Intersectionality on the contemporary digital stage: A foucauldian analysis of power relations
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Abstract: The development of contemporary digital cinema in Indonesia has opened up new spaces for the representation of gender identities that face multiple layers of oppression. This study aims to map the oppression and resistance of female subjects in Indonesia’s contemporary digital landscape. Using a qualitative approach and integrating Crenshaw’s intersectional feminist theory with Foucault’s critical discourse analysis, the research data are drawn from selected contemporary Indonesian digital films titled Budi Pekerti (2023) and Tuhan, Izinkan Aku Berdosa (2024). The findings reveal that the oppression experienced by the main characters (Mrs. Praniand Kiran) does not operate in a single dimension but rather as an intersection and overlap of gender inequality, socioeconomic class, age, status within bureaucratic/religious hierarchies, and digital literacy gaps. The digital stage becomes a digital Panopticon that exploits the commercialization of sensationalism to discipline women’s bodies and morality through cyberbullying and victim-blaming. Power operates not only through physical violence but also through disciplinary and biopolitical power. This researched concludes that both films depict diverse dynamics of resistance, namely passive rejection in the form of withdrawal from a hypocritical system and subversive dismantling of the guise of moral authority.
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