Queer Malay cinema? : kinships, nations, performances.

From 1947 to 1972, Singapore and Malay(si)a experienced what is known as the Golden Age of Malay cinema. Many published works encountered in this research have chosen to study the cinematic space historically and nationally, namely as either a Singaporean or a Malaysian cinema. This project, however, finds the multiple international interactions involved in Malay cinema problematic to the argument that it falls under a national cinema. Another observation this dissertation makes is the presence of non-nuclear homes, or queer kinships, that curiously recur throughout countless Malay films. Interestingly, queer kinships are also perpetuated in the national discourse between Malaysia and Singapore after their separation in 1965 during the politically-charged landscape that backgrounded Malay cinema functions as this dissertation’s final concern.Master of Arts (HSS