Soap Operas and Unsustainable Resources Part I

This is a little bit late, but… I saw a video on Miley Cyrus and “Hannah Montana”. You can watch it here.

Okay, I know, maybe this is a hoax but still, it’s really got me thinking about the entertainment industry in Indonesia.

Let me give you a brief introduction to the Indonesian “Sinetron” (Soap Opera if you aren’t familiar with the term).

There’s a general template going around, both for characters and for the story. Let’s start with the story.

Scenario:

1. Poor girl falls in love with rich man. Parents disagree. There is also the evil woman who has interest on the rich man, and she does everything to try and get in the way. But true love always prevails.
2. Tomboy girl falls in love with handsome man. Parents (or at least mother) disagree. The beautiful, sexy, rich antagonist who also has interest on the handsome man tries to get in the way. But true love always prevails.
3. Kind girl is always humiliated and persecuted by stepmother/ aunt/ grandmother. Handsome man always stands up for her. Antagonist pretty bi**h gets in the way (also humiliating kind girl). But true love always, ALWAYS prevails.
4. Little kid who is so cute and does a lot of funny, useless yes, but still funny stuff.

Give or take, this summarizes more than half of the soap operas currently playing on national television. Of course, the difference between scenarios usually occurs due to different characters, though these too have templates.

Character:

1. The poor stepdaughter. Kind and gentle, she will let anyone trample on her poor damned soul. She is spineless. And she prays a lot.
2. The tomboy. A brave and generous girl, she dislikes unfairness. Hating the rich snobby man at first, she will, without failure, finally fall in love and turn out to be perfectly pretty.
3. The rich girl. Extremely beautiful. Sometimes spoilt. Often sexy. Always the centre of attention. Madonna of the school/ campus/ workplace. Will fall in love with the lucky bastard who loves her for who she really is.
4. The little boy/girl. Cute. Disgustingly cute. Bad acting. Can’t get a word in edgeways. But who cares, they’re still cute (or so the fans say)!
5. The handsome guy. Usually rich. Sometimes snobby. Always the prince charming. Will fall in love with the helpless, selfless, stupid girl.
6. The cruel stepmother/ stepfather/ aunt/ uncle/ grandmother/ grandfather/ mother or father of significant other. The main obstacle of a relationship. Often harms helpless girl because she is beautiful and too kind. Or maybe just for the fun of it.
7. The kind mother/ father/ aunt/ uncle/ grandmother/ grandfather. Cries a lot. Pities the helpless girl. Often suffers because of it.
8. The cruel girl/ guy. The main antagonist. Rival in love. Will do anything to win the guy/ girl they want. Sometimes swindles money. Just plain badass.
9. The clown. Additional humor. Makes Indonesian people laugh.
10. The sidekick. Every good girl/ boy gets a good friend.
11. The accomplice. Every villain has a sidekick, no?

What I hate most about soap operas here is the template "cinematography". If you can use the term without being viciously stabbed by a million directors.

Wish I could post a video of it..