Soap Opera as a Site for Engaging with Modernity amongst Malay Women in Malaysia

Abstract

This article seeks to situate soap opera as a popular vehicle for Malay women in contemporary Malaysia to engage with an increasingly globally oriented form of transnational modernity. While this study employs a textual analysis to examine this television genre, it argues that non-Western soap opera provides sense of modernity to the local audience particularly Malay women through various representations of consumer culture and its potential as a site for escapism and a channel for mediated reality. Through an insight into the role of a non-Western soap opera as a privileged site for engaging with modernity amongst Malay women, this article provides a clearer understanding of television’s role and its representation in the Malay world.