Puteri Gunung Ledang in Popular Media: Womanhood, Femininity and Gender in Puteri Gunung Ledang (2004) and Magika (2010)
Abstract
This paper examines two recent films about the legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang in order to analyse what they might tell us about contemporary representations of the mythical figure. In doing so, it will focus on how evolving ideas of womanhood, femininity, and gender portray how Puteri Gunung Ledang is represented in contemporary media. Stories of Puteri Gunung Ledang in 21st century films will be studied using a poststructuralist feminist approach, which is guided primarily by Julie Sanders' theory of Adaptation and Appropriation. Puteri Gunung Ledang is one of the most popular tales in Malay culture and is included in Sulalatus Salatin, a text that highlights some of the most important historical events during the Malacca Sultanate. Today, Puteri Gunung Ledang has been rewritten for children and young adult fiction and adapted into other media, such as films and plays. However, the portrayal and characterization of the titular character have evolved, not just in printed versions of the story but also in other popular cultural forms, such as film.
References
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Ahmad Razuri Roseli, Adam Amiruddin & Syed Nurfaiz Khalid Syed Ibrahim. (Director). (2019). Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal [Film]. Les' Copaque Production.
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Brown, C. C. (1952). The Malay annals. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 25(2/3 (159)), 103-104.
Cardi, L. (2012). A fool will never be happy: Kurahashi Yumiko's retelling of "Snow White". Marvels & Tales, 27(2), 194–204.
Cartmell, D. & Whelehan, I. (1999). Adaptations: From text to screen, screen to text. Routledge.
Chaudhuri, S. (2006). Feminist film theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed. Routledge.
Cheah, B. K. (1993). Power behind the throne: The role of queens and court ladies in Malay history. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 66,(1 (264)), 1-21.
Coover, R. (2004). Stepmother. McSweeney's.
Duggan, A. E. (2013). The revolutionary undoing of the maiden warrior in Riyoko Ikeda’s Rose of Versailles and Jacques Demy’s Lady Oscar. Marvels & Tales, 27(1), 34-51.
Edry Abdul Halim. (Director). (2010). Magika – Full movie. [Film]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-3yIR67skX7g.
Eggert, P. (2019). The work and the reader in literary studies. Cambridge University Press.
Frankel, H. H. (1976). The flowering plum and the palace lady: Interpretations of Chinese poetry. Yale University Press.
Fraser, L. (2013). Lost property fairy tales: Ogawa Yōko and Higami Kumiko’s transformations of "The Little Mermaid". Marvels & Tales, 27(2), 181-193.
Geronimi, C. (Director). (1959). Sleeping beauty [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Govindasamy Palanisamy. (2002). Antologi cerpen ke-17. Persatuan Bahasa Tamil, Universiti Malaya.
Grimm, W., & Grimm, J. L. C. (1812). Kinder-und hausmärchen. Berlin Junior High School Bookstore.
Hamilton, L., Jackson, W., & Geronimi, C. (Director). (1950). Cinderella [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Hand, D. (Director). (1937). Snow White and the seven dwarves [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Hijjas, M. (2010). The legend you thought you knew: Text and screen representations of Puteri Gunung Ledang. South East Asia Research, 18(2), 245-270.
Hutcheon, L. (2006). A theory of adaptation. Routledge.
Jenson, V., Adamson, A. (Director). (2001). Shrek [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Jin, X. (Director). (1960). The red detachment of women [Film]. Shanghai Film Studio.
Jones, C. A. (2013). Thoughts on "heroinism" in French Fairy tales. Marvels & Tales, 27(1), 15-33.
Khan, S. B. (2017). Sovereign women in a Muslim kingdom: The sultanahs of Aceh, 1641- 1699. NUS Press.
Kheong, C. Q. W., Satkunanathan, A. H. & Shahizah Ismail Hamdan. (2019). Sang Kancil as cultural artefact: A comparative neo-archetypal study. GEMA: Journal of Language Studies, 19(4), 243-257.
Klages, M. (2006). Literary theory: A guide for the perplexed. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lang, A. (1889). The blue fairy book. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Lee, S. A. (2007). The curse. Utusan Publications.
Lee, Sung-ae. (2015). The fairy-tale film in Korea. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 207-221). Routledge.
Li, Z. (2020). Female warriors: A reproduction of patriarchal narrative of Hua Mulan in The Red Detachment of Women (1972). Media International Australia, 176(1), 66-77.
Maraya, R. & Maniam, K. (2017). Citra wanita dari purana dan epik dalam cerpen Tamil Malaysia: Dari perspektif arketaipal. SARJANA, 32(2), 29-37.
Marshall, R. (Director). (2014). Into the woods [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Miller, C. (Director). (2007). Shrek the third [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Mitchell, M. (Director). (2010). Shrek forever after [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Muhammad Jailani Abu Talib. (2018). Gestalt analysis of wiraism in Puteri Gunung Ledang [Dissertation, Nanyang Technological University].
Muhammad Nur Al-Hakim Mohamad Hanafiah & Mohd Firdaus Che Yaacob. (2020) Nilai-nilai Islam dan pembentukan akhlak dalam cerita rakyat Melayu. International Journal of Language Education and Applied Linguistics (IJLEAL), 10(2), 48-56.
Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and other pleasures. Springer.
Murai, M. (2015). From dog bridegroom to wolf girl: Contemporary Japanese fairy-tale adaptations in conversation with the West. Wayne State University Press.
Musker, J. & Clements, R. (Director). (1989). The Little Mermaid [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Naithani, S. (2015). It’s all a fairy tale: A folklorist’s reflection on storytelling in popular Hindi cinema. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 196-208). Routledge.
Napier, S. (2015). Not always happily ever after: Japanese fairy tale in cinema and animation. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 166-179). Routledge.
Ninot Aziz. (2012). Hikayat: From the ancient Malay kingdoms. Utusan Publications.
Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin & Maizura Osman. (2018). Metafora kritikan dalam mitos peminangan Puteri Gunung Ledang: Analisis pragmatic. Melayu: Jurnal Antarabangsa Dunia Melayu, 11(1), 19-46.
Nur Safina Othman. (2010, October 25). "Magika" bags best film at FFM23!. Cinema Online. https://www.cinema.com.my/articles/news_details.aspx?search=2010.n_FFM23_4329.
O’Haver, T. (Director). (2004). Ella enchanted [Film]. Miramax Films.
Ozay, M. (2011). Women as rulers phenomenon in Southeast Asian Islamic society: The queens of Aceh. World, 1(3), 142-151.
Perrault, C. (1697). Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre. Paris.
Reid, A. (1988). Female roles in pre-colonial Southeast Asia. Modern Asian Studies, 22(3), 629-645.
Rendell, J. & Denison, R. (2018). Introducing studio Ghibli. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 4(1), 5-14.
Rosman, M. (Director). (2004). A Cinderella story [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sanders, J. (2006). Adaptation and appropriation. Routledge.
Sanders, R. (Director). (2012). Snow White and the huntsman [Film]. Roth Films.
Saw, T. H. (Director). (2004). Puteri Gunung Ledang [Film]. Enfiniti Productions.
Sharifah Aishah Osman. (2018). Agency, adaptation, and audience: Re-visioning the legend of Mahsuri in selected contemporary Malaysian young adult fiction. SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English, 55(2), 7-25.
Sibielski, R. (2019). Reviving Cinderella: Contested feminism and conflicting models of female empowerment in 21st-century film and television adaptations of “Cinderella”. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 36(7), 584-610.
Singh, T. (Director). (2011). Mirror, Mirror [Film]. Relativity Media.
Siti Faridah Leong Abdullah & Bazrul Bahaman. (2017). Sulalatus Salatin sebagai medium mendidik nilai murni. Rumpun Jurnal Persuratan Melayu, 5(1), 213-232.
Sonnet, E. (1999). From Emma to Clueless: Taste, pleasure and the scene of history. Adaptations: From text to screen, screen to text (Cartmell, D. & Whelehan, I., Eds.). Routledge.
Stromberg, R. (Director). (2014). Maleficent [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Takahata, I. (Director). (2013). The tale of the princess Kaguya [Film]. Studio Ghibli.
Tennant, A. (Director). (1998). Ever after: A Cinderella story [Film]. Fox Family Films.
Trousdale, G. & Wise, K. (Director). (1991). Beauty and the Beast [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Tyson, L. (2014). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. Routledge.
Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad, Aliza Sarlan & Fathin Suraya Jainlabdin. (2018). The retelling of Malaysian folktales: CERITERA. Advanced Science Letters, 24(2), 990–994.
Warner. M. (1992). Indigo. Chatto & Windus.
Williams, C. (2010). Who's wicked now?: The stepmother as fairy-tale heroine. Marvels & Tales, 24(2), 255–271.
Winstedt, R. O. (1938). The Malay annals of Sejarah Melayu. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16(3 (132)), 129-131.
Yin, J. (2011). Popular culture and public imaginary: Disney vs. Chinese stories of Mulan. Javnost-The Public, 18(1), 53-74.
Zipes, J. (2011a). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2011b). The enchanted screen: The unknown history of fairy-tale films. Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2015). Beyond Disney in the twenty-first century: Changing aspects of fairy-tale films in the American film industry. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 278-293). Routledge.
Ahmad Razuri Roseli, Adam Amiruddin & Syed Nurfaiz Khalid Syed Ibrahim. (Director). (2019). Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal [Film]. Les' Copaque Production.
Bascom, W. R. (1954). Four functions of folklore. The Journal of American Folklore, 67(266), 333-349.
Bascom, W. R. (1965). The forms of folklore: Prose narratives. The Journal of American Folklore, 78(307), 3-20.
BERNAMA. (2020, January 14). To be considered for Oscar nomination is an achievement - Upin & Ipin producers. Malaysiakini. https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/507041.
Branagh, K. (Director). (2015). Cinderella [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Brocklebank, L. (2000). Disney’s "Mulan"—the "True" deconstructed heroine? Marvels & Tales, 14(2), 268–283. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41388562
Brown, C. C. (1952). The Malay annals. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 25(2/3 (159)), 103-104.
Cardi, L. (2012). A fool will never be happy: Kurahashi Yumiko's retelling of "Snow White". Marvels & Tales, 27(2), 194–204.
Cartmell, D. & Whelehan, I. (1999). Adaptations: From text to screen, screen to text. Routledge.
Chaudhuri, S. (2006). Feminist film theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed. Routledge.
Cheah, B. K. (1993). Power behind the throne: The role of queens and court ladies in Malay history. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 66,(1 (264)), 1-21.
Coover, R. (2004). Stepmother. McSweeney's.
Duggan, A. E. (2013). The revolutionary undoing of the maiden warrior in Riyoko Ikeda’s Rose of Versailles and Jacques Demy’s Lady Oscar. Marvels & Tales, 27(1), 34-51.
Edry Abdul Halim. (Director). (2010). Magika – Full movie. [Film]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-3yIR67skX7g.
Eggert, P. (2019). The work and the reader in literary studies. Cambridge University Press.
Frankel, H. H. (1976). The flowering plum and the palace lady: Interpretations of Chinese poetry. Yale University Press.
Fraser, L. (2013). Lost property fairy tales: Ogawa Yōko and Higami Kumiko’s transformations of "The Little Mermaid". Marvels & Tales, 27(2), 181-193.
Geronimi, C. (Director). (1959). Sleeping beauty [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Govindasamy Palanisamy. (2002). Antologi cerpen ke-17. Persatuan Bahasa Tamil, Universiti Malaya.
Grimm, W., & Grimm, J. L. C. (1812). Kinder-und hausmärchen. Berlin Junior High School Bookstore.
Hamilton, L., Jackson, W., & Geronimi, C. (Director). (1950). Cinderella [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Hand, D. (Director). (1937). Snow White and the seven dwarves [Film]. Walt Disney Productions.
Hijjas, M. (2010). The legend you thought you knew: Text and screen representations of Puteri Gunung Ledang. South East Asia Research, 18(2), 245-270.
Hutcheon, L. (2006). A theory of adaptation. Routledge.
Jenson, V., Adamson, A. (Director). (2001). Shrek [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Jin, X. (Director). (1960). The red detachment of women [Film]. Shanghai Film Studio.
Jones, C. A. (2013). Thoughts on "heroinism" in French Fairy tales. Marvels & Tales, 27(1), 15-33.
Khan, S. B. (2017). Sovereign women in a Muslim kingdom: The sultanahs of Aceh, 1641- 1699. NUS Press.
Kheong, C. Q. W., Satkunanathan, A. H. & Shahizah Ismail Hamdan. (2019). Sang Kancil as cultural artefact: A comparative neo-archetypal study. GEMA: Journal of Language Studies, 19(4), 243-257.
Klages, M. (2006). Literary theory: A guide for the perplexed. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lang, A. (1889). The blue fairy book. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Lee, S. A. (2007). The curse. Utusan Publications.
Lee, Sung-ae. (2015). The fairy-tale film in Korea. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 207-221). Routledge.
Li, Z. (2020). Female warriors: A reproduction of patriarchal narrative of Hua Mulan in The Red Detachment of Women (1972). Media International Australia, 176(1), 66-77.
Maraya, R. & Maniam, K. (2017). Citra wanita dari purana dan epik dalam cerpen Tamil Malaysia: Dari perspektif arketaipal. SARJANA, 32(2), 29-37.
Marshall, R. (Director). (2014). Into the woods [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Miller, C. (Director). (2007). Shrek the third [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Mitchell, M. (Director). (2010). Shrek forever after [Film]. DreamWorks Animation.
Muhammad Jailani Abu Talib. (2018). Gestalt analysis of wiraism in Puteri Gunung Ledang [Dissertation, Nanyang Technological University].
Muhammad Nur Al-Hakim Mohamad Hanafiah & Mohd Firdaus Che Yaacob. (2020) Nilai-nilai Islam dan pembentukan akhlak dalam cerita rakyat Melayu. International Journal of Language Education and Applied Linguistics (IJLEAL), 10(2), 48-56.
Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and other pleasures. Springer.
Murai, M. (2015). From dog bridegroom to wolf girl: Contemporary Japanese fairy-tale adaptations in conversation with the West. Wayne State University Press.
Musker, J. & Clements, R. (Director). (1989). The Little Mermaid [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Naithani, S. (2015). It’s all a fairy tale: A folklorist’s reflection on storytelling in popular Hindi cinema. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 196-208). Routledge.
Napier, S. (2015). Not always happily ever after: Japanese fairy tale in cinema and animation. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston, K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 166-179). Routledge.
Ninot Aziz. (2012). Hikayat: From the ancient Malay kingdoms. Utusan Publications.
Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin & Maizura Osman. (2018). Metafora kritikan dalam mitos peminangan Puteri Gunung Ledang: Analisis pragmatic. Melayu: Jurnal Antarabangsa Dunia Melayu, 11(1), 19-46.
Nur Safina Othman. (2010, October 25). "Magika" bags best film at FFM23!. Cinema Online. https://www.cinema.com.my/articles/news_details.aspx?search=2010.n_FFM23_4329.
O’Haver, T. (Director). (2004). Ella enchanted [Film]. Miramax Films.
Ozay, M. (2011). Women as rulers phenomenon in Southeast Asian Islamic society: The queens of Aceh. World, 1(3), 142-151.
Perrault, C. (1697). Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre. Paris.
Reid, A. (1988). Female roles in pre-colonial Southeast Asia. Modern Asian Studies, 22(3), 629-645.
Rendell, J. & Denison, R. (2018). Introducing studio Ghibli. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 4(1), 5-14.
Rosman, M. (Director). (2004). A Cinderella story [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sanders, J. (2006). Adaptation and appropriation. Routledge.
Sanders, R. (Director). (2012). Snow White and the huntsman [Film]. Roth Films.
Saw, T. H. (Director). (2004). Puteri Gunung Ledang [Film]. Enfiniti Productions.
Sharifah Aishah Osman. (2018). Agency, adaptation, and audience: Re-visioning the legend of Mahsuri in selected contemporary Malaysian young adult fiction. SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English, 55(2), 7-25.
Sibielski, R. (2019). Reviving Cinderella: Contested feminism and conflicting models of female empowerment in 21st-century film and television adaptations of “Cinderella”. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 36(7), 584-610.
Singh, T. (Director). (2011). Mirror, Mirror [Film]. Relativity Media.
Siti Faridah Leong Abdullah & Bazrul Bahaman. (2017). Sulalatus Salatin sebagai medium mendidik nilai murni. Rumpun Jurnal Persuratan Melayu, 5(1), 213-232.
Sonnet, E. (1999). From Emma to Clueless: Taste, pleasure and the scene of history. Adaptations: From text to screen, screen to text (Cartmell, D. & Whelehan, I., Eds.). Routledge.
Stromberg, R. (Director). (2014). Maleficent [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Takahata, I. (Director). (2013). The tale of the princess Kaguya [Film]. Studio Ghibli.
Tennant, A. (Director). (1998). Ever after: A Cinderella story [Film]. Fox Family Films.
Trousdale, G. & Wise, K. (Director). (1991). Beauty and the Beast [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.
Tyson, L. (2014). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. Routledge.
Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad, Aliza Sarlan & Fathin Suraya Jainlabdin. (2018). The retelling of Malaysian folktales: CERITERA. Advanced Science Letters, 24(2), 990–994.
Warner. M. (1992). Indigo. Chatto & Windus.
Williams, C. (2010). Who's wicked now?: The stepmother as fairy-tale heroine. Marvels & Tales, 24(2), 255–271.
Winstedt, R. O. (1938). The Malay annals of Sejarah Melayu. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16(3 (132)), 129-131.
Yin, J. (2011). Popular culture and public imaginary: Disney vs. Chinese stories of Mulan. Javnost-The Public, 18(1), 53-74.
Zipes, J. (2011a). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2011b). The enchanted screen: The unknown history of fairy-tale films. Routledge.
Zipes, J. (2015). Beyond Disney in the twenty-first century: Changing aspects of fairy-tale films in the American film industry. In Zipes, J., Greenhill, P., & Johnston K.M. (Eds.), Fairy-tale films beyond Disney: International perspectives (pp. 278-293). Routledge.
Published
2023-05-31
How to Cite
HASSAN, Nurul Izzati; RAMLAN, Wan Nur Madiha.
Puteri Gunung Ledang in Popular Media: Womanhood, Femininity and Gender in Puteri Gunung Ledang (2004) and Magika (2010).
Malay Literature, [S.l.], v. 36, n. 1, may 2023.
ISSN 2682-8030.
Available at: <https://jurnal.dbp.my/index.php/MalayLiterature/article/view/8457>. Date accessed: 09 may 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.37052/ml36(1)no4.
Section
Articles
