Mapping Talentime

Talentime is a Malaysian film concerning students and their lives during a period of yearly talent shows. The film centers on an interracial couple Mahesh an Indian boy and Melur a Eurasian girl (Ahmad, 2009). This film can be viewed in terms of multiple overlapping maps proposed by Dudley Andrew in his book. The maps provide different transnational views concerning Talentime based on the characters, scenes, and other elements. The two main maps that can be applied in this film are the demographic and linguistic maps (Andrew, 2004). Demographic maps indicate the people who are watching the film and its attributes while linguistic maps indicate the cinematic language and spoken languages.

From a transnational point of view, the demographic map shows that most watching the film are the Malaysian audience, Pete Teo fans, and those who like music. Talentime illustrates various aspects of life and how people from different cultures can relate to each other. It is infused with the producer’s identity of discussing issues souring the Malaysian community, specifically involving three races Indian, Chinese, and Malay (Ahmad, 2009). The Demographic map also shows that people of the Islamic religion are among the main audiences around the world. The selection of lighting and colors used to produce Talentime form a symbolic meaning of religion. The colors white and black are featured in spiritual clothing designs. Thus, the film attempts to demonstrate the dominant ideology in Malaysian society which embraces Islam. Melur and Mahesh are from different cultures but they end up relating well and falling in love with each other.

The linguistic map also provides several examples of transnational views in the film Talentime. Different languages are spoken in the film including Malay, English, and sign language. The most entertaining and impressive aspect is the soundtrack comprising of original songs sung in Malay, English, and Tamil. Apart from the original compositions, the Indian language is also featured in classical music. Through language different cultures from different parts of the world can come together and relate. Predominantly, the characters speak Malay and English throughout the film (Ahmad, 2009). It is a refreshing experience to hear British and Malaysian-accented English, Tamil, Mandarin, and Cantonese are spoken across the two hours of the film. The author explored languages musicality in Malaysian and took delight in the racially diverse cast.

References

Ahmad, Y. (Director). (2009). Talentime. Grand Brilliance; Cathay-Keris Films
Grand Brilliance

Andrew, D. (2004). An atlas of world cinema. Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, 45(2), 9-23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41552405