Peeling Back the Layers of Japanese Propaganda Film: A Multimodal Analysis of Djawa Baharoe Newsreel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48048/ajac.2026.147Keywords:
Japanese propaganda film, Djawa Baharoe, Multimodal film analysis, Greater east asia co-prosperity sphereAbstract
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia (1942–1945), the newsreel Djawa Baharoe served as a critical instrument in the imperial “thought war” (shisōsen), designed to mobilise the Javanese population for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. While existing scholarship has extensively documented the political and historical dimensions of Japanese propaganda, the systematic analysis of its cinematic form remains under-researched. This study conceptualizes Djawa Baharoe as a multimodal ideological technology. It posits that the efficacy of the film does not rely only on its explicit political messaging (propaganda), but rather on how it weaponizes the biopolitical aesthetics of colonial cinema. Adopting the framework of Multimodal Film Analysis proposed by Bateman and Schmidt (2012), combined with a close reading of Director Tokichi Ishimoto’s production notes, this research examines the existing newsreels to deconstruct the interplay of narrative voice, auditory landscape, and visual grammar. The analysis reveals how the film orchestrated a multimodal rhetoric: the narrative systematically vilified Western imperialism by co-opting local religious and nationalist sentiments; the soundscape functioned as a boundary mechanism to regulate emotional perception; and the visual composition employed simplified editing techniques and “bandwagoning” imagery to dissolve individual identity into a collective, and utilising leader figure as visual endorsement of the Japanese occupation narrative.
Highlights
This study reframes Japanese propaganda film, using Djawa Baharoe as a case study, as a multimodal ideological technology that operates through the integration of narrative, auditory, and visual elements. It offers a new methodological approach by combining Multimodal Film Analysis with archival production notes, thereby bridging film form, authorial intent, and colonial ideology. The analysis further demonstrates how the biopolitical aesthetics of colonial cinema, including simplified editing, rhythmic sound desigAn, and visual framing, actively shape audience perception and emotional response. It also uncovers key contradictions within propaganda practice, particularly the reliance on Western cultural forms to support anti-Western narratives.
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