On August 18th, a while ago, the EDU Community, had a chance to visit a film festival held by Kembang Gula Studio in Lokananta, Surakarta. It was a festive event following Indonesia's Independence Day on August 17th. Serangan Oemoem directed by Fajar Martha Santosa, Bersama Membangun Negeri directed by Deo Mahameru and Riwayatmu Kini directed by Fanny Chotimah was some of the films that are played in the festival.
Serangan Oemoem - A Heroic Act of Humility
Synopsis
Inspired by the story from her father, Gani (9), invites Sulis (9), and Boba (8) to leave for Mount Merapi to seek the Great Dragon to save the city from a monster. The problem is, this Dragon is not as mighty as they thought. He doesn’t really like fighting.
Serangan Oemoem is a short animation film with an adventure theme. The film follows the children of Yogyakarta, who try to save the city by seeking help from the Great Dragon from the impending doom of a monster attack.
Carried with fun comedic delivery, this movie delivers its message through a profound reflection of folksy cultural values held in the environment settings. The heroic aspect of the Great Dragon is integrated with the folk tradition of humility, and even so, reveals that it is the relentlessness of the children who saved the day after all.
In the scene where the children go along their journey and finally find the Great Dragon, they are humbled quickly by their expectation of this supposed to be the mighty one who is the key to save their hometown. When found by the children, The Great Dragon seems to not be interested in the fighting whatsoever, and so this is where the children use all their quick wits of negotiation to persuade the Great Dragon to help them.
One of the children initially asks for The Great Dragon’s help by initiating what we commonly familiarize ourselves with is the term, “guilt-trip”. She mentioned all the devastating effects of the Great Dragon won’t help them — but not to follow the traditional trope of sympathy narrative that The Hero will help those in need out of the kindness of their heart, The Great Dragon simply refused. “Moh,” he said, which is a blatant translation of “No,” said with a super laid-back manner, even told the children to seek help elsewhere while having a chilling time drinking from a river stream but quickly followed with the children’s disappointment dialogues because The Great Dragon is the only dragon there is.
Folk Hero
It is interesting to note how this film is written about heroism. Following the traditional value of humbleness and laid-back attitude of the character with the strongest power, this film has managed to portray such cultural values with The Great Dragon; “Ngelmu pari tansaya isi tansaya tumungkul,” which translates into, “be like a rice stalk that rests down as it fills with ripening grains.”
Yogyakarta has been known long for its central place of Javanese art and culture. The ingrainment of the folk philosophy in the film doesn’t stop there only with The Great Dragon character. The children also carry the reversal gaze of how children in traditional narratives used to be treated with "victim mentality." The children step up their negotiation tactic — after failing to adapt to the traditional narrative of the “out of the kindness of heart” and “the god-complex of the hero’s responsibility to help the victims of crime,” with more witty remarks, “Mengko tak wehi gulali,” which translate into, “I’ll give you some candy in return.” Highlighting yet another comedic tone of this film.
This also notes the high-context cultural values in the society that runs its communication style through a more diverse multicultural and communal system, which is depicted by this film of Yogyakarta, one of the cultural representational cities of Indonesia.
The humility and the superpower of the Great Hero Dragon, combined with the relentless children troops filled with witty tactic characters, Serangan Oemoem has managed to deliver efficient story-telling of folk heroism.
By Octim Mala
Bersama Membangun Negeri - A Mockumentary
At first, the beginning of this film didn't catch our attention. We were expecting a tear-jerker documentary where it's shown the life of the poor and their daily struggles, but instead, we were shown something else.
Bersama Membangun Negeri dealt with the theme of sympathy exploitation in a unique way. This film reverses the kind of “pity-paty” gaze in a hilarious way. The plot of the film focuses on Heni, the legislative council candidate who is in the middle of making a campaign video to explore the slum area of Jakarta, the object of the campaign is to show the poor living conditions of Satinah, the old widow living in the slum. Heni’s team tries to make a scene where Heni and Satinah are both crying in reaction to Satinah’s living conditions, as in a typical tear-jerker documentary.
Sitting there, I and my peers were immersed in the acting, we love how they portrayed such characters in the most heartfelt and realistic tone. As an audience, we were engaged in the character's dynamic. The antagonist vs. protagonist dynamic played well until it was soon revealed that all the characters merely trying to survive.
Dealing with The Superior
Later in shows in the scene, Heni gets pressured by her superior to make the most natural crying scene to be able to invoke the audience’s empathy into joining the cause. After dealing with her superior, Heni is determined that she would do anything to reach her goals. She and her team cast a bunch of talents but later arrived at Satinah’s husband’s grave because none of the previous talents were able to cry naturally to what Heni considered as is. Heni and her team alongside Satinah go to the husband’s last resting place in an attempt to make the desired scene.
Effective Robbing by Pity-selling
Pity-selling is a form of practice that exploits others’ feelings of empathy. This can be done by deliberately showing a facade of helplessness. Have you encountered beggars in tourist spots? Countless news reports have told about cases where beggars turn out to be filthy rich behind their ragged appearance. Some even earn more than the monthly salary of minimum-wage workers, daily. There is no guarantee those beggars are actually in need or just trying to get into your pocket. Seeing as one of the probable victims of this campaign, the audience is given the option of taking “the wake-up pills” in this situation. Of course, this particular aspect of the movie is not the only focal point. But, this is an interesting perspective to see reality. Sometimes, shows that depict how pitiful someone’s life is, or how poor a person is, are built on an objective that is going for either your wealth or making you do something.
Power Play and Objectification
In her attempt, Heni has crossed some boundaries resulting in Satinah’s rage. Heni has said some rude stuff to invoke Satinah’s emotions like, “Coba bayangkan suami ibu yang dulu tidur berdua, sekarang sudah di dalam tanah, bayangkan mukanya hancur di makan cacing“ which translate to “Try to imagine your husband who you both used to sleep together, now he is in the ground, imagine his face crushed, eaten by worms,” said with an apathetic tone. As if that was not enough to trigger Satinah's emotions, the final blow was when Heni said to Satinah, “Belum tentu juga, suami ibu yang di dalam tanah ini masuk surga juga kan bu?”, which translates to, “There is no certainty that your husband who is buried now, will go to heaven too, right mam?” which sends Satinah into a rage. Not only Heni being rude to Satinah, in her tone dwells an undermining of Satinah's life. Heni indirectly put Satinah into a box of objectification. This box then would be labeled as “lower class” and only put in one category of representations of tear-jerker personification, leading to Satinah not having other values other than the “victim”.
Our Take Away
We think how the film portrayed such objectification is an interesting selling point. We are constantly in a battle of being the signified. We have always thought that being the signified means someone else should take their only place as our signifier, putting ourselves as the center of the narrative. However, sometimes, we forget that everyone thinks exactly like us.
Satinah is not Heni’s signifier, and neither is Heni, acting the role of the antagonist to signify Satinah’s struggle. This film shows that both Heni and Satinah are their signifiers, signifying each other lives into light, making each other the central of their narratives. They created their language together, sharing each other’s agencies. Heni and Satinah's story reminds us that Heni’s act of objectification is not only hurting Satinah but resulting in Satinah’s rage and resistance ultimately also hurting Heni.
By Octim Mala and Bimoteguhp
Is The Downfall of Keroncong a Destined Fate? Riwayatmu Kini
The short documentary, Riwayatmu Kini, directed by Fanny Chotimah is masterful coverage on how keroncong music reached its peak and steadily decline into obscurity. The bittersweet journey of keroncong music is depicted through stories and tales by well-known musicians and breathtaking cinematic narrative. The acclaimed director, who is also a writer, put her concern on the decline of this genre. For those who care about keroncong, this documentary might resonate immensely. But, at the same time, it doesn’t exclude younger generations who might be unfamiliar with the niche genre. If anything, it sparks not just awareness, but also it manages to provoke a nostalgic feeling even among those who didn’t experience the golden age of keroncong.
Keroncong and Indonesians’ Identity
Culture changes as time goes, and music has no escape from its influence. Popular music genre in Indonesia is constantly under a metamorphosis, changing from one genre to another. The keroncong genre itself reached its peak popularity in the 60s to the late 80s. Its emergence, however, arguably started way back in the 1930s. The famous song of this genre is Bengawan Solo, written by a legendary musician, Gesang Martohartono. This song was a significant portrait of Indonesians’ identity, particularly among those who come from Javanese ethnicity. Keroncong’s significance grew significantly from a definitive Indonesian genre to something that represented patriotic sentiments after WW2. Following the Indonesian national revolution (1945-1949), this genre was synonymous with nationalism. Its influence is especially noticeable in the nationalistic works of Ismail Marzuki, a famed composer and musician, such as Rayuan Pulau Kelapa and Indonesia Pusaka.
The Diva, Waldjinah
Fanny in her short documentary also covered an interview with one of Keroncong divas, Waldjinah. Born in 1945, she grew up in the height of keroncong music and consequently her works revolves around a subset of this genre. To this day, she is known as the “Ratu Keroncong” or the queen of keroncong. Her early works were known to be grounded around langgam jawa, a derivation of keroncong involving a strong Javanese influence. However, Waldjinah is also known as a revolutionary musician as one of keroncong singer that steer the genre into a more romantic feels in the 80s. In the short documentary, Waldjinah recalls her sentiment to one of her songs, Yen Ing Tawang Ana Lintang. The song holds a certain core memory for the singer, since it resonates with her youth and idea of romantic experiences.
The Decline of Keroncong
The short documentary tells us that Keroncong faced a slow but a certain decline in the music industry. Although the Portugese-influenced genre reached a level of significance no other genre has ever attained in the history of Indonesian music, the slow decline of this national treasure was apparent. Mulyadi and Indira (2019) stated that even in its peak era in the 70s, keroncong has been declared as a genre that needed extra preservation. Fanny touched this issue in the documentary by showing the musicians’ concern of keroncong’s decline in the popular culture. There were efforts to modernize keroncong music, but these actions inevitably gave birth to more derivations of the genre. This circumstances led to keroncong’s root standard (pakem) eventually eroded and slowly buried under the more popular branches.
Musicians’ Struggle to Spice Up the Genre
In the late 90s, keroncong music suffered from a great decline. While it was necessary to revolutionize the genre, new innovation often came under bombardment of criticism by older generation, who acted as gatekeepers to keroncong music. As if bringing new ways to interpret keroncong wasn’t difficult enough, Indonesia also went through a multitude of cultural and national revolution. The uncertain state of the country at the time and invasions from other genre further bury keroncong music’s popularity. One of keroncong’s subgenre, campursari, also gained a spotlight among Indonesians in the 90s, exceeding its original form. This issue is highly noticeable in the early 2000s, when the genre got even more competitors in the music industry, such as melayu and western music.
Filmmaking and Revitalizing Culture
Fanny Chotimah did a wonderful feat in enlightening the importance and what could’ve been lost in keroncong music. A documentary might sound like a long and dragged exposition of something. But, with the right direction, this is the right movie format to raise the awareness of a particular issue. A great documentary, such as what Fanny has made, invokes emotions and makes the audience root for the discussed issue without them realizing. Riwayatmu Kini takes the audience into the depth of stories and memories by keroncong practitioners. Fanny made clear that filmmakers can use the power of documentary to shine upon important and critical issues.
By Bimoteguhp
Comments