Social class representation in the novel Noto and film Bumi Manusia: Perspectives on feudalism and colonialism
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The study of social class in Indonesian literature is still dominated by single texts, so the understanding of the influence of different power systems on class inequality is still limited. This study aims to analyze the representation of social class in the novel Noto: Tragedy, Love, and the Return of the Prince and the film Bumi Manusia through a comparison of the Javanese feudalism system and the colonialism of the Dutch East Indies. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with a Sociological Comparative Literature approach and Julia Kristeva's intertextuality perspective. The research data is in the form of dialogues between characters and narratives in novels and dialogues in films that represent social class. Data are collected through reading-note techniques in novels and film-notes, then analyzed interpretively and comparatively using three categories, namely opposition, transposition, and transformation. The results of the study show that Noto's novel represents social stratification through the descendants of nobles, customary titles, and traditional authorities in the Javanese feudalism system. Meanwhile, the film Bumi Manusia depicts social stratification through racial classification, legal inequality, and the control of economic resources during the colonial period. Both works have similarities in depicting social inequality and the dominance of certain groups, but differ in the basis of the formation and mechanism of defending class hierarchies. This study concludes that the change of the times does not automatically eliminate social hierarchies, but changes the form and basis used to maintain them.
Keywords: Social class, intertextuality, Sociological Comparative Literature, feudalism, colonialism.
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