Rock the house : nationalism and queer bodies in Singapore cinema

Abstract

Nationalism seeks to control order by ensuring what seems to be a “clear” regulating of its citizen’s heterosexuality. What happens when queerness intrude into the nationalistic formula that controls sexuality? If the national identity of a population is constructed to appear as the “house” of the nation, one of the pillars supporting its structure is sexuality. When that pillar that is sexuality is bent, the structure of the house resembling national identity shifts and becomes distorted. Heterosexuality ensures that the traditional family structures of the nation are maintained, the continual supply of people as resources to generate economics but most importantly, that “nationalism” on a whole is not interrupted. The presence of queerness differs with the values that nationalism promote and as such serves as a chaotic threat to the clear imagined sexual boundaries set by nationalism.

This thesis will examine the weakness of the nationalistic “constructing” of order through its control over sexuality. The presence of the queer body in Singapore’s contemporary films will highlight the “cracks” in nation building. The visualization of queer bodies on screen in national landscapes is the representation of differences that challenge the normality and order that nationalism protects. Queerness serves to rock the “house” of the nation through questioning its structures. The films will be used to show how queerness is crucial, as a threat towards nationalism.