MAN" ON THE SINGAPORE SCREEN

Abstract

This Academic Exercise seeks to interrogate and examine the prominent ways in which various "male" characters - "men", and also how notions about "masculinity" or "masculinities" (as will be demonstrated in this study) are portrayed in the eighteen "Singapore movies" analysed here. Indeed, this study represents a pioneering and exploratory effort to make sociological sense of one aspect of the local movie industry, by way of textual analysis of the various movies. This is especially pertinent, given the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) Government's recent recognition of film as "art" (juxtaposed against the context of its on-going ambitions to cultivate a 'vibrant' arts scene here in Singapore), as well as the 'ground-up' independent film makers led "mini resurgence" of movie making in Singapore experienced in the 1990s for the first time since the 1970s. Crucially also, this represents a new discursive field whereby notions about (mostly 'everyday') "Singapore" and "Singaporeans" (the majority of the movies analysed here are set in 'contemporary' Singapore) are (re)constructed onto film, and then screened at local cinemas. Moreover, cinema as a leisure activity is undoubtedly part and parcel of the everyday life world of the citizenry. Thus, these 'developments' in the 1990s have made these recent "Singapore movies" crucial pieces of cultural texts that should not remain unexamined. Utilizing a qualitative, grounded analysis approach, the various movies were watched, re-watched and analysed as texts, with reference to the theoretical field of the sociology of gender - hence allowing for the grounded 'emergence' and the formulation of themes and concepts alongside the research and writing process. Also, the interactive application of 'appropriate' sociological or otherwise theories/concepts (e.g. film theory for example) allowed for a more through grasp of the issues that have 'surfaced' alongside the ongoing analysis and interpretation of the data. The four mam chapters of this Academic exercise would delineate and analyse the "male" characters or characterizations of "men" that I have deemed to be most 'pertinent' to the grounded theory approach adopted for this study, with specific reference "men" and notions of "masculinities", and how they are portrayed on the cinematic screen via - the "Ah Beng", the Husband/Father, the "Effeminate" and "Sexually Empowered" "Men" and lastly, the "Non-Chinese" "Men". Each of these 'male' characters/characterizations represents (in a Weberian 'ideal type' sense) a core axis or frame by which the notion of 'masculinities', as well as a 'gendered' conceptualization of the "male" characters at hand can be probed, detailed, analysed and interpreted. Hence, each frame should not be, in and of itself, considered to be able to authoritatively define 'masculinities' in a 'once and for all' manner. In sum then, the "Man" in the "Singapore movie" ultimately comes across via a continuum of 'masculinities', that which are defined, empowered and/or bounded by the core frames identified in this study. Hence, notions of 'masculinities' are highly contextual and negotiable attributes that are neither physically embodied in a fixed manner in the body of any particular "male" character (e.g. by ethnicity for example), nor is it a 'free-for-all' uncontestable notion given it's 'rigid' framing by larger social constructs, institutions and discourses. (e.g. the role of "the Family" and 'class status' of particular "men") Ultimately then, this analysis of these portraits has sought to demonstrate the socio-cultural construction, and complexes of meanings about 'gender' - specifically with reference to 'men', and 'masculinities' locatable within the discursive contexts/constructs of the "Singapore movies" analysed here.