‘Anak Mami’ filmography and the discourse of ethnicity: A critical perspective [Filmografi ‘Anak Mami’ dan wacana keetnikan: Sebuah perspektif kritis]

The filmography of director a. razak mohaideen has suffered from almost two decades of chronic criticism for its apparent lack of quality and failure to raise the overall standards of malay film despite enjoying several commercial successes. however,his filmography is arguably quite significant and rather interesting particularly as a discursive practice on the ethnicity and sustained sociocultural representation of the jawi peranakan ethnic community for more than a decade. as such,the persistence of a. razak’s cinematic foray into the discourse of ethnicity is both empirically rare and unprecedented in malay filmmaking practice. it thus begs the question: ‘what is with jawi peranakan?’. in order to appreciate this phenomenon,this article will attempt to explore the ‘anak mami’ filmography,which is a collection of romantic comedy films set in the parochial milieu of pulau pinang’s jawi peranakan society. this article seeks to deploy ethnic boundary as the analytical paradigm which may offer insightful perspective and theoreticality in negotiating with the representation of ethnicity today. © 2017,universiti kebangsaan malaysia press. all rights reserved.