Style comes first in local TV series<\/p>\n
Television series have become favorite viewing matter after
\nthe local film industry petered out in the late 1980s. They win
\nhigh ratings, but critics pan the shows and their stars. The
\nJakarta Post's contributors Tuti Gintini and Agni Amorita,
\nalong with T. Sima Gunawan and Ida Indawati Khouw,
\nlook at the face of TV series today.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Love is the favorite dish on the menu of local
\nTV series, spiced with heaping doses of adultery, intrigue and
\nstruggles over inheritance.<\/p>\n
The storylines tug at the heartstrings of viewers, spreading
\nsorrow and tears in all directions.<\/p>\n
Characters are either black or white, and the plot drags on
\nwith new and increasingly bizarre twists. Conflicts are resolved
\nin ways that are not only alien to Indonesians but also at the
\nexpense of logic and sensibility.<\/p>\n
The lead members of the cast, male and female, are uniform in
\ntheir prettiness. All always appear at their fashionable best in
\nlittle suburban palaces.<\/p>\n
Raam Punjabi's Multi Vision Plus pioneered the production of
\nTV series of this type after the demise of the Indonesian film
\nindustry. Other production houses followed and today TV series --
\nlocally known as sinetron -- dominate the airwaves, inviting
\nboredom among some viewers as well as TV crews.<\/p>\n
\"I am fed up with playing the role of a father fraught with
\nproblems or an adulterous husband. I dream of seeing scripts with
\na new theme which will be a challenge to my acting ability,\" said
\nCok Simbara.<\/p>\n
In Noktah Merah Perkawinan (Red Stain on a Marriage), a PT
\nRapi Film production, Cok played the role of a harried husband
\nand father, with Ayu Azhari as the costar.<\/p>\n
He has paid the price of the series' success by being typecast
\nin similar roles.<\/p>\n
Scriptwriters such as Firman Triyadi and Tri Sasongko said the
\nTV series industry had yet to create a conducive climate for the
\nemergence of quality film scripts.<\/p>\n
They said they were trapped in the existing structure.
\n\"Honestly, I don't think I have done my best as a scriptwriter,\"
\nTri Sasongko said.<\/p>\n
Scripts are often hurriedly written to meet the criterion of
\n50 pages per episode.<\/p>\n
Actress Bella Saphira, who stars in Dewi Fortuna, said there
\nwas no time to rest during a production.<\/p>\n
\"How can I be free from stress as the shooting schedule must
\nbe completed as fast as possible in order to be able to meet the
\nbroadcast schedule. For example, the shooting of an episode must
\nbe completed on Tuesday, notwithstanding the availability of
\ntime, because it must be aired on Thursday.\"<\/p>\n
TV series presenting action, mysteries, horror and black magic
\ntales have also attracted viewers.<\/p>\n
SCTV has for the last few months aired old films starring one-
\ntime horror genre queen Suzanna. Indosiar is overjoyed by the
\nsuccess of Misteri Gunung Merapi (Mystery of Mt. Merapi), which
\nranks first in ad revenue.<\/p>\n
Some production houses are striving to go against the current
\nof mediocrity.<\/p>\n
Prima Enterprise production house, for example, has completed
\nthe production of dozens of TV shows with intelligent scripts,
\nand some were developed from prize-winning short stories. To make
\nsure their 90-minute productions are different from the run-of-
\nthe-mill TV series, they call them F-TV, for TV films. SCTV will
\nair them every Tuesday night; ANTeve also recently presented
\nquality TV movies called telecinema.<\/p>\n
\"It is expected that these films will be a sight for sore eyes
\nfor Indonesian film devotees and become alternative programs on
\nTV,\" said Leo Susanto of Prima Enterprise.<\/p>\n
He added he was thinking of adapting such world famous
\nproductions as Caligula, Julius Caesar, Othello and
\nHamlet and offering them for international sale.<\/p>\n
Loyal fans claim Leo's films are a cut above the rest.<\/p>\n
\"I like them because the stories are interesting and they are
\nnot too long. Some TV series last very long and the story becomes
\ntoo drawn out and boring,\" said Eni, a receptionist at a private
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
New strategy<\/p>\n
Many people are warning Raam Punjabi to devise a new strategy
\nfor his productions to keep up with the times.<\/p>\n
After all, Raam led the way in their development in 1993.
\nSuccess inevitably spawned many copycats, who are now branching
\nout into new themes.<\/p>\n
Some observers say Multi Vision is too stuck in its ways. They
\nassert the stories in Multi Vision's productions are influenced
\nby the great epics of Ramayana and Bharatayuda, with all the main
\ncharacters kings and princes. Characters from the lower classes
\nare merely supporting figures.<\/p>\n
Raam argued the use of characters and settings representing a
\nhigh-class society and attractive faces referred to a particular
\nTV station segmentation. Glamor and beauty, he said, were ploys
\nto attract viewers.<\/p>\n
The problem of films lacking in originality is not new. Des
\nAlwi, a maker of documentaries, once stated that 80 percent of
\nIndonesian films were imitations of other works. Much earlier,
\nfilm critic Salim Said, in a book on Indonesian films, said they
\nwere usually narratively illogical because the stories were a
\nconcoction of tales from imported films.<\/p>\n
At its inception, Indosiar was roundly accused of adopting the
\nconcept of Hong Kong's TV-B. The logograms of the two television
\nstations share not only a common letter type but also colors.
\nSeveral of Indosiar's early productions, such as the TV series
\nTahta (The Throne), starring Mathias Muchus, was strongly
\nderivative of Mandarin TV drama.<\/p>\n
Multi Vision has produced at least one acclaimed TV series,
\nBukan Perempuan Biasa (No Ordinary Woman), starring luminous
\nactress Christine Hakim and Desy Ratnasari. Although the
\nproduction showed women in stereotyped domestic roles, it won
\nraves among critics when it was aired on RCTI.<\/p>\n
Other fine TV series, telling of the everyday problems of
\nordinary people, are Keluarga Cemara (The Cemara Family) on RCTI,
\nand the immensely popular Si Doel Anak Sekolahan (Doel The
\nGraduate), which broadcast its last episode on Indosiar last
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Blame<\/p>\n
Marselli Sumarno, a filmmaker and lecturer at the School of
\nFilm and Television of the Jakarta Institute of the Arts, said
\nthe actors alone could not be blamed for the low-quality film
\nproduction.<\/p>\n
\"It also depends on the scriptwriter, director and producer,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Christine was a teenage model when she became involved in
\nmovies, \"but she developed well under the direction of Teguh
\nKarya, who gave her roles to play in selective films with good
\nstorylines\"<\/p>\n
He observed that most sinetron actors did not do their best
\nbecause there was no challenge in the filmmaking.<\/p>\n
\"They play the same role all the time. For example, as a
\nmother, they should do this, if they have to cry, they will cry
\nlike this, and if they are angry they act like that ... \"<\/p>\n
He noted Indonesian society was like a pyramid, with poorly
\neducated, low-income people making up the majority of the
\nstructure. They are usually not critical and enjoy watching the
\ndream lives of wealth and ease shown in the TV series.<\/p>\n
The TV industry is capitalizing on the situation by churning
\nout more lightweight shows.<\/p>\n
\"We have some idealistic producers, but their number is very
\nsmall compared to the capitalist ones,\" Marselli said.<\/p>\n
He added that state TV network TVRI, which is gearing up for
\ntransformation, could provide a counterbalance by becoming a
\npublic TV system.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/style-comes-first-in-local-tv-series-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}