Controversy on the Acceptance of Transgender Characterization in the Movie “Lovely Man”

Zainal Abidin Achmad, Janitra Gustave Kinan, Myrtati Dyah Artaria

2017

Abstract

Creating a transgender-themed movie in a Muslim majority country like Indonesia is indeed difficult to do. Although transgenderism is a social phenomenon, it remains too sensitive to be accepted by most of the society members. The presence of the movie “Lovely Man” comprises a courage to be present. This study was not intended to assess the public’s acceptance of transgender people but more to analyze the transgender community’s acceptance, including the controversy toward the overall role of the transgender character Saiful played by Donny Damara. This research applied the qualitative method with encoding/decoding reception analysis technique developed by Stuart Hall. The data collection was conducted by having an in-depth interview with the transgender community in Surabaya through the Surabaya transvestite group. The result of the study indicated that the transgender community in Surabaya accepted the success of the character Saiful who represented their lives as transgender in the movie “Lovely Man”. However, the characterization of Saiful also ignited controversy because it was not considered to be a representation of daily life for transgender people. Some of the notes on the controversies included: Saiful being less gentle, the use of wigs, the use of a low-pitched voice and sexual harassment, i.e. sodomy.

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Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Abidin Achmad Z., Gustave Kinan J. and Dyah Artaria M. (2017). Controversy on the Acceptance of Transgender Characterization in the Movie “Lovely Man”.In Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC, ISBN 978-989-758-337-7, pages 360-365. DOI: 10.5220/0007329503600365


in Bibtex Style

@conference{ipcomc17,
author={Zainal Abidin Achmad and Janitra Gustave Kinan and Myrtati Dyah Artaria},
title={Controversy on the Acceptance of Transgender Characterization in the Movie “Lovely Man”},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC,},
year={2017},
pages={360-365},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0007329503600365},
isbn={978-989-758-337-7},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC,
TI - Controversy on the Acceptance of Transgender Characterization in the Movie “Lovely Man”
SN - 978-989-758-337-7
AU - Abidin Achmad Z.
AU - Gustave Kinan J.
AU - Dyah Artaria M.
PY - 2017
SP - 360
EP - 365
DO - 10.5220/0007329503600365