Double Identities in Dorce ’ s Comedies Negotiating Gender and Class in New Order Indonesian Cinema

Dorce Gamalama is one of Indonesian television’s best-known celebrities. She first rose to fame in the 1980s and her career is very much based on her public profile as a transsexual woman. This article focuses on Dorce’s performance of gender and class in two films: Dorce ketemu jodoh (Dorce meets her match, 1990) and Dorce sok akrab (Dorce up close, 1989). In Dorce ketemu jodoh, Dorce represents herself as a woman, albeit one who is unlike other women, and who is confident enough in her gender identity not to shy away from gender playfulness. In Dorce sok akrab, Dorce’s character encapsulates the possibility for upward social mobility as an integral aspect of New Order development ideology, though it is a mobility which strongly resists notions of westernisation and elitism, and is instead firmly rooted in local forms of cultural identity.

Both Dorce ketemu jodoh and Dorce sok akrab revolve around issues of identity confusion.
The confusion in Dorce ketemu jodoh regards the titular character's gender, and perhaps lack of clarity as to whether Dorce the actor is a man or a woman.Misunderstandings in Dorce sok akrab revolve around mistaken identity and class.The confusions in both films resonate with important changes occurring in Dorce's life; the class-based comedy reflects Dorce's journey from poverty to wealth and associated implications for class and status, while the theme of gender fluidity that is evident in both films reminds us of Dorce's own transition.
These changes echo certain wider changes to society during the late New Order.
We might ask how it is that a transexual woman was able to make it so big under the New Order and into the post-New Order period.This question becomes particularly pertinent given the anti-LGBT hysteria of 2016 (Davies 2016;Boellstorff 2016).But we should note that in the Indonesian context Dorce's films were neither unique nor pioneering for touching on issues of representing crossdressing in film nor for starring a transexual woman.This was a period that saw increasing media discussion of proliferating sexual and gender identities, particularly from the early 1980s onwards (Murtagh 2013;Boellstorff 2005:66-78;Blackwood 2010:47-53).The late New Order period also saw an increasing willingness to This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 8 engage with gay, lesbi and waria 11 (male to female transvestite or transgender) issues by Indonesian film directors (Murtagh 2013).There were a number of waria, or more often perhaps entertainers who crossdressed in popular cinema during the New Order12 (Murtagh 2013:22-49, Yngvesson 2015:371).Indeed Mardali Syarief, the director of Dorce ketemu jodoh had already written and directed Mereka memang ada (They indeed exist) in 1982, a film focussing on the lives of waria. 13Dorce was not even the first transsexual woman to star in an Indonesian film; Vivian Rubianti, who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1973, had starred in her own film in the late 1970s, Akulah Vivian: Laki-laki jadi perempuan ('I am Vivian; A man who became a woman, dir.Endraatmadja, 1978) (Murtagh 2013:36-44).
The 1980s also saw a notable growth in the size of the middle class, notably on the back of the 1970s oil boom (Gerke 2002:145;Dick 1985:71).Dorce's trajectory to wealth, while not uncommon for stars of entertainment and sport, was atypical of the general pattern for the growth of the middle class in New Order Indonesia, which was generally based on the enlargement of the civil service that in turn built on expanding access to higher education (Dick 1985:71;Gerke 2002:144).Nonetheless, in other respects her upward mobility reflected the New Order's ideology of personal engagement and responsibility for one's own 11 All Indonesian words are italicized in this article.I italicize words such as gay, lesbi, transgender and transsexual when using them as they are used in Indonesia, not to exoticize the terms, but to recognize that there is slippage in meaning as categories move from one language and culture to another.differentiate from the popularly used term of waria.Waria is the Indonesian word which many would popularly understand as being equivalent, or at least near equivalent, to the English term transgender.However, it is still not particularly common for waria to transition. 15Tom Boellstorff argues that this is not only because of the costs, but because most waria see themselves as men (2005:67).This is the reason he prefers to understand waria as male to female transvestites rather than transgender because waria are still understood as falling within the domain of male gender.Thus for Boellstorff, the notion of transgender 'with an implication of a moving beyond gender' is not really applicable to waria (2007:82).A similar warning on the possible limitations of the term transgender is put forward by Sharyn Graham Davies (2010) in her work on alternative gender identities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.While using the catch-all term transgender, she also recognizes its limitations for the Indonesian situation due to its implication of 'crossing from one reified normative gender to the other ' (2010:13).The subjects of her study, calalai ('female born individuals who rework the category woman and who do not necessarily wish to be considered men') and calabai ('male born individuals who rework the category man and who do not necessarily wish to be considered women') of South Sulawesi do not necessarily aim to achieve one gender through the complete rejection of the other (2010:10).
Nonetheless, some individuals who have previously identified as waria (or another local term 15 The same seems to be even truer of transgender men in Indonesia.While Boellstorff states that some informants expressed an interest in surgery, he did not come across any actual cases (2005:161).This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 12 with similar meaning) do see themselves as women, and undergo sex-reassignment surgery as part of their transition.Dorce is one of them.However, illustrative of the fluidity in terminology, many Indonesians -including several waria I have spoken to -continue to understand Dorce as waria.The recent Australian documentary High heels and hijabs (dir. David O'Shea) 16 refers to Dorce as a 'waria comedian'.In popular usage, slang terms will often fuse gay men and waria, suggesting a general concern to other those who are not perceived as normal in terms of gender and sexuality, rather than to respect or appreciate gender or sexual difference.Examples of such perjorative terms are banci and bencong, which are popularly used for waria, though these can also be used for gay men as well as men deemed effeminate in some way. 17  In her biography, Dorce's description of her feelings as a young child are similar to accounts which many waria have given, narrating how she did not feel like the boy that her physical body suggested, and that she felt like a girl inside with different mannerisms and qualities: As a young boy my feelings were too soft and gentle.I was easily touched [emotionally].My body language was very feminine.Everyone could see it.I preferred mixing and playing with girls.I felt like we shared the same soul whenever I socialized with them.I had their thoughts, feelings and soul.But unfortunately, those things were trapped in the body of a boy. 18 16 First broadcast at 21.30 on 3 March 2015 on SBS One. 17 When used among waria and gay men themselves, the term banci would not have this pejorative implication.
Aku merasa kecocokan jiwa setiap berbaur dengan mereka.Aku mempunyai pikiran-pikiran, perasaan, dan jiwa mereka.Namun sayangnya, hal tersebut terkurung dalam tubuh anak laki-laki.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 13 (Gamalama and Gunawan 2005:25-6) 19   The biography also conveys a strong sense that those around her did not understand who she was.As she says repeatedly 'I was different'.The very first paragraph of the biography ends 'And finally they gave me the name Dedi Yuliardi.A boy's name.Because they thought I was a boy' 20 (Gamalama and Gunawan2005:1).With that difference came the teasing and abuse from those around her as she was called 'banci'.Further to the feeling of being trapped inside a boy's body, Dorce describes how her body was also different to that of other boys, a point of difference from accounts of some waria; she never grew hair on her legs or had to shave a moustache, and she never had a visible Adam's apple (Gamalama and Gunawan 2005:27-8).Thus her sense of difference is described as being both physical and emotional.
Prior to her transition, or maybe while in transition, Dorce was a member of the Jakarta waria troop The Fantastic Dolls and had been known as something of a spokesperson for the waria community.However, following her transition this identification changed (Anderson 1996:285).While she might have once considered herself as a waria, or at least very similar to waria, and had had waria friends, in interviews and publicity subsequent to her transition, and also in her auto/biography, she stresses her difference from waria and establishes her identity as a woman.Thus when recalling the period in which she was part of The Fantastic Dolls, she is careful to differentiate herself from her waria colleagues, not just in terms of her pride in the fact she was never promiscuous, but also because, 'I wanted to be a real woman 19 All translations from Indonesian are my own.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 14 (perempuan yang benar) ' (2005:30).As she notes when recollecting a time just before her surgery, 'I was almost the same as them [waria] except that I longed to be a true woman, not merely a false woman' 21 (Gamalama and Gunawan 2005:34).Dorce has commented that she would not have been accepted by her majority Muslim public if she had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery.In an interview in 2005 she stated 'When I was still a man…I would go to the mosque dressed as a woman.It was this contradiction, among other things that finally led me to have the sex-change operation.There is no way people would have accepted me the way they do now if I hadn't become a woman.People want black or white' (Ellis 2005:41).It is this self-definition in terms of gender binaries, and distancing herself from the more marginalized waria and LGBT communities that perhaps explains why she has been so enduringly successful.Above all though, I would argue, it is that rather intangible characteristic of charisma or stage presence that explains her stardom, and it is her story of triumph over adversity that ensures she remains accessible to her large body of fans.
A recent television interview focusing on the topic of 'transgender' on the Indonesian chat show Ada-ada Aja, screened on 15 October 2014, is useful in understanding how Dorce wishes to be understood.While she was presumably happy to participate in a show which specifically drew attention to her transition, she points out that she does not know many other transgender individuals in Indonesia, besides Ibu Myrna, the former chair of the Jakarta 21 Aku bahkan hampir sama dengan mereka walau ada sebuah keinginan untuk menjadi perempuan sejati, bukan sekedar perempuan palsu.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 15 Waria Association, 22 and seems to wish to distance herself from other transgender individuals, including the other guest on the segment, a younger male to female transsexual, Solena Chaniago.She states that she prefers to be known for what she does, as an entertainer who does not specifically show off and sexualize her body and who is known for her charitable works.In that television discussion, the term transgender is used to describe the two guests and they themselves appear to identify with the label, though Dorce herself also uses the term transsexual on at least one occasion. 23She does not refer to herself as waria or banci.
In JB Kristanto's catalogue of Indonesian films, the entry for Dorce ketemu jodoh, describes the main character, and also the actor playing her, as a banci (2007:343). 24It is not clear if this entry is based on a pre-existing synopsis or a viewing of the film, but the key point to note is that when the film was being planned and written, Dorce had already transitioned.The use of the term banci is clearly problematic and evidently disrespectful to Dorce.It highlights both a lack of understanding of the variety of alternative gender identities in Indonesia coupled with insensitivity.At the time of the film's release, and certainly at the time of the 22 Myrna, also known as Bambang Wisnu, was one of the two members of the Bambang Brothers and in 1977 went on to become a founding member of The Fantastic Dolls (Atmojo 1986:18-19;Murtagh 2013:48-9 fn19).
These are two of the groups with whom Dorce had her first experience as an entertainer (Gamalama and Gunawan 2005:28-9). 23The interview is available on Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFKgAUYEaTA>The main interviewer Dave Hendrick and his co-host Ayu Ting-ting generally use the term transgender rather than transsexual in the show. 24The full entry translates 'Story about a banci named Dorce (Dorce), played by a banci of the same name.Dorce moves from Surabaya to Jakarta to become a pub singer.In this nightlife environment, Dorce finds love.
From Tante Gladiol (Ida Kusumah) who thinks Dorce is a handsome young man, and from Nico (Harry Capri) who considers Dorce the most beautiful girl in the world.Here Dorce chooses to be just one gender, a choice out of synch with her natural physicality (kodrat fisiknya) as a man.' (Kristanto 2007:343).This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 16 catalogue's 2007 publication, Dorce was not waria (or certainly did not identify as one).The use of the term banci -and it is not just in the catalogue that we find such usage -seems to relate to a refusal to accept that Dorce herself identifies as a woman, and signifies a desire to highlight and restate a perceived lack of normativity in her identity.Drawing on Judith Butler (1999:xi) and Kate Bornstein (1994), this is an example of a public refusal to allow a transsexual to be understood as what she has become, but rather to insist on reference back to what she used to be, and the state of constant 'inbetweenness', in which transsexual people, whether they like it or not, are placed.
In discussing her research on transgender identities in the UK, Sally Hines warns that 'the lack of emphasis upon particularity within queer theory has led to a homogenous theorisation of transgender ' (2006:49).Her study, which is based on interviews with UK-based individuals who identify in various ways with the transgender category, seeks to move beyond a 'universal understanding of the term "transgender" so as to recognize the diversity of trans subjectivities ' (2006:49).Hines argues that 'rather than signifying universal transgression or dominant gender conformity' her research points to subjectivities and identities that are 'contingently situated alongside divergent gendered experiences' (2006:64).Here, Hines is drawing on Viviane Namaste's argument that in seeing 'transgender as a "category crisis"' and as evidence for the destabilising and deconstructing of gender binaries, the 'possibility of transgender as an identity itself has been undermined' (Namaste 1996:189).
In focusing on Dorce's roles in these two films I try to pay heed to Namaste's caution to queer studies academics that 'transexuals are not your entertainment ' (1996:185), a warning particularly significant given that Dorce's two films were of course made specifically for entertainment purposes. 25Given the fact that the films discussed were made for a postulated heterosexual audience, Namaste's problematising of the transexual category as denoting someone to be looked upon and written about in order to theorize the troubling of gender without due attention to every-day lived experiences is pertinent.This is particularly so because, like many of those studies critiqued by Namaste, my primary sources are textual rather than ethnographic.Nonetheless, by also drawing upon Dorce's autobiography and other interviews I hope that these criticisms may be avoided, and as such this study will take into account two equally important aspects in the construction of Dorce's public identityher own written and spoken comments on her identity in addition to an analysis of her public performance of gender as an entertainer.
The principle sources for this article comprise the two films already mentioned.Those films were certainly written and produced as vehicles for the actor.They implicitly, and occasionally explicitly, refer to various aspects of Dorce's life experiences as well as public discourse regarding gender ambiguity and transition.Just as Hines has noted for some instances in the UK, it is not unexpected that these Indonesian sources, that are at least partly based on Dorce's lived experiences, may often be understood to be constructing fixed identities rather than destabilising categories.Nonetheless, even though the title of her 25 I am aware that it might be considered intrusive to be discussing Dorce's gender identity, and in particular her previous identity as a male bodied individual.However, given that she is a public figure, and has commented on her transition in her autobiography and elsewhere, such discussion seems to be permissible.I stress that this discussion is not with the purpose of judging or arguing how Dorce should or should not understand herself, but rather to think about how gender identity is understood in Indonesian popular discourse.In particular, while this is a primarily textual analysis, I try to be sensitive to Viviane Namaste's concerns that my research should not undermine the lives and experiences of transgender people I study (Namaste 1996:185).
autobiography, I am a woman, is a statement of the essential nature of her being as a woman, there is a simultaneous recognition that her subjectivity is constantly in process as signified in this instance by the need to continuously repeat the category and to publicly reaffirm her identity as a woman.As Aquarini Priyatna has observed, Dorce's autobiography serves as a 'conscious and continuous enactment of womanhood, but the statement reinforce the fluidity and contingency of femininity ' (2015:222).
Nonetheless, Dorce is also a performer -and both films include scenes where Dorce's character either cross dresses or performs as a cabaret artist -and it is for this reason that the films provides such interesting examples of the complex and multilayered discussions around notions of gender binaries generally as well as in a specific Indonesian context.On the one hand the films and biography specifically seem to embrace the essential category of woman, but at the same time, through Dorce's performativity, cross-dressing, and constant reference back to her pre-transition identity and public knowledge of her transition, the films simultaneously disrupt, or trouble, that category.This constant revisiting of her former identity is demonstrative of the process of becoming as an identity in itself, which Butler remarks as being part of the transformational nature of being transsexual (1999:xi).While on the one hand Dorce defines herself as a woman, her performativity in the two films under discussion and also in any number of subsequent concerts and interviews, simultaneously stresses her difference from other 'normal' women, if not her constant inbetweenness.This difference is most obvious in her performativity on the stage.When singing she often drops the register of her voice in the classic style of the This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 19 drag artist (Newton 1972:101) accentuating that she is not quite what she seems. 26This performance style can be easily observed in any number of recordings from Dorce's career; it occurs at the beginning of the film in Dorce ketemu jodoh and also in Dorce sok akrab.To explore these instances of gender inbetweenness further, it will be useful at this point to turn to a specific discussion of the first of the two films.

Dorce Ketemu Jodoh
The 1990 slapstick comedy Dorce ketemu jodoh 27 tells the story of a female character called Dorce who travels to Jakarta in search of success in the entertainment business.While she soon finds work as a pub singer, she also adopts male garb to secure work as a mechanic.The humour of the film revolves around the fact she attracts different suitors in her male and female guises; dressed as a man Dorce attracts the attention of a wealthy widow, Tante Gladiol, while as a female she catches the eye of handsome Rico.Things come to a head when both admirers visit her at home at the same time.A zany scene ensues where, helped by her maid, Dorce tries to meet the gender expectations of both devotees, swapping between male and female attire before being chased on foot through central Jakarta by her two love interests accompanied by a growing entourage of friends, neighbours and a group of waria who just happen to be passing.Eventually, Dorce collapses under a tree saying 'It's better I 26 Such techniques have been discussed by numerous studies on drag and transvestite performance.For example, in her influential 1972 study of drag performers in the USA, Esther Newton noted that drag artists would frequently drop their voices, as well as removing female attire or wigs, in order to highlight the fact that 'the appearance is an illusion ' (1972:101).See Murtagh (2013:25,27-9,34) for a discussion of specific instances of 'dewigging' in New Order cinema. 27Discussion of this film is based on a VCD version first released in 2000, and which remains widely available in Indonesia, at least in pirated form.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 20 be(come) just one gender -two genders, it's just made me confused, dizzy'. 28  Almost every scene in Dorce ketemu jodoh is framed around some sort of gender mix-up or personal reflection on individual identities.The tone is set in an early scene showing Dorce's arrival in Jakarta.When a becak driver addresses her as Mas -a term used to address males in Java -she grabs him by his shirt collar and almost pulls him out of his vehicle.'Mas!Mas!' she yells back at him, 'can't you see I am a woman (perempuan)', before thrusting her hips towards him as if this should give some sort of clue.Dressed in blouse, denim jacket, flared mid-length pantaloons, and with a hand bag over her shoulder and sporting medium length hair, there is little doubt that Dorce is presenting herself as a woman, albeit somewhat fiercer than might be expected.Given that most viewers at the time (and since) would have been fully aware of Dorce's recent transition, this deliberate engagement with her off-screen history ensures that the film's narrative collapses the stories of the fictional character and the real life celebrity from the outset; a slippage which is further accentuated by the actor and character sharing the same name.Indeed in the opening scene, in which the fictional Dorce imagines success in the capital city, her dream consists of footage of the real Dorce performing to a stadium full of fans.From the very outset the character's fictional journey is inextricably linked, indeed foretold, by the journey already made by the film's star.
As the film continues, the notion of Dorce's gender ambiguity is an ever-recurring trope.Not just through the obvious storyline of her cross-dressing as a man, but also when she is playing This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 21 the role of the female character.The most obvious example of this is contained in the words of one of the songs she performs as a pub entertainer: Don't ask who I am / Where is my home kampung / Don't be confused and don't be unnerved / Watch me captivate you.Don't think about who I am / Man or woman / It will make you confused, there's no use / Just look and restrain your heart. 29  While the lyrics are clear in demanding that she should not be judged or understood in terms of her past, it is nonetheless surprising that the song also urges the audience not to think in gender binaries for fear that this will only lead to confusion.Indeed the song seems to be more appropriate for a waria than for Dorce's stated position of a woman who rejects the ambiguity of gender that is linked to the waria identity.Dorce's character's female to male cross-dressing results from a difficulty in getting work as a woman and the notion that life in Jakarta is easier for men.Her cross-dressing should not be understood as embracing some sort of waria identity; the term waria is generally seen as being exclusively for male to female transvestites.What is more, this is clearly a temporary change -as well as part time -meeting many of the characteristics of what Marjorie Garber, in her study of cross-dressing in Western cultural traditions, describes as a progressive narrative (1993:69).Dorce's character's rationale for cross-dressing is that 'it is safer to be a man in Jakarta'.However, diverging somewhat from the pattern described by Garber where there is no erotic pleasure involved in this kind of cross-dressing, and where thwarted 29 Jangan ditanya siapa aku ini / Dari mana kampung aslinya / Jangan bingung dan jangan terkesima / Lihat saya memikat hati.Jangan dipikir siapa aku ini / Laki-laki atau wanita / Nanti pusing tiada gunanya / Lihat saja tahankan hati.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 22 heterosexual desire leads the protagonist to unmask, in Dorce ketemu jodoh it is the competing demands made on her by both suitors that lead her to declare the need to make a gender choice.It is not clear whether she gains much erotic pleasure from either match, though certainly the attraction from the older widow, Tante Gladiol, is depicted as the most absurd.As the film ends with Dorce slumped against a tree, topless (though her breasts are only visible for a moment), and still sporting one half of a moustache, it is important to note that we are not actually told what her final choice will be, though our knowledge of Dorce off-screen leads us to presume that her choice will be to live as a woman.Neither can we be certain whether she will choose a male or a female as her partner.
We should also observe that Tante Gladiol really thinks that she is wooing a man, not a woman dressed as a man -and much of the comedy revolves around the knowing audience watching the confusion within the diegesis.Intriguingly, in one scene Tante Gladiol finds Dorce's female clothes and makeup and accuses Dorce as a man of having an affair with another woman.Tante Gladiol is quite happy, indeed charmed, by Dorce's explanation that she cross dresses as a female for artistic reasons.While adding yet another layer to the complexity of gender identity, Tante Gladiol's reaction is interesting for being more concerned with questions of fidelity than with potential gender ambiguity.
Nonetheless, the implication of the film's closing scene is that despite all the gender play and slippage around which the film's narrative revolves, Dorce should choose just one normative gender.Indeed her decision comes after having been pursued down Jalan Thamrin, the This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 23 central thoroughfare in Jakarta, by a group of individuals that captures a remarkable crosssection of Indonesian society.For as well as her male and female lovers, her maid, the security guard and a collection of other acquaintances, the chase attracts the attention first of a number of policemen, and then of a group of waria.These last two groups offer starkly different alternatives for the performance of metropolitan masculinity.When she finally collapses against a tree, she does so in the shadow of the phallic national monument, Monas, a symbol of the state's authority and the former President Sukarno's masculinity -the only president for whom Dorce has not performed live.Pressured on all sides by suitors, fellow citizens and the symbolism of the National Monument, it is hardly any wonder that Dorce collapses cross eyed and confused declaring she had better choose just one gender.The dialogue is clear enough, and seems to be expressing a desire for gender normativity and the stability of gender binaries.However, her appearance calls attention to our knowledge that this is not a woman like other women, but rather, drawing on Kate Bornstein (1994), that the transsexual must be approached through the verbs which attest to the constant transformation of the new identity, or as Butler puts it, the 'in-betweenness that puts the being of gendered identity into question ' (1999:xii).Despite the resolve of Dorce's final declaration, it seems that this paradox, or to use Butler's words 'the moment in which one's staid and usual cultural perceptions fail' (1999:xxiv), encapsulates the ambiguity of the film's resolution whereby the binary categories of gender are truly put into question.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International

Dorce Sok Akrab
Just as with the film discussed above, Dorce sok akrab 30 is a lowbrow slapstick comedy in which most of the humour revolves around mistaken identity.Whereas misunderstandings and comedy in Dorce ketemu jodoh relate to gender identity, Dorce sok akrab reflects the other important transition in Dorce's life at this time by focusing on confusions connected to class and status, though questions of gender identity are also present.The story begins with two expectant couples making their way to a clinic.One couple is rich as signified, among other things, by their car and dress, while the poor couple arrive by delman (horse drawn cart), driven by the husband.Both women give birth to male and female twins, the wealthy father choosing the names of Dorce and Kadir, while the poor father chooses Dorce and Kodir.In the general confusion in the clinic the twins are mixed up and given to the wrong parents.
The story then jumps 20 years to the present day to focus on the two sets of twins in East Java.Both pairs of siblings are played by the same two actors, Dorce and the well-known comedian Kadir. 31The spoilt children of the rich parents are causing too much trouble at home in Surabaya, and their father decides to send them to Jakarta where they are to be educated in western manners and customs.The poor twins are impoverished and failing to make much of a living as entertainers, and so decide to go to Jakarta to try their luck.Both 30 The VCD version (2000) of the film referenced in this discussion was kindly made available by Sinematek, Jakarta.
31 Kadir was a member of various comic groups beginning from the mid-1980s.He made his first film appearance in 1987, where he met his most well-known comedy partner Doyok and the pair subsequently appeared in a number of films though generally in supporting roles.In Dorce sok akrab, Doyok plays the Jakarta business associate's son, who is trusted to look after the wealthy siblings.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 25 sets of twins travel to Jakarta by plane; the poor siblings arrive on time and are mistaken for the rich twins by the son of the rich father's business associate who has been sent to collect them.The rich twins arrive late and have to make their own way into the city, but both sets of twins end up staying in what is described as being the 'most luxurious hotel in Jakarta'. 32  Numerous comedic scenes follow as hotel staff, shop assistants, restaurant staff and record producers are left puzzled and perplexed by the identical sets of twins.As the film draws to a close the confusion comes to a head when the twins finally come face to face with each other, with each one asking the other, 'who is it that's the photocopy?' (siapa yang fotocopi)?The film ends with one of the brothers declaring that everything is too mixed-up ('aduh, kacau ini'), as the hotel workers look on in disbelief, and the siblings themselves are left pointing at their 'photocopy', touching themselves as if to check that they themselves are real. 33  My interest in this film lies in its representation of different class and in particular its approach to social mobility.Representations of class in New Order cinema have been discussed at length by Krishna Sen, (1994:105-130;1986;1991), but also more recently by scholars such as Eric Sasono (2008) and Intan Paramaditha (2011).Given the duration of the regime it is not surprising that approaches to social class in New Order film were far from 32 The movie location is the Kartika Chandra Hotel. 33The synopsis provided in Kristanto's catalogue (2007:323)  This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International consistent.As Sen notes, in the early years of the regime films were marked by a tendency towards 'fascination with glamorous lifestyles and international milieu', disappointing commentators and journalists who regretted a failure to depict the lives of the majority of Indonesians on screen (1994:105).
As time moved on however, and as the Suharto regime's overarching ideology of development (pembangunan) gained ground, films engaging with rural development and poverty began to emerge (Paramaditha 2011:502-3).As Sen illustrates, however, the mobility of poor and downtrodden heroes and the victory of science (which belongs to the ideology of development) over rural beliefs, were generally depicted without recourse to class conflict (1994:105).Nonetheless critique of development ideologies is evident in films across different genres.Films such as Ami Priyono's monumental Jakarta, Jakarta (1988) juxtaposed communities with contrasting fortunes in the city, while as Paramaditha shows, criticism of the new middle classes was also to be found in slapstick comedies, such as those directed by Nya Abbas Acup (2011:504).Around the same time as the Dorce films were in production Eric Sasono (2008) notes films such as Badut-badut kota (City Clowns, dir.Ucik Supra 1993) and Oom Pasikom (Mr Pasikom, dir.Chaerul Umam 1990) that took a tonguein-cheek approach approach to the inequalities of the city and the exploitation of one class by another.Nonetheless the late 1980s and early 1990s also saw the emergence of the incredibly successful Catatan Si Boy franchise which glamourized the consumerist lifestyles of the sons and daughters of the Jakarta elite which Sen argues formed 'a discourse of legitimation of unequal access to wealth in New Order Indonesia, legitimation of an exceptionally luxurious lifestyle, accessible only to few, but acceptable to many ' (1991).This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 28 arrogance and abuse of wider society by the privileged class.As such Dorce -a rising star of popular entertainment -ensures that she continues to be seen as one of the people, rather than someone who becomes distant and aloof as a result of her success.Her humble origins remain an integral part of her new identity.
Despite the persistent theme of class difference, the only scenes in which we see visual representation of the poor siblings' origins appear at the very beginning of the film.First we see the stark difference in the means of the parents as they make their way to the clinic.
While the rich parents become stressed when their way is blocked on the road by the slower moving poor parents, demanding their right to pass by, the humble couple remain steadfast in their equal right to use the road despite the harassment and presumptive privilege of the wealthy couple behind them.These differences are coded amongst other means through the transport they use -smart car as opposed to delman -and also language.In establishing the differences, the poor father is shown to be humble yet also playful in argument, while the wealthy father comes off rather poorly against the linguistic dexterity of his poorer counterpart.Even in the maternity clinic the potential for confusion emerges, illustrating the fragility of their respective social statuses.The waiting husbands confuse the cries of their respective wives as they give birth; each calls out to offer support to the wrong woman.And the vulnerability of the binary between rich and poor is encapsulated when the nurse comes out to give news of the birth to the waiting fathers.She seeks clarification 'you're the rich one, right?', before checking which names he wishes to bestow on his children.Thus in this opening scene identities are already constructed as fragile, easily confused, and insubstantial.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International

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The next scene, set 20 years later, shows the humble condition of Dorce and Kodir's home while they discuss their ambitions and desire to earn their fortune in Jakarta.As they sit in their wooden shack, Dorce sings a few lines from the well-known song Gubuk Derita (Shack of Suffering): 'I acquiesce, even though life is difficult / I acquiesce, despite my suffering'. 35  But her brother quickly retorts 'Actually I don't acquiesce'. 36In direct contestation of the meaning of the original song in which all manner of hardships will be tolerated, or submitted to, in the name of love, the brother's words challenge both the song, and also the Javanese notion of rela, whereby the individual copes with life by submitting or acquiescing to fate.
Notwithstanding any humour, the siblings' character profiles and motivations are clear.They live in poverty, they work hard singing trying to save money, and like numerous poor Indonesians they hope that they can improve their lot by making their way to Jakarta with its promise of great earnings and unrivalled opportunities for those who work hard.The contrast with their wealthy counterparts is stark.As the poor siblings sit in their wooden hut determined not to submit to the lot they have been dealt in life, the other twins roller skate around their lavishly decorated, almost palatial living room.They have no respect for their father, and have been spoilt by their wealth and privilege to which they have become far too accustomed.
This story of rich and poor is further complicated by the detail that the siblings were mixed up at the time of their birth.One of the poor children (we do not know which) should actually be rich and one of the rich children should be poor.Maybe this explains the brother's 35 Aku rela, walau hidup susah / Aku rela walau menderita.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 30 unwillingness to accept his fate of poverty and suffering and the inability of the rich siblings to fully appreciate their privilege.More likely, however, we should see this mix up as supporting an underlying ideology that there is nothing intrinsic that differentiates rich from poor, and indeed in accordance with the 1980s ideology of development, the potential for upwards mobility is there for those who work hard and live honestly, and receive the help (mistaken or not) of a more wealthy patron.While this initial mix-up in the maternity ward is not explicitly referred to again, the final scene in which they each ask who is the photocopy of the other affirms the point that there is nothing to differentiate these people other than privilege and status.
While the film's ideology is certainly about moving upwards, a number of scenes function not only to mock the pretensions of the wealthy, but also to subvert them.In particular this occurs when wealth and culture is associated with westernisation, an association which coincides with the 'tendency to western symbols' among Jakarta's young professionals expressed in the 1986 Kompas article mentioned in the introduction to this article.The rich siblings are sent to Jakarta, among other reasons, because their father wishes them to become more 'western'.Classes are duly organized in the English language and western cuisine and table manners.Of course it is the 'wrong' siblings who take these classes.The English language teacher despairs at their inability to repeat the phrases without mixing up the word order, eventually retorting that they must never have been to school.In response to this slight, Kodir turns the tables by introducing a tongue twister of his own in a mixture of Madurese and Indonesian.Just as Kodir cannot get his tongue around the English, so the Jakarta-based teacher cannot cope with the regional tongue twister.Once again, notions of identity, in this case of teacher and pupil, are turned on their head.Before long the entire staff of the most luxurious hotel in Jakarta is trying to repeat Kodir's tongue-twister, though with varying degrees of success.
A similar subversion happens when an (Indonesian) expert tries to teach Kodir about western cuisine.The joke is on the notion of teaching manners and western food from the very beginning.First, before Kodir arrives, the teacher takes some food from the plate waiting for Kodir, decides to test it (testing dulu), puts it in his mouth, but then puts it back when he remembers he can't chew the food because he has forgotten to put in his teeth.Thus already we find out that the teacher is not quite living by the etiquette he is about to teach.Then the teacher tells Kodir that he is not feeling so well because of something he ate (salah makan): presumably western food does not really suit his stomach either.The lesson starts with Kodir replying that he normally eats with his hand rather than the knife and fork he is told to use.
The teacher retorts that it's not a warung Tegal (a cheap local style restaurant), calling Kodir a 'hillbilly' under his breath (kampungan).Kodir is told to keep his elbows off the table, and in return he asks where the rice is.Finally Kodir manages to completely subvert the class by saying he will follow the teacher's instructions if the teacher is able to follow his.Kodir then proceeds to demonstrate a test of coordination whereby one touches the right ear with the left hand while touching the nose with the right hand and vice versa.Naturally Kodir is an expert at this and the teacher is confounded.A passing bellboy sees the game and before long the whole hotel staff is trying to master the game, though never as successfully as Kodir.The lessons in Western etiquette are forgotten and once more Kodir has succeeded in subverting the attempts to Westernize him by responding with something much more fun and also requiring its own degree of dexterity.With the teacher absorbed in trying to master the game, This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 32 Kodir settles himself at the table to eat the western food in Indonesian style with his right hand and with his elbow resting on the table.
While much of the confusion and humour stems from Kodir's character, and Dorce seems to be taking more of a supportive role, we can understand the confusions above as reflecting on the two siblings.However, it is really on the occasions when she performs that Dorce comes to the fore in this film.As in Dorce ketemu jodoh, the songs also lend themselves to further unpacking the journey made by Dorce; as a stage performer, she constantly plays on the notion of inbetweenness, and the audience's expectations of such performativity.One of the two numbers she sings to win a spot as a cabaret singer is a well-known Dutch song -the language repertoire is another of her trademarks -written in 1979 by Louisa Johanna Theodora 'Wieteke' van Dort, also known in Indonesia as Tante Lien.The singer/composer was born in Surabaya in 1943, but in 1957 moved to the Netherlands as a result of Sukarno's policies towards those who retained Dutch citizenship.The song, Geef Mij Maar Nasi Goreng (Just Give Me Nasi Goreng) sung in Dutch with a large number of Indonesian words, is a recollection of the large number of delicious foods she had eaten in Indonesia as a child, and compares with the less exciting Dutch cuisine.The song begins by telling of the cultural shock of the repatriation, that they had no idea how cold it was in Holland, but that the worst thing was the food; potatoes, vegetables, meat and sugar on the rice. 37In addition to being a song about the journey made by another female entertainer from Surabaya, there are again 37 Toen wij repatrieerden uit de gordel van smaragd / Dat Nederland zo koud was hadden wij toch nooit gedacht / Maar 't ergste was 't eten.Nog erger dan op reis / Aardapp'len, vlees en groenten en suiker op de rijst.This translates literally as 'Then we came back from the emerald belt [ie Indonesia] / That Holland would be so cold, we had never thought / But the worst thing was the food, even worse than during the journey / Potatoes, meat and vegetable and sugar on the rice'.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 33 parallels with Dorce's life experience in terms of the inbetweenness of their identities.Tante Lien was expelled from the place she considered home to a pace where it was judged she should feel a sense of belonging, but which was instead a place completely unknown and alien to her.
The other song she performs is a Hindi number that is extremely well-known in Indonesia entitled Sawan ka mahina (Month of showers). 38The song was written for the 1967 Bollywood film Milan (dir.Adurthi Subba Rao), a film about a couple who realize they have known each other in a past life.Thus the theme lends itself perfectly to Dorce who might be seen as reborn through her transition; indeed the song is also sung by the cross dressing character of Betty in the Indonesian comedy Betty bencong selebor (dir. Benyamin S., 1978).
The song is originally a duet and in the film the young man teaches the song to his female lover, correcting her pronunciation of one word.Dorce also repeats this scene in her performance, though in her version she plays both male and female roles, and in switching between male and female voices, reminds us of the gender play that her performance was long built on.Thus so too in this comedy of errors, based on rich and poor and privilege and resistance, Dorce's troubling of gender still bubbles under the surface.Indeed it is performance based on gender transformation and inbetweenenss that ensures her success both in the film and in real life.

Conclusion
Both films discussed in this article were planned and produced in the years immediately 38 The song was popularized in Indonesia, among others, by Rhoma Irama when he performed the song with the Indian artist Nandani.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 34 following Dorce's sex reassignment surgery.Following on from the increased publicity she received as a result of the legal recognition of her change in gender and name, the films were presumably seen as mutually beneficial by both the production companies who could play on her growing celebrity status, and by Dorce as an important way of boosting her profile.Dorce plays a female character in both Dorce ketemu jodoh and Dorce sok akrab.In this respect her roles reinforce her identity as a woman.However, despite this apparent clarity in how she defines herself, the plot of Dorce ketemu jodoh, and Dorce's actual performance in both films support an understanding of gender identities which is far more complex, where notions of inbetweenness come into play.Kate Bornstein argues that transsexual people's live lives which collapse notions of gender binaries, and in her film roles at least, Dorce is also defined by that process of becoming where her current performance of gender is always done with reference to what went before.Similarly, the representation of class identities in Dorce sok akrab can also be interpreted using this concept of inbetweenness, whereby the poor characters who find themselves in a sudden position of wealth are appealing to the audience and are ultimately successful within the film precisely because they remain in a state of becoming wealthy, where their traditional and humble origins constantly surface to resist western and elite class identities.Unlike the Si Boy series which Sen argues was able to display opulent consumerism without questioning it, Dorce sok akrab is far more critical of the wealth and privilege of the elite, and as a reflection of her own origins and the diversity of her fan base, her performance remains very much in negotiation between the glamour and wealth that her career had already brought her and the poverty and humility from which her success arose.This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International

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In the introductory section of this article I discussed the point that Hines and others have made with respect to the importance of recognizing the complexity of transgender identities.
In the case of her UK study, a strong argument has been made that contrary to the textual studies often carried out in queer studies which have argued that the transgender categories trouble or call into crisis fixed gender binaries, the study of the lived experiences of transgender individuals calls for closer attention to the diverse range of subjectivities falling under the transgender category.Far from troubling gender binaries, many of those subjectivities conform closely to normative gender regimes.However, as Hines recognizes in the case of British transgender individuals, transition does not necessarily mean an end to gender play.It is often an ongoing process in which gender subjectivity may shift and continue to develop.This diversity of subjectivities is evident in the films and autobiography discussed in this article.While the meanings carried in the different texts might appear at first sight contradictory -the declaration that she is a woman while at the same time playing on the fact that she used to be a man -it is probably better to understand this range of meanings as signifying complexity.So too the continued gender playfulness, which is of course being performed for a generally normative audience, is probably best understood as indicating Dorce's confidence as a woman.At the same time there is a recognition that many of her fans will continue to understand her in terms of difference, on the basis that she is a woman who was formerly a man.Her performance style consistently plays on this knowledge and expectation.
Just as Dorce's journey across genders is one that is constantly replayed in her performance and also in her autobiography, so too her journey from poverty to wealth is an integral aspect This is the version of a forthcoming article accepted for publication in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde that will be published by Brill: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/22134379Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23839/ under Licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 International 36 of her performance and her identity.In particular we should note that just as the film Dorce sok akrab resists those Western symbols which had come to be markers of wealthy professionals, so too her performance and autobiography strongly affirm traditional and local cultures as being essential to her subjectivity.It is her positive revisiting of those traditions, her position of constant inbetweenness as someone whose success repeatedly constructs and reaffirms her humble origins, that continues to mark her particular style of Indonesian celebrity.

Disclosure Statement.
No conflict of interest is reported by the author.
only bears passing resemblance to the final film probably because the catalogue entry is based on an original synopsis written prior to production.The entry translates, 'Pak Sugeng (Zainal Abidin) and Pak Slamet (Tile) are both fathers of twins and both call them Dorce (Dorce Ashadi) and Donny (Kadir).The two Dorces and the two Donnys are then sent to Jakarta temporarily, where Rudi (Johnny Kane) son of Pak Koco (Doddy Sukma) aims to meet the Dorce and Donny of Pak Sugeng, but mistakenly collects Pak Slamet's Dorce and Donny who arrive first.Pak Sugeng's children then make their own way to Pak Koco's home, where the four of them cause confusion and strange things to happen, until Pak Sugeng and a talent spotter arrive.The misunderstandings are then resolved.