The Dynamics of Mobile Cinema from entertainment media to propaganda media

Abstract

Mobile cinema has existed since the reign of the Dutch East Indies. The people are always waiting for cheap entertainment from the government to go to the village. The existence of mobile cinema which became the prima donna of public entertainment was used by the government, especially during the Japanese occupation. Japan used it as a propaganda tool to support the war it was waging against the allies. This paper seeks to reconstruct the journey of traveling cinema that once colored the Indonesian entertainment scene. Mobile cinema, which is synonymous with entertainment, can in fact become a media wrapped in politics with the interests of the regime rulers.

This study uses the historical method which explains the research problem from a historical perspective. The results of the study show that mobile cinema has many important roles, including promoting national films and government programs such as family planning, vaccines, elections and others. Through mobile cinemas, national films can be enjoyed by the wider community and government programs can be delivered directly to the public. At the end of the 1990s technology was growing, various entertainments emerged and entered the countryside. Mobile cinema slowly disappeared and began to be forgotten. Meanwhile, after a long period of dim, in the era of digital technology, mobile cinema is now back. With a modern and practical concept, several mobile cinemas have been brought to life in areas of Indonesia

Keyword: Mobile Cinema, Entertainment, Propaganda, Society