Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema

Nationalism seeks to control order by ensuring what seems to be a “clear” regulating of its citizen’s heterosexuality. What happens when queerness intrude into the nationalistic formula that controls sexuality? If the national identity of a population is constructed to appear as the “house” of the n...

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Main Author: Zhang, Helaine Huiling
Other Authors: Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15216
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-152162019-12-10T13:37:45Z Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema Zhang, Helaine Huiling Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Asian cinema Nationalism seeks to control order by ensuring what seems to be a “clear” regulating of its citizen’s heterosexuality. What happens when queerness intrude into the nationalistic formula that controls sexuality? If the national identity of a population is constructed to appear as the “house” of the nation, one of the pillars supporting its structure is sexuality. When that pillar that is sexuality is bent, the structure of the house resembling national identity shifts and becomes distorted. Heterosexuality ensures that the traditional family structures of the nation are maintained, the continual supply of people as resources to generate economics but most importantly, that “nationalism” on a whole is not interrupted. The presence of queerness differs with the values that nationalism promote and as such serves as a chaotic threat to the clear imagined sexual boundaries set by nationalism. This thesis will examine the weakness of the nationalistic “constructing” of order through its control over sexuality. The presence of the queer body in Singapore’s contemporary films will highlight the “cracks” in nation building. The visualization of queer bodies on screen in national landscapes is the representation of differences that challenge the normality and order that nationalism protects. Queerness serves to rock the “house” of the nation through questioning its structures. The films will be used to show how queerness is crucial, as a threat towards nationalism. Bachelor of Arts 2009-04-13T06:25:55Z 2009-04-13T06:25:55Z 2009 2009 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15216 en Nanyang Technological University 41 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Asian cinema
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films::Asian cinema
Zhang, Helaine Huiling
Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
description Nationalism seeks to control order by ensuring what seems to be a “clear” regulating of its citizen’s heterosexuality. What happens when queerness intrude into the nationalistic formula that controls sexuality? If the national identity of a population is constructed to appear as the “house” of the nation, one of the pillars supporting its structure is sexuality. When that pillar that is sexuality is bent, the structure of the house resembling national identity shifts and becomes distorted. Heterosexuality ensures that the traditional family structures of the nation are maintained, the continual supply of people as resources to generate economics but most importantly, that “nationalism” on a whole is not interrupted. The presence of queerness differs with the values that nationalism promote and as such serves as a chaotic threat to the clear imagined sexual boundaries set by nationalism. This thesis will examine the weakness of the nationalistic “constructing” of order through its control over sexuality. The presence of the queer body in Singapore’s contemporary films will highlight the “cracks” in nation building. The visualization of queer bodies on screen in national landscapes is the representation of differences that challenge the normality and order that nationalism protects. Queerness serves to rock the “house” of the nation through questioning its structures. The films will be used to show how queerness is crucial, as a threat towards nationalism.
author2 Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
author_facet Brian Keith Bergen-Aurand
Zhang, Helaine Huiling
format Final Year Project
author Zhang, Helaine Huiling
author_sort Zhang, Helaine Huiling
title Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
title_short Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
title_full Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
title_fullStr Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
title_full_unstemmed Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema
title_sort rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in singapore cinema
publishDate 2009
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15216
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