Dramatizing and governing the Chinese : representations and re-interpretations of the Singaporean-Chinese history in local Chinese period dramas, 1980s - 1990s

• Main Author: Chee, Yee Chan
• Other Authors: Miles Alexander Powell
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73643
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Since its inception, television has constantly been used by the Singapore government in facilitating its nation-building efforts. Television dramas, in particular, Chinese drama serials, have been the most popular form of locally produced entertainment in Singapore and are able to reach out to a wide national audience. Set in the period between the 1980s and 1990s, where these Chinese dramas were at the peak of its popularity, the government, at the same time, also became increasingly involved in the culture and identity of the Chinese community in Singapore. Therefore, this paper seeks to make use of two popular Chinese period dramas, The Awakening and Stepping Out, to understand how the history of the Singaporean-Chinese was represented, and how it was also subjected to multiple re-interpretations, in order to fit into the change in the government’s agenda and approach towards “Chineseness”.