Week 5 - Future Thinking

Reviewing my intentions for my trend report

Research Question : Will Indonesian cinema take over the global entertainment the same way South Korean entertainment did?

My intention : I come from Indonesia and am currently pursuing my study to be a designer. I was once told by my supervisor that no amount of knowledge and skills can improve you as a designer than getting exposure. That is why I chose to study abroad to study different cultures, see different perspectives, and hopefully eventually finding my own voice. However, how can I find my own voice as a designer, when I am still struggling with my identity? Growing up in Indonesia, I constantly lived through fear, segregation, trauma, and uncertainty. Being a Chinese Indonesian comes with its own perks. My parents and a lot of other people lived through the 1960s Communist Purge and the May 1998 riot. Sure, what happened became somewhat a global sensation, but nobody really knew what came after. Our parents had to conceive this trauma and then passing it onto the next generations. We always have to be careful even though things may look calm on the surface. We, the young generations, are even being sent away to other countries so that we wouldn’t have to live through any horrific events. Now, we struggle with the idea of belonging because the sad part is that we don’t even feel belong in our own home. So many things that our ancestors lived through were not told to the world, and I just think it is unfair. Because we improve by learning from history. Covering all this up is just avoiding the things we actually need to embrace and tackle to better our collective future. My story is just one out of million others that came from different backgrounds. There are those who are victims of sexual and domestic abuse, rape, inequality, sexism, and many other forms of injustice within the country, that are still happening up until this second.

Indonesian movies that tackle social and political issues are just recently being recognised and accepted internationally, and most importantly, nationally. Locals have not been supportive towards our own movies that discuss societal issues due to reasons such as ‘taboo’ or ‘too sensitive’. However, with the young generations being more open-minded, critical, and forward thinking, they are giving supports for these movies as they feel represented. These movies are giving voices to the unheard. Marlina, Pembunuh di 4 Babak, Penyalin Cahaya, 27 Steps of May, Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku. Movies like these are crucial to preserve cultures and bring awareness to the real-life problems within Indonesia. There is one movie called “Cek Toko Sebelah” which tells the story of a Chinese Indonesian family just getting through their lives, and I remember being so happy that they actually made a good movie that represents me and many other Chinese Indonesians. Through that movie, I can fill in the gaps in my culture and history, create conversations with my family, and re-learn our culture. In a way, the growth of Indonesian cinema is strengthening the very traditions that live within the nation. As you can see, this report is important to me as I want stories from Indonesia to resonate with the global audience. Not just for the sake of entertainment, but to help and giving voices to the unheard. Change starts from awareness and education. In a way, I am in the same timeline of growth as Indonesian cinema, making our way through the world. When Indonesian cinema really does take over the global entertainment the same way Korean entertainment did, these unique and diverse stories will be the things that Indonesia is known for. A way of preserving culture and making global impact.

Tools to help my research?

- Signal Triangulations

- Movies

- Observations of Indonesia's societal behaviour

- Readings

- Interview with fellow young Indonesians

How will I apply principles of Future Thinking into my trend report?

In doing my trend report, I am identifying signals from what kind of social issues Indonesian movies are tackling nowadays, and how are they being accepted now, as part of the process of creating a future scenario where social issue narratives will be the next big thing for Indonesian cinema.

I am also uncovering patterns by comparing the timeline for growth of Indonesian and Korean cinema. Both started to become global by releasing an action movie. Indonesia with The Raid and South Korea with Joint Security Area. They were released 11 years apart, in which gave me the space to uncover the patterns that has been created and followed by Indonesia’s current growth. They both started with action movies, then tackled horror, which also became global sensations. South Korea with Train to Busan and Indonesia with Pengabdi Setan. They started tackling societal problems put into movies. With the success of Parasite, it is clear how South Korea understands its social issue narrative thoroughly and being able to make it resonate with the global audience. Perhaps it’s also from the factors of Korea having side entertainments to help promote their movies. They have K-Drama and K-POP, which complements the growth of their movies globally. Indonesia has started following South Korea’s footsteps by creating movies that discuss heavy social problems such as sexism and sexual abuse through Marlina and 27 Steps of May. Though still have not reached its peak yet, Indonesia is making its way in the movie industry to share its stories.

But there is one prominent thing that I noticed from the success of Parasite. It’s that the movie doesn’t heavily promote South Korea’s culture. Sure it is set in Korea and does showcase bits of Korean superstitions here and there. But overall, it feels like a general movie. I think that is why the global audience resonate with the movie easily, because the movie itself portrays an issue that most of the people in the entire world face. Economical issue and classism.

"Humans think in stories, we try to make sense of the world by telling stories."

- Yuval Noah Harari

Plan towards Week 15 submission

1. Keep on framing the key points of my trend report to make it more compact and in depth

2. To do more research on societal impacts on or from movies

3. To define what this brings for Indonesian and SouthEast Asian people

4. Using Signal Trangulation to help with my report