Chinese Indonesians in Action: Political Identity Representation in Contemporary Indonesian Popular Films

Objectives: This article describes an interdisciplinary research work that combines film studies, the concept of political identity, and ethnicity theory as the method reviews to show how people of Chinese ethnicity in Indonesia are represented in the context of political identity through various contemporary Indonesian popular films.

Methods: The study was a qualitative analysis research. The research objects were four popular films produced between 2000 and 2020 that precisely depict Chinese Indonesians as the main characters.

Results: By referring to the concept of political identity, the research results show that within the short study period of 20 years, films have depicted various political identities among ethnic Chinese individuals, some of which have never been explored before. The ethnicity theory supports the findings from the perspective of the ethnic Chinese culture and traditions.

Conclusion: The findings suggest which dynamics of Chinese Indonesians’ political identity might help Indonesian people gain a deeper understanding of the ethnicity’s characteristics and its role in contemporary Indonesia.