Power, Adat, and Popular TV Fiction Imaginary

Research by Smith (2010) has shown that one of the implications of culture is the expansion of power. This paper explores how power is legitimized through the idealizing of Malay adat (customs) by the “dominant knowers” in Malaysia’s popular TV fiction. Based on Conversation Analysis of selected narrative exchanges in Julia and On Dhia, dominant knowers prevail in conflicts using adat-related reasons in instituting the roles of women and men in everyday discourses. While Malay women attempt to establish themselves as the dominant knowers by using logic, their logic is turned down whereas in scenes where women are hardly given any chance of a voice, they are made invisible through mere sighs as if they have been pushed to a position where they lack personal choices. By focusing on TV fiction’s narrative exchanges, we ultimately unveil that although TV fiction is broadcast in times of modernity, Malay adat is still legitimate for expanding power and authority in everyday unconscious experience.