Gender and Religion in Gubra Suria Hani binti A. Rahman, Rosidayu Sabran, Rosninawati Hussin, Sofia Hayati Yusoff, Selvarani a/p P.Kovil Pillai Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia suriahani@usim.edu.my Executive Summary: This paper highlights how the ‘critically-acclaimed’ film, Gubra (literal translation: anxiety) released in 2006 and directed by Yasmin Ahmad shape the way in which gender and religion/Islam is represented. The article will briefly explore film that articulate issues related to recurrent themes in a contemporary Malay film – i.e. family problems and societal conflict - in a less mainstream way. Introduction From mainstream and commercial films to alternative and independent filmmaking, there is always a meaning-making process that allows a film to be interpreted by the audience. The film Gubra were chosen to provide significant insights and contradictions in negotiating about gender and religion, as reported in Reuters in 2009 that most of Yasmin’s films are known to be controversial in the local film industry, primarily for ‘being critical in exploring sensitive subjects such as interracial relationships and religion’. Local and regional film scholars including Professor Khoo Gaik Cheng, Dr. Norman Yusof and Dr. Lee Yuen Beng also acknowledged Yasmin’s film for being ‘too liberal’ and ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unnecessarily’ challenging Islam and the Malay-Muslim status-quo in Malaysia. A renowned film theorist, Professor David Bordwell in 1989 elaborates that making films involves the construction of meaning out of the textual cues in the film, and the same textual element may be interpreted differently in different contexts. For example, the theme of love may be represented differently in different genres and sociocultural contexts, hence highlighting the diverse meaning of love in relation to, for example, religion Gubra: A Discussion on Gender and Religion in Malay(sia) From mainstream and commercial films to alternative and independent filmmaking, there is always a meaning-making process that allows a film to be interpreted by the
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