Abstract
Art film is a film full of symbols. The film Setan Jawa by Garin Nugroho (2016) brings the concept of a silent film and the cinematic-orchestral collaboration with various standards across arts, while also adapts some cultural narratives in the Javanese context. This film presents Drupadi narrative, one of the Javanese Wayang cultural narratives. Drupadi is often referred to as a symbol of women’s loyalty and obedience to the universal law, through her obedience to her husband and mother, although this obedience is contrary to the self (I) concept. With the help of textual analysis, this article aims to identify the adaptation of Drupadi’s cultural narrative that is creatively transposed in the film Setan Jawa. The results show that there is a director’s personal code (idiolect) in the film, that offers women’ representation different from the conventions in the Javanese culture. While the conclusion might be arguable, one can reflect on the symbolic act of women’s representation being creatively transposed not as subordinate but as having the power to fulfill their own destiny.
Highlights
The current development of film industry is in line with the advances in film technology that bring impact in changing the status and role of film
Referring to film scholar David Bordwell’s statement in a 1979 article entitled “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice”, art films are those that dare to infuse their narrative with two principles: realism and authorial expressiveness using the play of symbols
Art films often “have a distinctive visual style” of the writer and / or the director, and because of these characteristics, as Bordwell claims, art cinema itself is a genre with different conventions
Summary
The current development of film industry is in line with the advances in film technology that bring impact in changing the status and role of film. Film, which was born as a public spectacle (early 1900’s), was an alternative to big business entertainment services in the future of urban people and was labeled as “low entertainment” for the urbanites. Film is considered to be capable of penetrating all levels of society, including the middle and the upper layers, as well as the intellectual and the cultural layers. Referring to film scholar David Bordwell’s statement in a 1979 article entitled “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice”, art films are those that dare to infuse their narrative with two principles: realism and authorial expressiveness using the play of symbols. Art films often “have a distinctive visual style” of the writer and / or the director, and because of these characteristics, as Bordwell claims, art cinema (film) itself is a genre with different conventions.
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