For my cultural artifact, I chose the Indonesian movie Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens. My language partner assigned this movie to me, though I had heard about it a few months ago because it is part of Netflix’s Asian American & Pacific Islander Collection. Though it is an Indonesian movie and fully in Bahasa Indonesia, much of it takes place in New York City so there is some English here and there. For learning purposes, my language partner suggested that I use captions in Bahasa Indonesia rather than English. The movie follows the main character, Ali, who is in search of his mother who moved to New York to follow her dreams of becoming a singer. There was conflict between his mother and late father, so the issues extended to Ali as well. When he arrives in New York, he meets his mother’s former roommate who lives with three other Indonesian ladies. There is also a romantic subplot involving Ali and the daughter of one of the ladies. For the purpose of this cultural artifact journal, I would like to focus on the Indonesian ladies and the daughter.
An aspect of the movie I appreciated was the representation of first- and second-generation Indonesian immigrants in the US. This is something I have never seen portrayed in the media (at least, about Indonesian immigrants specifically). When Ali first meets the ladies, he immediately refers to them as ‘tante’ (aunt) after finding out they are Indonesian. This tendency to act familial with other Indonesian people is something that is common in Indonesian culture. Despite living in New York City, the tantes never let go of their heritage as seen with the style of their apartment and food they ate. Overall, it seems like they did not face heavy pressure to assimilate into western culture. One aspect of assimilation may be their “flashy” styles compared to Ali’s real aunt who lives in Jakarta. Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim population and Ali’s real aunt was no exception as she was shown to always wear a hijab and modest clothing. There was one scene that juxtaposed the differences of her and the tantes living in the US- Ali was on video call with his aunt and she was shocked to see the ladies without a hijab and wearing western clothing. The tantes also embody the “hard working immigrant” image, as they work several jobs such as masseuse, housekeeper, etc. A plot point includes their dream of opening an Indonesian restaurant and its name is wordplay referred to in the title ‘Ratu Ratu Queens’. Ratu ratu means ‘queens’ and the borough they live in is Queens. Throughout the movie, their mannerisms were very natural and reminded me of my own Indonesian tantes.
Another character I found interesting was Eva, who is the daughter of Ance (one of the tantes). As a second-generation Indonesian, she was the character I related to the most. I mentioned that there was some use of English in the movie, and most of it was spoken by her. This is because she was born in the US, but raised by her Indonesian mom, so Bahasa Indonesia naturally became her heritage language. Every Indonesian character in the movie speaks to her only in Bahasa so she understands it very well, though she always replies in English. This is something I had never seen in other TV shows or movies, but something I do a lot with my parents if they speak to me in Bahasa.
I am glad to have watched this movie (as I rarely watch Indonesian movies) and this one was especially interesting because it included both Indonesian and Indonesian-American perspectives.
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