Global city : Malay motion pictures, Mambang Moden and the contested terrains of Singapore history / Benjamin McKay

This article explores the manner in which local filmmakers and
audiences synthesised and localised their engagement with postwar
consumer affluence - real and imagined. The rise of popular
magazines, access to a burgeoning and global "youth" culture, the
popularity of rock and roll and the adoption of fashion garments
that embodied these changes led to new modes of Singaporean selfprojection
and identity. Local cuisine - always an important part of
the city-state's identity - was transformed. The meal itself became
as much an act of leisure as attending movies, reading popular
magazines and adorning oneself with the latest fashions. This article asserts that the reinvention of Singaporean selfprojection
in the period 1955-1970 is directly related to the variety
and breadth of available cinematic culture - both local and imported. A rising middle class and a relatively youthful population
"Singaporeanised" a sense of global style that has become
synonymous with our broader nostalgic reflections of the nineteen
fifties and sixties. The article concludes by looking at the manner in
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which contemporary Singapore addresses the legacy of that time
and its popular culture - as both nostalgia and for the purpose of
the nation-building enterprise.