This is my first post in 2016 and for that, I'm sorry. I've been doing my less-public writing project: journaling. And most of them are kind of life-related and containing so much feelings. It's quite personal so I decided not to post any here, which is why this blog has been neglected for the umpteenth time.
By the way I'm not going to babble around telling you my new year resolution that's often ended up laying as another bullshits and stuff. People say write what disturbs you, so I do. I'm going to write on purpose, about one thing that never stops to bother my mind everytime I turn on the TV.
Everytime I see Indonesian TV shows.
I guess this topic has been discussed by a lot of people who got their minds bothered like me; I just feel like writing this nevertheless.
I barely watch Indonesian TV shows since I found out that they are terribly boring. Gosip yang menguak aib, reality show yang nggak ada reality-nya sama sekali, game show yang beberapa menghibur tapi akhir-akhir ini just another crap karena isinya cuma pelawak garing (I doubt they're capable of being comedians), and the best among them all; sinetron. They're just being modified a bit. Kalo gosipnya nggak menguak aib, bikin orang bodoh tenar, ya ngeliput artis spotlight sakit flu. Sinetron... ya kalo nggak plotnya abstrak, konflik nggak berkembang, melenceng dari ide cerita awal, beribu-ribu episode tapi nggak bermutu, ya jiplak.
Well I'm so sorry for being brutally honest and maybe (a bit) rude here but that's just how it is. We know what I aforementioned there is true.
Selama ini kita mengonsumsi tontonan yang itu-itu saja. Nggak ada perubahan yang berarti. At least it's okay though to negotiate with no significant improvement, but it's another story when those typical shows are getting worse. It's another story when the influence caused is far more than what we expect.
We can't deny that tontonan yang ada di TV Indonesia saat ini jauh dari kata mendidik. Sangat jauh. Meanwhile, apa yang kita tonton juga membentuk pribadi dan mindset kita secara bertahap. What we often watch also determines the way we think without we even realize. Terlebih lagi di era di mana media menjadi salah satu penentu yang paling berpengaruh dalam kehidupan kita. Everything is possible involving the media. Moreover when we let it takes the control.
Deddy Corbuzier once tweeted this, "Membuat acara TV yg mendidik masyarakat VS menghibur masyarakat adalah 2 hal yang berbeda. Inspiratif VS atraktif." which is so accurate according to what happens with our TV shows problem. I couldn't agree more. Menghibur ya menghibur, mendidik is one whole different thing. Sayangnya, yang mendominasi TV Indonesia selalu acara yang menghibur tapi tidak mendidik. That's the point. Cuma ada segelintir acara yang worth to be watched.
The case that disturbs me the most is how acara musik, sinetron, & FTV alay memegang setir kendali dari penonton setia—mayoritas remaja labil—as long as they're entertained. Acara musik pun hanya sekedar label buat acara lip-sing dan pertunjukan ayo-ngelawak-aja-yang-penting-penonton-ketawa semata. Gue punya sepupu, adik-kakak cewek, and both of them are some of the victims of these uneducated shows. Tiap pagi tontonan mereka Da*piiip* atau In*piiip*, siangnya FTV yang judul absurdnya bikin ngelus dada: Tukang Sunat Jatuh Cinta, Cinderella Tukang Sepatu, Tukang Mie Ayam Seganteng Brad Pitt (like... what the actual f**k?) atau FTV religi ikan terbang yang (lagi-lagi) judulnya satu paragraf atau nggak merupakan kesimpulan FTV tersebut: Aku Hanya ATM untuk Anakku, Aku Takut Punya Suami Tampan, 3 Kali Ditalak Suami dalam Semalam, Istriku Durhaka Terhadap Ibuku yang Malang Karena Istriku Tidak Ber... oh whatever. Dan malamnya, you know, the unsuccessful copy of Twilight Saga, yes, sinetron yang judulnya serigala tapi yang disorot vampir. #OnlyinIndonesia
Dan yang bikin gue miris itu ketika melihat mereka fangirling over it. It's so saddening to see a 8-year-old girl screaming "ALIANDOOO!" in front of the TV, or singing a terrible song with cinta-cintaan lyric I don't even want to recall. Gimana seharusnya anak-anak seumuran segitu butuh asupan tontonan yang di samping menghibur juga mendidik.
Apalagi acara gosip sekarang udah bukan main melebih-lebihkannya. Semua dikuak dan dikupas tuntas, sampai the most unimportant matter of celebrities juga digosipin. Nggak ada lagi garis pembeda antara aib sama berita yang layak ditayangin. Zaman sekarang jadi artis nggak susah, nggak punya talenta pun bisa, asal modal good-looking dan kemampuan cari sensasinya tinggi. Bahkan orang bodoh yang fenomenal juga dibahas dan dibikin tambah tenar. Malah banyak yang sekarang nongol di acara TV, at least dijadiin bahan bullying, and then bisa jadi kaya. Yang penting fenomenal, prinsipnya. Yang penting bisa narik mata penonton, bermanfaat atau nggaknya belakangan.
I mean, what's the point of music shows when the presence of the music itself is less than the moments of the host trying to be funny and doing something more like a game show instead? What's the point of daily melancholic FTVs with the same plots and cliché endings? What's the point of reality shows when it's being set up and not being set up well? What's the point of croaking someone's problem and exaggerating it so there will always be scandal to tell? What's the point of making someone stupid famous and rich when there are lots, lots of people out there who got talents and deserved to be a real public figure? What's the point of offering something meaningless? What's the point of entertaining yet unintelligent?
Masyarakat kita memang lebih suka sama sesuatu yang menghibur, because we tend to be simply happy without thinking further about what's the benefit and risk of this and that. We have problems at differentiating which is good and which isn't. That's why it's sort of hard for us to move forward; we're the ones who don't realize we need to change.
This one crucial problem of our country needs to be repaired. We need more good shows.
Dengan begitu, sebenernya perlu adanya dobrakan dan pembenaran akan apa yang ditayangkan di TV. Perlu kritikan yang membangun dan respon positif dari pihak yang terkait sehingga bisa mengoreksi apa yang salah dan lebih mematangkan pemikiran mengenai manfaat dan efeknya jika ingin menayangkan sesuatu.
Kalo kita nggak bisa mengubah apa yang dioffer kepada kita, setidaknya kita lah yang harus bisa lebih selektif dalam memilih tontonan yang layak dikonsumsi.
Because if it isn't us who take the step, I don't know who will.
