QUEERING THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF ‘COMING OUT’: THE REPRESENTATION OF MALE SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIP IN NIA DINATA’S ARISAN

This paper explores the emergence of non-heterosexual sexuality as a theme in contemporary Indonesian films. Unlike the representation of male and female bonding in Indonesian films of the Suharto era, which tends to affirm the dominant hetero-patriarchal norms, a number of 2000s Indonesian films can be seen as negotiations of new understandings of sexual diversity. The paper specifically examines the representation of male same-sex relationships and intimacy in Nia Dinata’s Arisan! (The Gathering) (2003). The paper has two basic questions. Firstly, how does the film strive to negotiate heteronormativity and homophobia? Secondly, how does the pattern of male non-heterosexual relationship suggest a breaking away from the dominant hetero-patriarchal norms? Queer film theory and Tom Boellstorff’s (2005 and 2007) studies on gay and lesbi communities will be used as the primary approach. The paper also investigates the strategic devices used by the filmmaker to subvert censorship codes and social taboos in a country where non-heterosexual intimacy and friendship is accommodated, but homosexual identities remain outside the range of socially- and culturally-sanctioned subjectivities.