Reform 'sinetron' capture society's scenes
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): Local TV series which sell dreams win ratings but they are destructive, not only for the viewers but also for the industry.
They are not educative and fail to socially stimulate the audience, according to moviemaker Garin Nugroho, who added that the homogeneity of the stories merely further fueled the market's already all-pervasive passivity.
"A passive market may win ratings but it destroys... it feeds the sinetron (local TV series) industry but the industry itself does not gain any added value," he explained.
Sinetron that make the ratings here are normally ghost stories wrapped in comedy or lifestyle stories of the wealthy littered with pretty faces, bungalows and BMWs.
To make one, according to Garin, does not take more than a few phonecalls and loads of money. No research and fresh ideas are required, he said. This helps build neither professional skills nor sinetron infrastructure.
"That is dangerous," he said.
So, when are things going to change?
They already are. The reform phenomenon started early last year when a fresh crop of directors began to make sinetron that gave the audience more food for thought.
They included Jakarta Arts Institute graduate Hanny R. Saputra's nine-award winner about a deviant's madness, Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan (Down Memory Lane), and Yossie Enes' semi- documentary on pedophile Robot Gedek, Menyusuri Bayangan Diri (In Pursuit of One's Own Shadow).
They came with excellent storylines, technological alternatives, creative camera angles and talent in various sectors, including casting and scriptwriting.
The fever of change prompted the judges to come up with numerous nominations for this year's 35 picks for the annual awards; 17 for the drama series category, nine for the TV film category and nine for the comedy series category.
Next month the selections will be narrowed down to five for each category and the winners will be announced at the Festival Sinetron Indonesia (FSI) awards show in early December.
According to selection committee member, Marwan Alkatiry, this year's selections have progressed in all sectors, including technical, casting, direction, production, storylines and scriptwriting.
"Progress in audiovisual works has made the adoption of social themes watchable enough to give TV viewers reason to look into lives outside their own," he said.
He gave the example of Mencari Pelangi (Finding The Rainbow), which tells of street children and revolves around one who lives by the Tanjung Priok railroad station in North Jakarta.
He added that scripts too have improved in the last two years. They are stronger and tell of both local and national problems.
"The writers give color to sinetron scriptwriting and have eliminated those time-wasting dialogs like 'come let's eat' or 'I am tired, I am going to sleep now,' from the scriptwriting agenda," he said. * According to Marwan, today's scriptwriters are drawing inspiration from their surroundings, as in the case of Dalam Bayangan Ibu (In Mother's Shadow).
"The idea of a mother selling cakes because she wants to keep herself busy is something we are all seeing in our offices. So many people come to offices nowadays selling clothes or their own branded stuff at cheaper prices," he said.
Marwan said that him giving examples did not mean that those shows were guaranteed winning any category. "I am just giving instances of today's sinetron and their progress. That's all," he said.
On the issue of localized themes, the same applies for the comedy series category. The last two years' jury-member favorites Mat Angin, Fatima and Angkot Haji Imron II (Haji Imron's Public Vehicle II) have sustained their status as festival jury picks. They are high on social problems, local dialects and comedy.
"It's called situational comedy. When people from the low rungs of life's ladder watch the ordinary things that happens to them on a daily basis in sinetron, it touches them. The stories are not so different from their own lives," Marwan said.