In what directions will we take Indonesian TV series?

Not for the better, I suppose.

Incidentally, I watched GGS last night. For those of you who aren't Indonesian, GGS is Indonesia's version of The Vampire Diaries/Twilight, but definitely way off and it's an utter embarrassment. Surprisingly, though, it's hugely popular and is in high demands. Now, we're talking. What's wrong with us?

Over the last decade, the number of Indonesian TV series that can be considered proper and actually worth watching has gone down immensely, taking a deep plunge into the black hole of horrible acting and scripts. I have even given up watching many years ago. Instead of moving forwards and taking a fresh take on stories, we prefer imitating the pre-existing popular shows and make a bunch of second grade adaptations that humiliate the original shows. Korean dramas are one of them. 

I don't think we need to explain why Korean dramas are successful in and out of their countries; they are fresh, simple, surreal, and are usually fast-paced with less than 30 episodes. We also can't ignore another X factor, which are the actors/actresses who are ridiculously good looking. It comes to no surprise that their successful stories tempt Indonesian's producers and script writers to follow that path. High rating and instant fame are hard to resist, after all. There are apparently numerous 'sinetron,' the term we use in Indonesia to call our TV dramas, that plagiarize Korean dramas but go unnoticed and appeal to the audience. One in particular, got into troubles by making an exact duplicate of Korean hit series 'You Who Come from The Star.' In the end, the production company paid a licensing fee to get permission to name their sinetron the 'official adaptation' of the star-crossed lovers drama. It's pathetic, then, that the adaptation failed to even pull the easiest stunt, which was to copy and paste. Somehow the show turned into a joke. Once it finished imitating the original series and tried to come up with its own story lines, the show was no longer close to okay and took a whole nasty turn. In the end, they decided to not drag the drama any longer and put an end to it. Thank God. 

So, why couldn't we make our own proper drama? Oh yes, maybe we can. Let's take the 'holy' religion road and make a religious drama where every second the main actress who's in hijab cries, is bullied, and the ustad says 'astaghfirullah,' condemning every tiny bit of exposed skin and western style. It sells. Indonesian scriptwriters and producers seem to have fix ingredients for a popular drama: Islam, love, pathetic lead characters who can't stand for themselves, ridiculously evil villains with deadly stares, and episodes that go beyond 1000. Sometimes, they add a hint of fantasy and awful special effects that fool nobody, even babies. If we're not imitating, we're making those sickening dramas with monotonous stories and predictable flows. 

Where does GGS stand on this issue then? First, it's an imitation, it gets popular quickly. Second, it deviates a little bit from the religious road, but adds the special effects that somehow are far from believable but don't matter anyway, because the company throws a group of hot, young celebrities regardless of their acting skills. For me, the whole show is a laughing stock. Sadly, our younger generation adores it, that's why it keeps airing and is far from over.

Back to my first question: in what directions will sinetron go? From what I've seen so far, the future seems bleak and dark. We're far from being good enough to win the attention of international audience. We're not even confident in creating our own styles, we keep trying to imitate others. When we do make our own style, it tends to be Jakarta-centered, and focused around the majority groups, religion wise or ethnicity wise. It's far from being true to Indonesia which is a giant melting pot of cultures, faiths, and of people of different colors. I see no reflection of reality and I see no reflection of hope. Where are our talented young generation with ideals that can shake the nation? I think they prefer to go on useless strikes, or work for other countries. Some decide to make short films and publish them online, and get the appreciation they deserve from the international world, but not from their own country. 

There are, of course, problems with our society, which in my opinion is far from being civilized and ready to compete in an international level. We're dealing with groups of people who see themselves as warriors, ready to kill for their religion, but unwilling to take measures to fix their country. Those extremists and fanatics who want to change Indonesia to something it's not, filled with negative sentiments and unable to make compromises. Then we have the uneducated group of people who live in poverty, with poor access of sanitary, health, education, or the outside world. The world they see is the world on the free and accessible television, which more often doesn't reflect the reality and is only an extension of certain political interests; it is merely a toy for the rich and powerful. As a result, they think what they see on TV is cool and modern, entertaining and admirable - an ideal world they can only dream of. They are the perfect victims, commercialized by those people behind the giant medias. This marginalized group will eat everything served in front of them. They fill the capitalists' pockets with money, they help make the rich richer, and themselves poorer. Sinetron, in the end, is the final product of this broken system we have.

There are times when I think I live in a country where being different is no longer valued, where everything is haram, and we're concerned more with what religion tells us NOT to do, than what we SHOULD do. We're busy asking if certain animals are halal or not, but forget to ask if we've done justice to them, which should be treated fairly and with respect. We're busy censoring products from the west, banning them from entering the country, but forget to censor our own products, which contains even more faults and flaws. We're way too blind to see our own dirt, we're too deaf to hear our heart. We're too occupied with our own ego. We forget what it means to be a human. 

In what directions will we take Indonesian TV series? As a media enthusiast, I'm saddened by this ugly truth. As much as I stay hopeful and optimistic, I gotta say, until we're ready to step out of our comfort zones and see the world in a whole new perspective, we're heading to someplace I'd rather not be.