. and Mackenzie, A. E. (2002), ‘A review of older people’s experiences with residential care placement’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37:1, pp. 1927.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Leitch, V., Cain, W., Finke, L., Johnson, B., McGowan. J. and Williams, J. (eds) (2001), ‘Pierre Bourdieu 1930–2002’, Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, New York and London: Norton & Company, pp. 180614.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Lie, M. and Lund, R. (1994), Renegotiating Local Values: Working Women and Foreign Industry in Malaysia, Surrey: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Malaysiakini (2017), ‘LPF has directed Astro to review the screening of the drama “The Magnificent Century”’ (‘LPF arah Astro teliti semula tapisan drama “The Magnificent Century”’), Malaysiakini, 2 June, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/384292. Accessed 28 April 2022.
  32. Malaysiakini (2018), ‘Neelofa’s firm says sorry over venue choice for tudung launch’, MalaysiaKini, 28 February, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/413820. Accessed 28 April 2022.
  33. Md Syed, M. A. (2013), ‘Malay women as discerning viewers: Asian soap operas, consumer culture and negotiating modernity’, Gender, Place & Culture, 20:5, pp. 64766.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Md Syed, M. A. and Runnel, C. (2014), ‘Malay women, non-western soap operas and watching competencies’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 14:3, pp. 30423.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Modleski, T. (1979), ‘The search for tomorrow in today’s soap operas’, Film Quarterly, 33:1, pp. 1221.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Mohamad, I. (2019), ‘Turki Mempersona’ (‘Charming Turkey’), Harian Metro, 5 May, https://www.hmetro.com.my/ekspresi/2019/05/452228/turki-mempesona. Accessed 3 January 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Mohamad, M. (2010), ‘The ascendance of bureaucratic Islam and the secularization of the Sharia in Malaysia’, Pacific Affairs, 83:3, pp. 50524.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Nagata, J. (1995), ‘Modern Malay women and the message of the veil’, in W. J. Karim (ed.), Male and Female in Developing Southeast Asia, London: Routledge, pp. 10120.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Nair, S. (1997), Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Ong, A. (1987), Spirit of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia, Albany: State University of New York Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Ong, A. (1990a), ‘Japanese factories, Malay workers: Class and sexual metaphors in West Malaysia’, in J. M. Atkinson and S. Errington (eds), Power and Difference: Gender in Island Southeast Asia, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 385443.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Ong, A. (1990b), ‘State versus Islam: Malay families, women’s bodies, and the body politic in Malaysia’, American Ethnologist, 17:2, pp. 25876.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Osman, M. N. M. (2017), ‘The Islamic conservative turn in Malaysia: Impact and future trajectories’, Contemporary Islam, 11:1, pp. 120.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Ramli, B. N. (2017), ‘Astro pulls the plug on Magnificent Century’, New Straits Times, 2 June, https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2017/06/245081/astro-pulls-plug-magnificent-century#google_vignette. Accessed 3 March 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Shamshudeen, R. I. and Morris, B. (2014), ‘“No hugging please, we are Muslims”: Akademi Fantasia, Malay television audiences and the negotiation of global popular cultural forms’, Asian Journal of Communication, 24:2, pp. 14257.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Shamsul, A. B. (1997), ‘The economic dimension of Malay nationalism: The socio-historical roots of the new economic policy and its contemporary implications’, The Developing Economies, 35:3, pp. 24061.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Stivens, M. (1994), ‘Gender and modernity in Malaysia’, in A. Gomes (ed.), Modernity and Identity: Asian Illustrations, Victoria: La Trobe University Press, pp. 6695.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Stivens, M. (1998a), ‘Modernising the Malay mothers’, in K. Ram and M. Jolly (eds), Maternities and Modernities: Colonial and Postcolonial Experience in Asia and the Pacific, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 5080.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Stivens, M. (1998b), ‘Sex, gender and the making of the new Malay middle classes’, in K. Sen and M. Stivens (eds), Gender and Power Affluent Asia, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 87126.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Stivens, M. (2000), ‘Becoming modern in Malaysia: Women at the end of the twentieth century’, in L. E. M. Roces (ed.), Women in Asia: Tradition, Modernity and Globalisation, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, pp. 1634.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Stivens, M. (2006), ‘“Family values” and Islamic revival: Gender, rights and state moral projects in Malaysia’, Women’s Studies International Forum, 29, pp. 35467.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Stivens, M. (2012), ‘The youth, modernity and morality in Malaysia’, in W. Mee and J. S. Kahn (ed.), Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore and Kyoto: NUS Press and Kyoto University Press, pp. 169200.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Stivens, M. (2017), ‘Making spaces in Malaysia: Women’s rights and new Muslim religiosities’, in J. Cesari and J. Casanova (eds), Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 26697.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Sukaimi, S. A. (2017), ‘Teliti semula tapisan Magnificent Century’ (‘Review the censorship for Magnificent Century’), Harian Metro, 1 June, https://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2017/06/234140/teliti-semula-tapisan-magnificent-century. Accessed 28 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Tali, D. (2016), ‘An unlikely story: Why do South Americans love Turkish TV?’, BBC News, 8 September, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37284938. Accessed 8 March 2022.
  56. Taylor, S. J. and Bogdan, R. (2015), Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: A Guidebook and Resource, New York and Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Thompson, E. C. (2002), ‘Migrant subjectivities and narratives of the “Kampung” in Malaysia’, SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 17:1, pp. 5275.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Weintraub, A. N. (ed.) (2011), Islam and Popular Culture in Indonesia and Malaysia, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Wilson, T. (2019), ‘Interpretative phenomenological analysis as hermeneutic philosophy-in-practice’, QMiP Bulletin Issue, 28, Autumn, p. 37.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Żadkowska, M., Dowgiałło, B., Gajewska, M., Herzberg-Kurasz, M. and Kostecka, M. (2022), ‘The sociological confessional: A reflexive process in the transformation from face-to-face to online interview’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, pp. 112.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Zainah, A. (1987), Islamic Revivalism in Malaysia: Dakwah among the Students, Kuala Lumpur: Pelanduk Publications.
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Zainal, H. (2019), ‘Intersectional cosmopolitanism: Muslim women’s engagement with polygamy on Malaysian and Indonesian screens’, Culture and Religion, 20:2, pp. 15168.
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Zeitzen, M. K. (2018), Elite Malay Polygamy: Wives, Wealth and Woes in Malaysia, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Zeitzen, M. K. (2020), Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/macp_00075_1
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error