TV ghosts mindless exercise for viewers

By Edy Supriyadi

JAKARTA (JP): TV entertainment programs have apparently wooed and won the hearts of many viewers, who devotedly gather around the tube for their favorite shows.

Concerns about whether the programs are intellectually stimulating or educational do not enter into their thoughts; the goal is satisfaction.

TV stations, particularly the private ones, do their utmost to keep viewers tuning in. One of the efforts is through variety in the fare served up.

A few years ago Latin soap operas were atop the list of favorites among viewers, but they have been shunted aside by ghosts and supernatural happenings.

Ghost stories were formerly considered terrifying and frightening. However, since the world of magic has become a common TV theme, the fright has gradually disappeared and been replaced by laughter.

There are tuyul, ghosts resembling cute little boys, some of whom are big, bald and dumb. But other ghosts are beautiful, sexy and scantily clad.

Take Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (The Sweet One of Ancol Bridge), supposedly the pioneer in the genre of ghost films. The female ghost played by Diah Permatasari is refined, beautiful and fine- limbed.

"I often fantasize meeting a ghost or a spirit as beautiful as her. If I meet her, I would feel happy," said Jacky, who lives in Jatiasih, Bekasi, east of here. He regularly watches TV films and widescreen films on the theme of magic.

"My imagination often goes beyond my reason and thoughts," he added.

Jacky's neighbor and close friend Harto thinks differently. He believes that TV films exploiting magic have a stupefying influence because viewers witness a world full of absurdity.

"Is there a female ghost who has not found peace because her boyfriend, who is still alive, has a new girlfriend?" he said, referring to a television ghost story.

They may be meant as entertainment, but he believes they have a negative influence on viewers, particularly children.

He recommended that such shows should be shown less frequently, replaced with more educational and realistic programs depicting real experiences of everyday people.

Some of the ghost programs also touch on polytheism.

Just look at Jin dan Jun or Tuyul dan Mbak Yul, TV serials popular with children. June keeps Jin, a gene who comes out of a bottle he found on a beach. Mbak (Sister) Yul has Ucil, who escapes from his fellows as he wants to become a good one.

The "friend" can always help his or her "master" in times of difficulty. He is also an aid in crafty hijinks.

Film critics say that programs centering on the magic world need to be limited, especially since most are popular with young viewers.

Children in the process of spiritual and mental development should not be affected by films with stories that idolize creatures from another world, they say.

But the increasingly frequent showings of these programs indicate that TV stations are not selective in their programming, and even give the impression of competition to produce the next show on the theme.

Former information minister R. Hartono commented on the films.

He said TV films exploiting the magic world constitute a superstition that misguides the community's thinking.

"Please do not destroy the people's thinking by the showing of such films, and do not instill people with superstition because we are a religious community," he said.

He said managers of the TV stations would not show the films on superstition if they understood the intent of the Broadcasting Law. "The nation's norms should not be destroyed," Hartono added.

The community's concern is well founded because children remain glued to the tube at times when they should recite Koranic verses or doing their homework.

Hartono said he would instruct the National Film Censorship Board to be more selective when viewing such films. The board should improve on its role as an institute that is a filter for TV films that are harmful to the nation's norms and culture. Restructuring of the board was need needed for the process of multilayer censorship for widescreen and television films.

The hope is that TV stations can strike a balance between educating and entertaining their viewers.