SEPET (Chinese Eyes or Slanted Eyes, 2004) directed by Yasmin Ahmad, the late Malaysian filmmaker is about a cross-cultural love story between a Chinese boy, Ah Loong also known as Jason, and a Malay girl, Orked. The two happened to meet each other in a morning market in front of Ah Loong's stall when he was selling a pirated VCD, a film starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Orked's favorite actor to her. They then started to date and encounter various problems but still struggling to be with each other despite social and cultural obstacles around them.
In this film, I would like to discuss about the issue of multiculturalism and hybridity, which makes this film different from other love story film produces by local directors. These issues can be found throughout the film. For example, Jason's mother, a Peranakan, also known as Baba-Nyonya is not a pure Chinese but a hybrid, the mix of Chinese's name and blood but practicing Malay's cultural, such as wearing a kebaya and sarung( Malay's dressing) and speaks in Malay instead of Chinese language. There is also a part where Jason is having a dinner with his family and they are talking in different languages, for example, Jason's father talks in Cantonese while his mother talks in Malay and his sister-in-law talks in Mandarin showing that his family are living in a multicultural society.
Next, there are racial and injustice issue highlighted in this film. For example, Orked was criticized by Lin's boyfriend for dating a Chinese boy and stated that Orked's relationship was against the Malay tradition for having romantic relationship with someone outside their race. However, on the other side, Orked's mother seems to be more open minded about Orked's relationship and even encourage Orked to keep dating Jason which gives out the contrast between the typical minded society shown by Lin's boyfriend and cross-cultural influence shown by Orked's mother, for her passion towards Cantonese drama even though she did not know the language. Meanwhile, the injustice issue can be found at the part where Orked's mother and Kak Yam was having conversations and they mentioned about how Orked was offered a scholarship to study abroad while Jason received nothing even though he scored (7A's) better in national exam than Orked which shows that the discrimination of races and injustice in the education system that offering the scholarship was based not on the grades but on the race.
Besides that, the issue of stereotype is also highlighted in this film. For example, there is a part where Orked, Jason and Keong was having a meal at a night stall and Keong mentioned that he knows how to play piano while Jason wrote poetry which is different from the impression they are giving out to people by their outer look or image. Keong and Orked also mentioned that not every Chinese are cheaters and not every Malay are lazy, which also has the same meaning with not every Chinese are sepet or single-edged eyelid.
In my opinion, although this film is not my choice of film or as good as those Hollywood films out there nowadays, but it is still a good film to watch for it consists of so much elements that hard to find in nowadays Malaysian films and such honest film I have ever watch so far (Malaysian films). It is indeed a new approach and worth to watch from a daring yet honest film director, the late Yasmin Ahmad to produce such "forbidden" film in Malaysia and for being different from the others.
References:
Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film, Border Crossings and National Cultures, William Van Der Heide, Amsterdam University Press.
The Portrayal of Multiculturalism in Malaysian National Cinema:
A Case Study of Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet, Beh Chun Chee / University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING MALAYSIAN INDEPENDENT FEMALE
DIRECTOR YASMIN AHMAD’S FIRST FILM, SEPET
Farah Azalea Mohamed Al Amin, MA Candidate, Film and Television Studies Monash University
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RACE RELATIONS IN LLOYD FERNANDO’S GREEN IS THE COLOUR AND YASMIN AHMAD’S “SEPET” BY NIK NASRAH BINTI NIK MOHD NASIR,
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA 2008
http://books.google.com.my/books?id=TpQHMdnjf84C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=where+did+ah+loong+and+orked+meet?&source=bl&ots=VDz9jRrnKb&sig=49EiMjVTmd0oTJa7QVNWb94w3vk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HuDkU9PsJ8jh8AWGwYDoCQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=where%20did%20ah%20loong%20and%20orked%20meet%3F&f=false
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