Saturday, November 04, 2006

Controversial Films


I had a very interesting conversation with the DoP, Husin, on Friday. He is very smart, and very very creative and I am grateful to have someone like him in our entertainment industry. Why do we accept B-rated scripts, stories, etc. from uneducated and ill-experienced people when we have people like Husin in the industry???
Anywho...
We had this discussion about why the Malaysian entertainment industry can't produce good films, ones that can be put in the same rank as "Sepet" or "Gubra", "Perempuan, Isteri dan ...", etc., ones deemed 'controversial'.
The problem is with the Malaysians' mentality, their mindsets. We are not of open minded people.
But I don't get it.
We watch international films. They have kissing scenes, hugging scenes, drinking scenes, sex scenes, etc. The international film industry do that to portray real life.
Our local movies: you get scenes of minah minah pakai tudung, cooking in the kitchen, crying, eating, etc.; you get the many different angles of the pokok kelapa and pokok pisang; you get people taking half an hour to get out of their God damn cars; you get, time and time again, two people dating, always at a hotel restaurant, both, always ordering "fresh orange" (note, not ORANGE JUICE, but FRESH ORANGE!). Is that really real life? Do we not kiss and hug and have sex like other human beings in the world?
I'm not saying that Malaysian movies should show more of men and women humping like rabbits (though it wouldn't hurt! Hehehe...), but there are other ways to show these things without actually showing it. We have the most artistic, most creative people in our industry, and yet their ideas are limited to what 'people want to see'. How can the experienced, intellectual writers 'portray real life' when what the Malysian audience wants to see (in Malaysian films) is not the 'right' portrayal of real Malaysian living?
And its not just sex or nudity. The extend of the ridiculousness of the Malaysian censorship goes even to the titles of movies, to mere words they consider 'inappropriate'.
Are Malaysians so angelic that they would deem the words "Sundal" and "Jalang" offensive?

3 comments:

did said...

sha, in your 6th paragraph, u said something about "ideas are limited to what pple want to see", (i dont know why "pple want to see" are in quotation marks).

that's what marketing is all about, making things that pple want, not what u can/want. These things need a lot of resources, and not many are in a posotion where they can produce something for themselves, something of "high quality and of low demand". they're just trying to make a living, and it's working well.

my point of view.

Anonymous said...

'People want to see' is in inverted commas because its meant to be an ironic statement. You're missing the point altogether.
It is NOT what people want to see. The 'people' are not (supposed to be) their targeted audience, and if they are, then there will be no wonder why Malaysia is STILL considered a DEVELOPING country. These 'people' do not appreciate art, they're not watching for entertainment benefits, they're merely doing it to see over that everything shown on TV these days are the 'right' things. And so the challenge of the articulate film makers continues...

Amiruddin Karim said...

I got so many things to say about this.. Some would get me in trouble with the Old-school seniors.. Some might get me in troubled with the 'new-breed directors'..

So.. I better keep my opinion unrecorded.. If you want to know, you have to find me.. heheh