REPRESENTATION OF BALINESE WOMEN IN CASTE AND PATRIARCHAL RELATIONS IN THE FILM NOESA PENIDA (1988)

Abstract

This study examines the representation of Balinese women in the film Noesa Penida (1988), particularly within caste and patriarchal relations as socio-cultural constructions that shape women's identities, bodies, and choices. The primary data source consists of selected scenes from Noesa Penida (1988) relating to the character of Gusti Ayu Pandansari, a Ksatria noblewoman raised in a Sudra family. This study aims to analyze how Balinese women are represented through visual signs, narrative, inter-character relations, and social symbols associated with caste hierarchy and patriarchal authority. Data were analyzed qualitatively through film text analysis, employing Stuart Hall's constructivist approach to representation combined with Roland Barthes' semiotics of denotation, connotation, and myth. The findings show that women in Noesa Penida (1988) are not only presented as narrative subjects, but also as objects of caste, sites of patriarchal contestation, and markers of social honor. Women's bodies and mobility are constructed through lineage, social status, and the decisions of male figures who hold domestic and aristocratic authority. Although the film reproduces caste and patriarchal structures, the representation of Pandansari also opens space for critical readings of Balinese women's agency in confronting the social boundaries that constrain her.

Keywords: representation; Balinese women; caste; patriarchy; Noesa Penida.