An Analysis of Youth Perception on Women in a Malay Romance Film

The Malaysian film industry experienced trends driven by commercialization to cater to the growing Malay market. The need for audience pull for deteriorating Malay films created a shortage in plot diversity, resulting in stereotyped lead female roles to satisfy social expectations of a “traditional Malay woman”. This exploratory analysis examined the perception of Malaysian youth on the lead female role represented in a Malay movie and its impact on the respondents’ attitudes and beliefs. The researchers employed in-depth interviewing as well as focus group study with 33 individuals from rural and urban areas to capture their views. The findings indicated significant display of parasocial relationships that enhanced the engagement of audience members with fictional characters from the film.