Queer Alienation in Dear to Me Short Movie: Critical Discourse Analysis
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We can not refuse the fact that mass media hold such a big role in our everyday's life. Film, for instance, is one of the popular mass media many people love. Pranajaya (2000) inferred, as cited in Setiawan (2018) and Sinthiani (2011), that film is a communicative medium where it can construct language in the audio visual form. In addition, as they involve media discourse, film can also be a factor that plays an important role in the process of cultural change, power relation, and ideological process in the society (Fairclough as cited in Setiawan, 2018). Therefore, it is undeniably that in films there must lie an ideology as well as a representation of certain culture (Zhang, 2014 and Giannetti, 2008 as cited in Setiawan, 2018) that the director wanted to present to the audience. It is in accordance with what Bill (1985) also indicated, as cited in Ye (2012), that ideology in films played a crucial role to illustrate or imply local culture, improving transnational relationships, and signifying particular political attitudes and goals.
However, what appeared in the film may not always be what it seems. Directors had the option to encase the actual message they wanted to convey in such a way to make it look common in order to prevent any rejection or judgment from people and therefore, the ideology can be delivered successfully and accepted by the audience. This case is done intentionally when the topic that is being discussed in the film is a sensitive topic which tends to evoke a controversy. Such a topic like homosexuality and anything that relates to it is one of the examples of a sensitive thing to be discussed in mass media. The lack of recognition and awareness in society towards homosexuality, made it become something that many people do not want to talk about (Oetomo, 2001 as cited in Rudy, 2016).
Homosexuality itself is a term we simply define as a sexual relationship between an individual of the same sex, it can refer to a lesbian or gay. However, despite its simple term, there lies many phenomena behind it (Cardoso &Werner, 2003). The existence of homosexuality as a phenomena amongst our society as well as a minority group had risen many pros and cons especially in a country, like Indonesia, where religion is a central part of its peoples life, this phenomena had no place to be accepted (Utami, 2018). This discriminatory againts the gay community then resulted in them to concealed their true identity by acting like men in general (Gunawati et al, 2020). In accordance with what Sullivan &Wodarski (2008) stated, their limits to be open with their peers and the fear of discovering their true identity are often resulted from their experience of being socially isolated.
Last year, in 2021, an Indonesian woman director named Monica Vanesa Tedja, released her first short film entitled Dear to Me. This short film carry a theme of homosexuality that is focused on a story of a gay man, named Tim whose parents are a pious Christian. As a short movie with only 19 minutes of duration, it has a very simple premise; Tim, a 27 year old man, is on a vacation with his family to some deserted island. There was a belief within the community of the island that said, if we saw a deer, we would soon meet our soulmate. The curiosity arose within Tims mind, and he wished to be able to see the deer to make his parents happy when he could finally meet his soulmate. The movie did not directly tells that Tim was a gay man, but some scenes showed the inner struggle experienced by Tim as a part of a minority group while being someone who is coming from a devout Christian family.
Therefore, this study aims to reveal how Tim, as a homosexual guy was felt alienated from his devouted Christian family. The scene depicted Tims alienation and the narration of his feelings associated with being a concealed gay man will be the foci of this paper. The dialogue and scenes will be analyzed using Faircloughs critical discourse analysis model, to disclose the truth and finally represent what the director of this film wanted to tell about gay life by using the representation of Tim in the film.
Critical Discourse Analysis
The main idea of discourse analysis is that discourse is not only a substance of language study. In discourse analysis language is used to analyze the text (Tambunan & Muchtar, et al, 2018). According to Norman Fairclough (1995) as cited in Hidayati (2021) the concern of discourse analysis is to approach how text works or functions in sociocultural practice. Fairclough's theory of critical discourse analysis assumes that there is a dialectical relationship between language and other elements of social life (Sudarna & Yuliana, 2021).
Fairclough proposed a critical discourse analysis model called a model of social change. This model of CDA is integrating discourse analysis based on linguistic, social, and politics. In his model of CDA, Fairclough referred to the use of language as social practice which has two implications. First, it stated that discourse is a form of action. Meaning that language is used by an individual as an action on the world. Second, the model implies a reciprocal relationship between discourse and social structure. It means that the discourse is divided by social structures, classes, and other social relations associated with the specific relations of institutions.
The concept of CDA that Fairclough proposed is divided into three levels: micro, mezzo, and macro (Fairclough, 1995 as cited in Hidayati, 2021). At the micro level, the concern is in the formal properties of the text. At the mezzo level, the concern is in the interpretation of the relationship between text and interaction, meaning that it sees the text as a product of a process of production and as a resource in the process of interpretation. Meanwhile, at the macro level, the concern is in the relationship between interaction and social context, with the social determinants of the processes of production and interpretation and their social effects (Fairclough, 2015 as cited in Bezar et al, 2018).
Dear to Me is an Indonesian short film that raised the theme of LBGT. The film itself showed the bitterness of a gay man living in a society where he can not reveal his true identity due to descrimination he had to face. The following are the specifications:
Release : 4-14 August 2021 (Locarno International Film Festival)
Genre : Drama
Director : Monica Vanesa Tedja
Producer : Astrid Saerong
Felix Schwegler
Monica Vanesa Tedja
Scenario : Monica Vanesa Tedja
Home Production : Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg
Duration : 19 minutes
Cast : Jourdy Pranata as Tim
Jerome Kurnia as James
Willem Bevers as Johan
Wani Siregar as Liana
Abber Rahman as Mas Ucup
Analysis in Macrostructure level
In macro-structure level, the focus is on the situation where the text is made. According to Fairclough as cited in Guntur (2017) that context in understanding a discourse can not be separated. The context of consumption, production, and social and cultural conditions are things that are influencing the production of the text itself, therefore the exploration of those things are needed.
Situational
In this stage, the analysis is focused in the context of occurence when the text is made. In other words, text is produced in some particular condition and circumstances that the text is considered different amongst other texts.
Talking about sexuality and religiosity, Dear to Me was produced as a form of restlessness from the director. Being religious and queer was something that is common for the director to witness in her surrounding. The sexuality which in society is being marginalized becomes something questionable and ends up being blamed because it contradicts with any religion (Nindias, 2022 in infoscreening.co). Putting the element of sexuality and the issue of religion within her films, the director has made several other films based on her awareness towards the same issue, namely Sleep Tight Maria and Flowers and the Bee. The same characteristics in those three short films are seen in particular symbols, where it is mostly depicted how religion and sexuality often materialize in a paradoxical relationship in the public sphere. These elements are used by the director to shape a narrative in order to implicitly convey a message related to sexuality that can be easily accepted by the audience.
Institutional
Producers
In Deal To Me, there are three producers that are responsible for the making of these short films from the start until the end of its production. Namely, Astrid Saerong and Felix Schwegler. Astrid Saerong is a self-employed producer of Dear To Me short film. Astrid Saerong had been dabbling in the film industry since 2013 as a freelance assistant director at PT. Kepompong Gendut for Selamat Pagi Malam movie. Her contribution in the film industry enlarged as she joins Palari Films in 2016 and became the ‘actor’ behind the success of several films like Aruna & Her Plate, Posesif, and Ali & The Queens (2019). Dear To Me was not the first film project that she and Monica are cooperating with, in 2014 she also became the producer for Monica’s other short film entitled The Flower & The Bee.
Besides Astrid Saerong, a german-based producer, Felix Schwegler, is also involved in the production of this short film. Felix is also a master student in the same university as Monica. There has been many films where he became the producer and Dear To Me was the first Indonesian film that he was ever produced. These producers succeeded in making the film won its first award in First Step Awards 2021 as the Best Short and Animated Film and brought the film to international festivals for its first screening at Locarno International Film Festival in August 2021.
Analysis in Mesostructure level (Discourse Practice)
In this level, the focus is centered in text production as an individual aspect and the aspect of consumption. In other words, the level of mesostructure, Norman Fairclough stated that media discourse is produced because of three elements; first, it involves the individual who create the text; second, it involves the connection between the writer and its structural organizations such as the producers, the director, and the crews: and the third is involving how the text is being released to the audience as a consumer.
Text Production
Monica Vanesa Tedja
Born in Jakarta in 1991, Monica Vanesa Tedja is a Chinese-Indonesian filmmaker whose films pose questions around minority identity issues through intimate character work, with equal parts humour and pathos. Her career took off when one of her earliest shorts, How to Make a Perfect Xmas Eve (2013), won Best Film in the XXI Short Film Festival, chosen by the Indonesian Film Director’s Club. Her BA thesis film, The Camouflage (2014), was screened in Scream Queen Film Festival in Tokyo. This was followed by Sleep Tight, Maria (2015) winning Best Film in France Film Festival in Indonesia in 2015. These films solidified her status as one of Indonesia’s rising independent female filmmakers, unafraid to turn their lens onto narrative seldom explored in the country. She moved to Berlin in 2015 to pursue an MA in Film Directing at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. Other than making films, Monica is also competent in producing music and some commercial videos.
Production Technique
In this part, the researcher will show how critical discourse is being developed within the narrative of the films, to depict some particular reality that is happening amongst society. Monica Vanesa Tedja, Astrid Saerong, and Felix Schwegler are people who are responsible for the production of Dear To Me short film, especially for Monica as this short film is her final project for her MA program at her university. Monica said in her interview, with infoscreening.co, that Dear To Me is made based on her personal experience as someone whose identity is labeled as minority as well as living in a religious environment where being a queer is something that everyone cannot condone. Dear To Me used the approach where it gives the focus mostly on the main character to reveal his inner struggle as a gay man dealing with his religious family who thinks he is not a normal person. It raise an issue about minorities within the scope of family which gives the audience some intimacy to its main character.
The first scene of this film started with Jourdy Pranata, as the main character, shot from behind while running in a forest with a narration as a backsound saying that every people’s dream has its own meaning. It is like our unconscious mind is trying to tell us about something. Last night, I saw you in my dream, standing in the middle of the ocean, far from myself , you looked up at the sky and then you’re gone just like that”. And then the scene is cut to show Tim, a 27 year old man, when he was showering from a close distance where another man suddenly showed up from behind—and the audience found out that it was James (Jerome Kurnia), Tim’s boyfriend. However, The audience assumed that Tim is the one who narrated this dialogue as there is a similarity in the posture between the man running in the forest and Tim in the next scene.
Along the film, the audience is made to wonder if James indeed exists or it was just Tim’s imagination. In this case, it is the depiction of how queer people is struggling to live the reality while there is a hope or dream that they really want it to be their own reality. Monica implicitly showed to the audience that there is such reality and dream that can not be assimilated when it comes to queer people living in a world where everyone is againts them.
Analysis in Microstructure (Text)
In microstructure level, the focus is to analyze the text in a more detailed way in order to gain data that can portray what is the intention in producing the text itself as a representation of some phenomena. Fairclough perceives text in three elements: Representation, Relation, and Identity.
From scene 3 of the movie where it showed Tim and his parents sitting while waiting for their coconut drink from Mas Ucup, a local man from the island where Tim and his family is visiting. In this scene, Mas Ucup is telling Tim about a myth that is very well-known to the locals of the island about a deer and its implication in finding a partner or a soulmate. When Tim heard about the myth, his face showed a smile, indicating that he likes hearing about the idea of the myth. However, his face changes once his father and his mother respond by saying that they did not believe in the whole story of the myth because they are a Christian and they only believe in Jesus as a God. In this scene, Tim felt upset with the way their parents are responding. From the scene, it showed that there is a message that Monica wanted to deliver, where Tim can not really accept his parents sentiment towards the myth because of their different beliefs. It also showed that Tim is being self-aware that their parents would never accept him as being a queer because they would think that Tim had deviate from their religion.
In this scene, Tim and her parents are having a little fight because Tim resists to join his parents back to their villa to have dinner and midnight prayer by pretending that he wanted to spend 5 minute more time taking some pictures near the sea shore. From this scene, the shot betwen Tim’s position and his parents’ position seemed like they were talking from afar as their positions were placed in separate frame. This camera positioning showed that the relationship between Tim and his parents are similar to how the camera is placing them, that they are not exactly at the same place. Tim wanted to spend his time alone while his parents wants him to obey their instruction to go back to the villa to have dinner. This is also how Monica wanted to deliver about how queer poeple are always felt alineated when they are living in an environtment that are not supporting their choice.
In this last scene, Tim and his parents are seen sitting together in a room. They are a night prayer. Tim’s father led the prayer to say thank you for the pleasure they got during their vacation to God. Yet it showed that Tim did not solemnly followed the pray ritual. His face looked sad and upset as his father started to pray for his well-being. In this scene, it finally reveal how Tim had been feeling alienated from his own family for being a gay man. His sexuality is being considered as something to blame for it is not the right thing to do for a Christian.
It can be concluded based on the analysis, that there are three dimensions from Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. The first dimension is macrostructural which involves the situation where the text is create in the first place and the institutional which involves the institution such as producers that is influencing the production of the text. The second dimension is the discourse practice which involves how the discourse is being processed. In discourse practice, the focused is to see how the crews, actors, and the filmmaker is creating the text. And the third dimension is microstructural which focused on the analysis of text from each scene. From the analysis it can be seen that the discourse that is presented in Dear To Me short movie is that how religion can be a social pressure for a queer people to be able to express and achive their own desire.
References
Cardoso, F., & Werner, D. (2003). Homosexuality.
Rudy, R. (2016). The Depiction of Homosexuality in American Movies. HUMANIORA, Vol. 28(No. 1).
Setiawan, H. (2018). Deconstructing Concealed Gayness Text in The Firlm Negeri van Oranje: Critical Discourse Analysis. HUMANIORA, Vol. 30(No. 1).
Sinthiani, S. (2011). Analisis Semiotic Film 3 Dunia Dua hari Satu Cinta. Undergraduate Thesis: Islam State University of Syarif Hidayatullah.
Sullivan, M., & Wodarksi, J. (2008). Social alienation in gay youth.
Utami, M. (2018). Representasi LGBT dan Ideology Tersembunyi dalam The Jakarta Post dan Jakarta Globe. RANAH: Jurnal Kajian Bahasa, Vol. 7(No. 1).
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