DILEMMATIC PHASES OF DRAMA GONG IN BALINESE ART PERFORMANCE STAGE

Abstract

Drama Gong is one of the art forms of balinese folk theater balih-balihan (spectacle) without any ties to Hindu rituals, so its existence is merely entertainment. The golden peak of Drama Gong, which lasted until the late 1970s, began to dim into pop culture. Therefore, Drama Gong undergoes very dilemmatic phases in the Balinese art performance stage in the global era. This assumption is very interesting to examine from the perspective of cultural studies that can be critically dissected through theories of hegemony, deconstruction, and semiotics. Penelitian is designed as a qualitative research procedure with a phenomenological approach. The object of study is in the text and its context in society. This study produced data in the form of words and images that can be observed and described clearly without using statistical procedures or by other quantification. All field data and the results of classified literature studies are studied logically and systematically through the cultural studies paradigm. Thus, the application of descriptive methods of analysis is clearly unavoidable. The determination of informants was carried out using purposive random sampling  techniques and developed with snowball techniques. Data sources are also strengthened by instruments in the form of observation guidelines, in-depth interview guidelines, recordings, and document studies. The results showed that today's Drama Gong is very dilemmatic. Its existence on the Balinese art performance stage is not only marginalized, but also slumped, lost multi-role, and dimmed is fading without taksu, making it helpless: life is reluctant to die unwillingly.