Identity and Pleasure

The years following the fall of Suharto have been full of promises of liberation but also apprehension for the future. The period brought an unprecedented rise in the public profile of Islamic politics, new and public debates on past human rights violations, protracted and irrevocable divisions within the top political elite, the rise of Asian popular culture, and a digital communication revolution passionately welcomed by young Indonesians along with youths all around the world. Identity and Pleasure: The Politics of Indonesian Screen Culture critically examines what media and screen culture reveal about the ways urban-based Indonesians attempted to redefine their identity in the first decade of this century. Through a richly nuanced analysis of their expressions and representations across screen culture (cinema, television and social media), it analyses the waves of energy and optimism, and the disillusionment, disorientation and despair, that arose in the power vacuum after the dramatic collapse of the militaristic New Order government. The overall narrative provides much reason for optimism, but it also suggests that the deep reservoir of creativity that gave rise to Indonesia’s local hybrid modernity’s, who favour a narrow definition of what it means to be Indonesian