Abang directed by Rahim Razali at 1981. The oldest son and heir apparent to a wealthy Kuala Lumpur family returns home after his sudden departure to London a decade ago. His family struggle with their emotions about his return while he tries to make life as normal as he possibly know how and keep his secret intact.
We can see from this movie “Abang” is a hybridity which mixture within culture, language and racial. Basically is about east meets west. The way of life of the family influenced by western culture. We can see that Fuad’s family very westernBut when Fuad spent 10years in London but still when he comes back he's what we see as righteous Malay. In the movie, Fuad’s family highlighted that-own business &quite rich and educated.
Cultural hybridity had present in one of the scene in the car, Fuad’s brother Farid and his wife nazreen were discussing about being in a relationship. They actually practice open relationship. This is not right in Malay culture at all because Malay married by actual rights and law should not practice open relationship. Besides, Muslim are not supposed to be drinking alcohol .Throughout movie see them indulged in westernized lifestyle. Nazreen being in the fashion industry, in general we don't associate the fashion industry with Malay women.Her clothing depicts her manner as a modern Malay woman. In the beginning of film we can see Dila racing, later see her singing at a disco with modern clothing. Cultural hybridity is the influence of other cultures or western cultures, nevertheless they're still Malay.Scene where party was held at Fuad’s family house. Farid was pissed drunk and parents made a remark to not wait for abang Fuad, in Malay culture, you're always supposed to wait for the elder/senior, so we can see in the movie that Faizal and Mona went home. Their mum told them to go home, told Farid to not wait and go to sleep. The whole family have accept towards western culture and extremely westernized. Faud comes back from London after 10years, he portrays the opposite of his family.One can be modern,one can be successful, can be educated without losing their own cultural identity.Quote from movie, the scene where Farid was drunk and Fuad comes in later in the night,they kinda have a fight, Fuad told him u have actually forgotten your roots, he said Farid has forgotten what his real culture and roots were. The characteristic of Farid actually it was a lifestyle and so common to him to drink and party. Although Farid is so called the rebellious son, there is still a hint of authentic culture in him, where he actually respects his parents. In one scene, Farid made a comment about Fuad returning from London and said that he's no longer gonna be a Malay because he's been outside and he's been in London for 10yearsFarid himself was drunk, shown with bottles around him, by the pool with nazreen and open relationship some more. Sometimes when you incorporate western culture, it kinda highlights a person in a negative way.The basic identity of the film is the search of what it means to be Malay,the basic identities of being a Malay. And this is the reason whyI like this movie is because Rahim Razali had successful present the hybridity into the movie and charater.
What Abang did throughout the movie was to rectify the western culture existing in his family. In order to be successful, what Abang represents is concern for his family, culture, religion which plays his priority in these things,looking after his adat.In order to be successful, one does not need to let go of own identity. Also, must place priority on family, culture and religion. Movie highlights that people must be modern and educated and at the same time maintain their cultural identity. For example, Abang still wanted to eat his traditional food, the scene by the river where his dad met him, he reminded his dad to tell his mom to have his favourite food (pulut) prepared for him.In the scene at night in the living room, when dad asked Faisal to read the telegram from Fuad,father was dressed traditionally as if after prayers,YET he was holding a cigi in his hand.Fuad was a very righteous person,doesnt do illegal things, in the scene where he met Johan,he said he didn't want duit haram,threw the cheque back to JohanDespite being modern,they still followed what the elders say,Farid and nazreen in the car,in the beginning of the film,nazreen didn't wanna go back,although she didn't like it,they still went back home, respect was shown by going back despite not wanting to.
In the whole movie, we can see that English is occasionally being used in their conversations in the film. And it’s clearly shows that the family is highly educated and modern. In their dialogue , they often used I and you instead of aku or saya. This is one of the hybridity of language. For example, Faizal also mentioned a direct idiom, "a ghost from the past", Farid standing near the swimming pool, said that he's fed up and when Dila asked Faisal whether he missed abang, he replied "that's a silly question!"
Racial Hybridity can find in the movie of “Abang”. Racial hybridity means when you actually see people of different ethnics in a scene, it depicts racial hybridity. In the film which related to business. Second and third scene when movie started, in elevator scene, we can see a Chinese guy and lady, this highlights racial hybridity. Also in the scene where they organized party for Fuad at home, multicultural people which include Chinese, Indians and Malay. It's like a national identity Malaysian. Besides, the father's secretary is actually a Chinese lady. At the party, when Mona was clad in her baju kebaya, she was fanning herself using the Chinese fan. Also throughout the movie,the family was always dining on very westernized food, always caterers and orange juice, As opposed to Fuad where in the scene in his friend’s house, he was served coffee and kuih kochi.Malaysia shown as very modern, urban and progressive country, nevertheless cultures were still preserved where we see multi ethnicity people were shown, as well as cultural performances .Traditional Malay culture prefers boys compared to girls, this was highlighted in a scene between Fuad and Mona, Fuad asked Mona if Faisal loves their son. We see that Mona highlighted Malay culture where to some certain extent boys are preferred. In the scene towards the end, we see Dila confronting Farid and tells him off in the face because he's wrong, not respecting elders.In the movie we can see how a person can be modernness and westernized and at the same time be traditional. Mona was actually Fuad's fiancé, practiced modern lifestyle, had a baby (which was actually fuad's baby)
As a conclusion, person does not need to let go of his own identity in order to be modern, successful and educated. Throughout the movie, even if they were modern and all, they still feared Abang, the elder that has the most dominant power and say, everybody was shaken up when they knew he was coming back/we can still see a subtle hint of Malay culture in then.
