Cinema and Television in Singapore

Kenneth Paul Tan, Ph.D. (2000) in Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, is Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is the editor of Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics (NUS Press, 2007).

“. . . an extremely impressive overview of film and television in Singapore with very strong contextualization in an analysis of the polity, arts culture, and culture industries in Singapore. The author provides a powerful synthesis of Frankfurt School critical theory and British cultural studies to provide an original mapping of Singapore and its key forms of television and film culture. The book is extremely well-written, organized, and argued and . . . could be a classic on its subject. . . . Drawing on a wealth of critical material, the author provides an insightful mapping of these cultural forms and creators of popular culture in Singapore. The author has a definite talent for providing excellent analysis with detailed reading of cultural texts and producers and a sharp critical eye that appeared very illuminating. These studies are exemplary works of concrete analysis of Singapore film and television . . . . "Douglas Kellner, Philosophy of Education Professor at UCLA and author of Media Culture and Media Spectacle.“The author’s mediations on the battles inside the PAP-fortress have yielded insightful commentaries about contemporary Singapore society, made the book an interesting and compelling read . . ., and . . . offered a welcome spark to much of the extant scholarship on Singapore media, culture and society that have come out of Singapore . . . . the author has done an admirable job in tackling the ‘thinking-out-of-the box’ task he has set out for himself. In so doing, the book highlights the contradictions of contemporary Singapore framed by state apparatuses that foster ‘one-dimensional’ thinking and behaviour on the one hand, and on the other, residents who are, or appear, less one-dimensional in their outlook and praxis. This book[’s] . . . revealing light over the epistemology of the Singapore cultural closet lends fodder to the ongoing debates about contemporary cultural formations in regards to media, state, and society in the interdisciplinary areas of critical/cultural studies, transnational media studies, multicultural/postcolonial studies, and Asian/globalization studies . . . . It has appeal for both conservative and liberal academics, researchers and university students in these areas, Singaporean or otherwise – for different reasons, of course.”Professor Tan See Kam, FSH-Communication, University of Macau

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. One-Dimensional Singapore2. The Culture Industry in Renaissance-City Singapore3. Singapore Idol: Consuming Nation and Democracy4. Under One Ideological Roof: TV Sitcoms and Drama Series5. Imagining the Chinese Community through the Films of Jack Neo6. The Tragedy of the Heartlands in the Films of Eric Khoo7. The Films of Royston Tan: Local Notoriety, International AcclaimConclusionAppendix A: Cited Television Programs and EpisodesAppendix B: Cited Films by Jack Neo, Eric Khoo, and Royston TanReferencesIndex