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A person, not a caricature: Indonesia’s complex history of LGBT media representation
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LGBT characters: Gia (left) and Naomi have a conversation in the 2014 film 'Selamat Pagi, Malam'. (YouTube/Pomp Films) (YouTube/Pomp Films)
D
em>During the Reform era, many Indonesians cherished depictions of LGBT characters on screen, however flawed their representations were.
Han, a 24-year-old member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from Jakarta, has been taking particular note of her family and coworkers’ conversations lately.
These days, one person might ask “Why has there been a lot of LGBT stuff on TV and YouTube recently?” And the other might reply, “I know, right? It’s been trendy lately.”
Such comments sound strange to Han because depictions of LGBT characters have been part of Indonesian culture for years, whether in the 2007 drama Coklat Stroberi (Chocolate Strawberry) or the award-winning film and TV series Arisan! (The Gathering).
Han, who chose to use only her nickname for this story, realized, however, that few of the representations were truly empathetic toward her community, even in her favorite comedy variety shows like Extravaganza and Opera Van Java.
“We were all raised in a heteronormative society, so I had never thought that people like [late comedian] Olga [Syahputra] existed in real life without being laughed at or being comedic relief,” she said.
Han half-jokingly said she used to be homophobic and that she only now realized that what people found funny about many queer-coded characters in those comedy shows was their femininity.
