CALL
FOR PAPERS
Plaridel Journal
Special Issue
The Bad, The Worse, and The Worst:
The Significance of Indonesian Cult, Exploitation, and B Movies
Guest
editor: Ekky Imanjaya (University of East Anglia
& Bina Nusantara University)
In Indonesia, popular Indonesian
films, especially exploitation and B-movies, are overlooked and underrated by
most film critics, film journalists, and film scholars. Until recently,
these kinds of films have not been commonly considered as “official” representations
of Indonesian cinema, let alone Indonesian culture. Majority of books, works of
journalism, and academic papers dealing with Indonesian cinema history, both in
English and Indonesian, generally exclude the significance of classic “exploitation”
cinema. These works only discuss such films if there are controversial issues
associated with them, or if representations of social classes and gender are
explored. Only a few texts have discussed the phenomenon of exploitation
films as such.
Interestingly,
instead of art-house films directed by auteur directors, or films that attempt
to represent “Indonesian faces on screen”—which are commonly considered and
celebrated as the official representation of Indonesian culture by the
Indonesian government and culture elites--“low art,”, “lowbrow” or “bad” movies
are exported to and disseminated by the international film markets in Manila,
Cannes, Berlin, etc. since 1982. Apparently, exploitation movies could
well fit with the demands of international distributors.
In
addition, many such films are still very popular among the working-class and
lower-class spectators, with some even becoming box-office hits. Borrowing Barry Keith Grant’s
term, these films became “Mass Cult” for local fans (Grant 1991, 123). The “Mass
Cult” status of the films is important to highlight, because these films were not marginalized
by mainstream audience in Indonesia. However, these films were discriminated
against by the Politics of Tastes of culture elites, and their cult status was
partly shaped by New Order policies. The films were
circulated freely and massively through LayarTancap (mobile cinema) and Misbar
(seasonal movie theatre) during New Order era in rural and suburban areas,
which were out of New Order radar until 1993. These kinds of distribution and
exhibition became channels of alternative distribution and exhibition for those “marginalized” films and have produced
their own dynamics and characteristic subcultures.
This raises
several questions: How were film cultures and
cinematic production, mediation, and consumption generated in Indonesia and
beyond? To what extent can we consider these “bad” exploitation films important
and significant culturally, socially, politically, and economically? How and
why do many of these kinds of films become cult films abroad and celebrated by
global fans? How and why do Indonesian films
texts achieve cult status? How might they differ from so-called mainstream
films? To what extent can we still consider these media ‘cult,’ given global
media reach? What of other exploitation films which were not exported,
such as dangdut musicals by Rhoma Irama or comedy films starred by
Benyamin Sueb and Warkop DKI? What of recent exploitation and B-movies, like
the virtual discussion on Azrax (Melawan
Sindikat Perdagangan Wanita) <Azrax (Against Women Trafficking
Syndicate)> or discussion on works by Koya Pagayo and KK Deraj in
“#Vividism” fan culture? Finally, what can all of
these reveal about other critical concerns, from industry culture, to
(re)distribution, consumption, and reception?
This
edition of Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media, and
Society will provide an opportunity to share research on any aspect of
these practices and initiate dialogue on Indonesian cult, exploitation, and
B-grade films. Topics might include but are not limited to the following:
·
The Production of Indonesian Cult, Exploitation and B-movies
·
Networks, Co-productions, and/or Financing
·
Exploitation Film and Policy (censorship, etc.)
·
Indonesian B-movie cult stardom and celebrities (Barry Prima,
Suzanna, Bing Slamet, Benyamin, Rhoma Irama, Eva Arnaz, etc)
·
The Roles of International Star movies (Peter O’Brien, Cynthia Rothrock,
Chris Mitchum, etc).
·
Indonesian cult Auteurs (Arizal, Sisworo Gautama, Tjut Djalil, etc)
·
Genres in Indonesian cult cinema
·
The Marketing of Indonesian Cult Movies and the Institutions of Film
Markets
·
Indonesian B-movie Channels of Distribution
·
Indonesian and International politics of taste and cultural distinction
·
Indonesia and International cult fandoms and communities
·
Indonesian Exploitation Films and Theories of cult Internet fandom
·
Local media and global receptions
·
Emerging marginalised Indonesian cult films
Abstracts should be submitted via email to plarideljournal@gmail.com, on or before 10 April 2014. The deadline for full papers by
authors whose Abstracts have been selected is 10 June 2015.
About Plaridel
Journal
Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media,
and Society was first published in 2004 as a national journal of
communication and has since been released on a regular bi-annual basis. Eventually,
the journal expanded its scope to include regional (i.e., Asian and Southeast
Asian) topics and began to publish papers from other Asian countries. Papers
published in Plaridel Journal are
original researches emanating from various disciplines that engage with media
and communication studies. Such papers may include qualitative or quantitative researches
concerned with media effects, industry practices, political economy, cultural
and subcultural formations, reception and consumption, among others.
Information for Authors
Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media, and Society is a refereed bi-annual journal published by the University
of the Philippines, College of Mass Communication (UP CMC). It publishes papers
on any aspect of Asian and Southeast Asian communication
and media. Reviews of books, films, websites, television and radio programs,
and other media texts are also accepted for publication.
All articles should have a high degree of scholarship.
All article submissions are vetted by the issue and/or associate editor and then
blind reviewed by at least two experts in the field.
All articles should be written with proper citations
using the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Articles must not
exceed a maximum of 10,000 words, while reviews must have at least 1,500 words.
Articles in English or Filipino may be submitted.
Articles should be accompanied by an abstract of 100
to 150 words. Abstracts for contributions written in Filipino must be written
in English.
Article submissions are to be e-mailed to the
Editor-in-Chief at plarideljournal@gmail.com in MS Word format without any identifying information
such as author(s) name and institutional affiliations. Authors should submit a
separate document with the manuscript title, author name(s), institutional
affiliation and contact information.
Authors submitting articles for consideration should
not simultaneously submit the same articles to publications or journals. Articles
should not have been published elsewhere in substantially similar form or with
substantially similar content. Authors are responsible for gaining permission
for including any copyrighted material that needs permission, including
quotations of more than 300 words and illustrations.
Plaridel Journal Refereeing Process
Plaridel Journal publishes original articles that have gone through
a rigorous double-blind peer-review process. Papers submitted to the journal
for publication consideration undergo an initial editorial review by issue and/or
associate editors. At this stage, papers can be accepted or rejected. Papers
that are favorably reviewed move forward to the blind peer-review process.
Referees or reviewers are selected based on their publication history and
expertise in the field where the article seeks to make a contribution.
CHED Accreditation
The
Plaridel Journal is
accorded Category A-2 status in the Philippines by the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) Journal Accreditation System since 2010.
For further information, call (02) 9206864 or UP
trunkline 981-8500 loc. 2668 or email Patrick F. Campos (Plaridel Journal Managing
Editor) at <plarideljournal@gmail.com>.
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