The Role of Film and Drama in Constructing the Memory of National Hero in Indonesia

Paper Abstract: Indonesian national memory envisions a female hero predominantly as a militarised freedom fighter, as demonstrated in popular culture in the late 1970s to 1980s. This presentation examines two crucial works (The Drama of Acehnese History (1979) and the film Tjoet Nja Dhien (1988)) to demonstrate how Cut Nyak Din, one of the most celebrated female heroes in Indonesia, became a pivotal character at a critical juncture in Indonesian history, as well as to evaluate how these works operate as a means of establishing Cut Nyak Din as a hero of Aceh and Indonesia and identify their influence on laying a reference point for Cut Nyak Din's commemoration in regional and national memory.
I analyse how these two works serve as propaganda tools for competing political interests. The analysis of the two sites show how political negotiations shape the memory of a historical figure. The play and film are forms of dramatisation and exaggeration of history from the narrator's outlook.
 The play written by the leader of the movement for Acehnese independence, puts forward the Acehnese perspective on Cut Nyak Din and sharpens the vision of detaching Aceh from Indonesia. In contrast, the film carries the mission of promoting and recognising Cut Nyak Din from a local figure to wider national recognition. It was deployed to criticise New Order gender norms and aimed at revolutionising Indonesian women's fighting spirit. Yet, its representation of Cut Nyak Din fit into broader ideas of hegemonic masculinity that were crucial to New Order gender ideologies.