Abstract

A few years ago, the reach of popular TV fiction in Malaysia seems to have gone unnoticed until recently when media operator Media Prima captured audience attention, that it now draws increasing viewers. Yet, often these discussions on TV fiction and audience's responses manifest state-endorsed, elite, government voices. In this paper, we attempt to introduce unofficial audience voices through focus group interviews and how they relate to Julia, Adam & Hawa, and On Dhia. Through audience narratives, fragments of Malay cultural identity realities create accounts of what we will call the "unconscious Malay psyche". By reading these accounts, this paper provides unfolding, decentralized spaces into Malay worlds in a post-colonial, twenty-first-century Malaysian popular culture.