LETTERS: Last semester, I had the great pleasure of teaching Malaysian Cinema as an elective course to 25 students from the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi Mara.
It was a fascinating and challenging experience as they are from a totally different background.
Malaysian cinema may not occupy a prominent position in world cinema rankings, but the lecturer still has the task of proving that it is worth exploring in a specially designed course.
Apart from film and media students, the course is appropriate for students majoring in Malay studies, language, literature, anthropology, history, Southeast Asian studies and comparative literature.
In short, it could serve as an elective course for students of any major.
The course can reinforce students' understanding of local identities, as well as develop their worldview and consciousness, as most of their cinema exposure involves Western film cultures, particularly Hollywood.
As Malaysian cinema will reach its 100th anniversary about 10 years from now, becoming acquainted with its canonical works and iconic directors is imperative.
With the exception of P. Ramlee, the younger generation may not know much about other important directors of yesteryear — Hussain Haniff, M. Amin, Jamil Sulong, Salleh Ghani, L. Krishnan, Phani Majumdar and Ramon Estella.
Contemporary and future filmmakers — even artistes, writers and content creators in general — should embrace and respect the tradition from which there is much to learn and draw inspiration.
Since its inception, Malaysian cinema has borne witness to three important, distinct eras.
First, the golden age from 1947 to 1972 saw the production and distribution of more than 300 Malay language films from three film studios.
Second, the post-studio era from 1975 to 1999 witnessed a proliferation of homegrown production houses in the wake of the New Economic Policy.
Third, the millennium digital era post-2000 saw a transformation and the production of films in various languages other than our national language.
Films from each era are important cultural artefacts, part of our regional and national heritage, embodying social values and attitudes and reflecting the sensibilities of the time.
Therefore, the course can contribute to not only our understanding of Malaysian cinema, but of Malaysia and its journey of nationhood.
Many early Malay films were directed by filmmakers from India, China and the Philippines, not to mention the Singapore and Hong Kong connections through the studios like Shaw Brothers and Cathay-Keris.
Even the history of the golden age of Malay cinema is shared with Singapore cinema, marking an intersection between the history of Singapore and Malaya. The three distinct eras of Malaysian cinema also saw a number of co-productions with Indonesia.
Areas that can be covered in this course include understanding Malaysian cinema as a social and cultural institution.
We may approach Malaysian cinema as popular culture, too, by looking at the patterns of audience consumption, aspects of popular genres, stardom and fandom.
More importantly, the course should keep abreast with the latest development, like the ways digitalisation and media convergence have affected our contemporary cinematic landscape.
However, its focus should transcend a mere historical account of the capitalist-oriented, commercial film industry.
As a body of knowledge, we may conceive of Malaysian cinema as a discourse and critical inquiry of the relationship between cinema, culture and society, through which a synergy between the past, the present and the future can be reflected.
DR NORMAN YUSOFF
Senior lecturer, College of Creative Arts, Universiti Teknologi Mara
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times