馬來亞製片組是二戰後附屬於英殖民政府的影像機構,前後為英殖民政府和新馬(自治)政府拍攝大量的歷史和地理紀錄片,並通過多部宣傳片和劇情片的製作和拍攝,配上不同語言和華人方言的錄製和解說,大力灌輸英美強大的冷戰意識形態予馬來亞人民,並強制安排在馬來亞各大戲院放映這些影片,其終極目的即是要詢喚馬來亞各族人民對抗馬共,建構馬來亞認同。本論文結合英國電影機構、英國國家檔案館、帝國戰爭博物館、大英圖書館、新加坡國家檔案館和馬來西亞國家影片部的影片和冷戰檔案,以及 1950-60 年代英美電影雜誌和新馬中英報刊的報導,以馬來亞製片組生產的冷戰影像為例,探討冷戰時期的馬來亞新村華人和馬共如何在這些半寫實、半虛構的影像中再現。
The Malayan Film Unit, a film organization affiliated with the postwar British colonial government, produced a large number of historical and geographical documentaries in support of the British colonial regime, and the Singaporean and Malayan autonomous governments. The film unit also directed the production and filming of many propaganda films and feature films accompanied by recordings and commentaries in different languages and Chinese dialects. These films vigorously promoted Cold War ideology to the Malayan people, and all theatres in Malaya were compelled to screen these films. The ultimate goal of the Malayan Film Unit was to interpellate a Malayan identity in order to eradicate the threat posed by communist ideology. This paper considers films made by the Malayan Film Unit alongside Cold War archival materials gathered from The British Film Institute, The National Archives of UK, Imperial War Museums, The British Library, National Archives of Singapore and National Film Department of Malaysia, and reportage on the Malayan Film Unit in the 1950s-60s in U.S., U.K, and local newspapers in Chinese and English. It will explore how Chinese New Village settlers and Malayan communists were represented in semi-realistic/semi-fictional moving image s during the Cold War period.