Now That's Entertainment!

Indonesian television is definitely entertainment, although not for the reasons it’s supposed to be. There are three types of shows: modern fiction, fantasy, and reality. They are all ridiculous.

The modern fiction shows are all the same. First of all, like American television, everyone is beautiful, but here beauty is determined by the paleness of a person’s skin. Every person in these shows is like a porcelain doll, with skin whiter than mine. I dislike this portrayal of modern Indonesia because of the message it sends the girl watching: if your skin is brown, you are dirty, and you will never be successful or find love. Besides having pale and perfect skin, these characters live in huge mansions. Let me tell you, there are very few mansions on Bali; most people live in rundown homes the size of my living room and almost all of the houses has at least one wall made from woven palm fronds. These perfect characters are made even more boring by the plots which they are forced to follow. Every episode of every show is the same: boy and girl meet and sparks fly, they are cruelly separated, they find a way to get back together. I know when a show is especially bad because I know exactly what is going on, basically what is being said, and I can predict the ending.

The fantasy shows have about the same filming integrity as the home videos made by American teenagers. The animation that is coarse, obvious, and hilarious. Whoever made it really tried to make a believable giant or a life like tiger, but their efforts are so useless that they might as well of not made any animation at all and used a sock puppet or paper cutout instead. Other parts of the shows use such substitutes; for example, in a recent episode I watched, the good guys were sneaking away from the bad guys through a forest. This forest was, however, a clever arrangement of potted plants placed on someone’s lawn.

Indonesian reality TV is based primarily on music. On an MTV like channel, live bands are always playing. The music is pretty good, and I like that there is always music to listen to. The only problems are the hosts who just like to hear themselves talk, who occasionally break into a song and dance themselves, and who wear huge sunglasses in every situation: inside, outside, in the rain, in the sun. They remind me of pre-teenagers who just got their allowance and decide to walk around the mall to prove to the opposite sex how cool they really are. Besides playing live music, other shows incorporate it into various fame and money winning contests. One show is like a mini American Idol, where the contestants are children about 10 years old who sing songs, competing for votes from viewers. Another show has contestants naming song segments played to them and then they get to sing, although I’m not really sure what the point of that one actually is.

My favorite reality show is not based on music. It is one that I can’t understand, but from what I do know, it is like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. The only difference is that the bachelor or bachelorette chooses a companion in about ten minutes, based primarily on looks but also on a question or two. Once paired, the two love birds get to go on a date (off screen), and are given money if they end up marrying each other. It’s priceless.