Malay cinema of the Golden Era – a brief, glorious period between the 1950s and 1960s – bore witness to the self-actualisation of the Malay identity. Throughout the decades, cinema and the Malay identity have shared a contentious relationship. Conflated in a swirl of competing and interacting forces rapidly emerging in the region, each are
observed to influence and be influenced by the other, through a trinity of institutions: colonialism, capitalism and nationalism. However, the medium
of cinema, as will be discovered, is one that is indiscriminate and weaponised by all. This paper
documents how the colonial administration in Malaya employed cinema to preserve hegemony.
This dissertation details how the capitalist estate manipulated images for commercial gain, and
finally, how nationalists strived to create an authentic national cinema in Malaya. Drawing
from newspapers, letters, films, documentaries and relevant journals and articles, this paper examines the psychological theories and film frameworks
that prove concepts like social realism, identification, relatability and self-actualisation. The material demonstrates how the Malays were subjected to dishonest representations that bound, diminished, and yet ultimately uplifted them, forgivingly and lovingly presenting the Malay image for us to reflect on and contemplate.
