Tracing Malay Films with Malay Literary Subject

Abstract

Malay literary materials had been transformed into narratives of Malay films since 1956. Nevertheless, there is an obvious knowledge gap that needs to be addressed immediately in the context of the emergence and development of Malay literary works as narratives of Malay films. Thus, this article aims to provide answers to the question of "what are the Malay literary genres and when was it made into Malay film narrative? This article is based on data gained from a fundamental research type with a qualitative research design, employing a historical approach as its framework. Content analysis was carried out on printed and digital research materials. The main research materials are Malay films to extract data on Malay literary narrative subjects, besides website of FINAS, newspapers and previous academic documentations. This article documents that various Malay literary genres such as oral literature, prolific and popular novels have been made subject of Malay films since 1956. The first Malay film to have Malay literature as its narrative is Hikayat Hang Tuah2. Malay films with Malay literature as its narrative have been made my Indian and Malay film directors during the early development of Malay films in Singapore. The Malay directors made five other movies that was based on Malay hikayat, while Malay novels were only made film since the 1980a. The findings also proofs that many Malay films with Malay literature narratives had won numerous acknowledgements through film festivals local and internationally, as well as made box office sales.