The Line Walker

There are times when movies like Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones were becoming part of a phenomenon. With such a huge fan base and clubs associated to them. These movies are very huge that until today it unfolds fond memories amongst some people. Transformers and War of the Worlds may share the podium too.

The merchandising and video-tape era ( which slots in and takes a few seconds of mechanical rit-rat ) reminds us that the 80’s baby are the luckiest and gained most limited experiences of this century. Then comes the VCD and now the ever interactive and vivid DVD ( which the seller promises to be clear but still lacks of correct translation and silhouettes of people exiting the cinema )

Then comes family favorites like E.T ( extra terrestrial ) with the levitating bicycle upon the full moon backdrop. A story which you would want to watch on some lazy Sunday nite with the phone switched off. Poltergeist, in which a creepy woman head turns 360 degrees on a gloomy street; which is amazingly becomes synonymous with supernatural movies that follows.

Movies which performed quite well and became memorable such as 2002 Catch Me If You Can and 2004 The Terminal are both cunning and clever. It may not be an instant classics, yet, the stories had some sort of attraction ( apart from the sultry Catherine Zeta ) which casual movie-goers might like and keep holding them to their seats.

Laser shooting guns and flying back packs are forward looking futuristic movies which can be a headache-inducing movie in less than a decade. Minority Report seems to maintain the logic and explore the possibility of future. A movie that is mind twisting yet managed to be told in a manner easily digested by average minds. Then, comes A.I (Artificial Intelligence) which plays around the concept of humanoid robots which sparkled a conflict within itself. The touching story starred Jude Law as Gigolo Joe ( Why not Alfie? ) and the android kid David. A.I is sure forward but the story remained deep and intriguing with an ending which makes us utterly shed at least a single vapor of tears.

War movie buffs? Loves to see planes plunging down from the high skies or battleships sinking with smokes billowing from the belly? Saving Private Ryan are some of the movie which is both awesome in terms of war psychology and the bitter human battle of survival. As bitter as a sophomore kid

Bear in mind, these great blockbuster titles mentioned above were some of Steven Spielberg greatest work. It may be directed, scripted or written by him. An influential person in the industry to the extent where the “S” in the DreamWorks SKG ( remember Shrek intro? ) stands for Spielberg himself. The “K” and “G” on the other hand refers to his fellow director friends ( Katzenberg and Geffen ). Spielberg is both prominent and prolific; surely the Louis Khan of movie making or Steve Jobs of movie writers.

I personally admired the spirit of him in founding his own production studio as late as 1994. In effect, DreamWorks were put in-line with giant production studios such as Warner Bros, MGM, 20^th Century Fox and Universal which has been in the business as early as 1920’s when BOTOX and internal combustion engines were deemed as virtually impossible.

Being on top of the world and exceptionally good in what he does. Spielberg seems to never forget his roots. He is definitely not another blockbuster hungry Hollywood director. The Holocaust tragedy, death camps and ghetto liquidation seems like a wound that Spielberg inherited from his forefathers or relatives. Of course, what I’m telling you here the obvious, he is a Jewish.

Spielberg seems to have a personal war on behalf of his Jewish ancestry. The way he sets the game is different. A person who played the same game, but with the exception of different rules. Most of us are ashamed to admit the shameful or bitter experiences that we had previously. We despise our sad past till death, as we strive to live a happy life. We kept our mouth glued, screwed and shut from talking about the matter. We tried to never ever “walk-the-line” . ‘truth hurts’

As a Malay, I personally understood that Malays are secretive lot of people, we tends to try very hard in forgetting our hard-lived or bitter past which spurned the Melayu mudah lupa syair. This is not a holier-than-thou situation I’m trying to put people into, but, once a while, a visit to relatives which are chronically ill ( kencing manis, sakit jantung, buah pinggang etc.) makes us feel that in our relentless effort to fulfill our desire to match those that we envy; we do need to look back at our past once a while.

In the case of Spielberg, he seems to turn his past tragedy into triumph in forms of movie making. A person that walks the line. Although the line may be crooked or ugly.

The massacre of Israelites athletes during 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany in which the whole Israel Olympic team of 11 athletes were slain by Fatah freedom fighters were depicted into a film entitled ‘Munich’ released in 2004. Mostly about the vengeance of the Mossad ( Intelligence arm of the Israel ) in finding the plotters of the massacre. It garnered lots of award and a critically acclaimed.

The most straight-forward depiction of Jews hardship would be during the holocaust period itself. The movie ‘Schindler List’ which tells the story of a German industrialist which handpicked a thousand Jews from the camps and turned them into working-class people that produced cooking utensils for the Nazi German.

The hardship of Jews were not always told in a straight forward manner. If you looked back and found out that ’An American Tail’ cartoon are as adorable as those Sin Chan, then you may have not seen the big picture yet. An American Tail animation which depicted about a mouse which travelled to America with the hope that there is no cats there, were loosely based on the struggle of Jewish immigrant that made living abroad. Thrown inside this 1989 animation is also adult elements subplots like hypocrisy, sweatshops and corruption .Pretty cool for a kid cartoon huh?

Steven Spielberg film that focuses on human struggle extended even to the eastern corner of the world. Empire of The Sun ( 1987 ); a film about a privileged people which fell into the plague of war is a sign of Steven first foray this type of genre. Set in Shanghai during the invasion of Japanese force in early 1940’s.

Above all, this is simply Steven Spielberg way of showing his war on behalf of his ethnic. While he directed or wrote movies that enchant, pleases and enlighten us till we may have those Jurassic Park posters hung on the backside of the door or wardrobe ( dinosaurs staring at you as you slipped your pants ), he seems to run a war machine through the film industry. We ponder how does he did that; apart from big help from Jewish lobbyist in the American administration structure.

While we ponder, I assume that no matter how great we have gone, how many people we have rubbed shoulder and how far the length we go to pursue greatness, there is still one thing we shall never forget be it a Malay or a Jew: Never forget your roots.

The Rockenstein

Faisal Tahir is the first runner up of One In A Million reality show. Deemed as the ‘Rockenstein’, he garners lots of admiration and fans all around Malaysia. The shining star sparkled soo bright that it outshines the champion; Suki and the likes of it. Until recently, we had a mixed reaction about his show.

Personally, I do listen to his song. A few of his songs is indeed here in my iTunes playlist. These includes Maha Karya Cinta and Gemuruh. While I wrote this piece of blog, his songs might come and play along the shuffle mode. While, it seems like his image has been a little tarnished by the recent ‘bold’ move of taking off his shirt on the stage witnessed by hundreds spectators at the Park Garden somewhere near Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama the artist remained cool, while admitted the move was somewhat ‘unclever’. Sounds like a word of PR.

There should’nt be much of an issue to make of this. Unless, when it comes to the different interpretation of what really happens. Which, makes us looked divided between the much lauded and embraced freedom-of-individual expression and the much sensitive and guarded thing called etiquette. The different interpretation on Faisal Tahir’s made Malays look ridiculous in defining meaning of ‘liberty’. The various acceptance towards the incident. Some stated it as a decent show while some absolutely slapped it as awry and improper. Some never care and some stood firm against it. In the end of the day, other people are laughing at us and moving forth with their daily businesses, while we still debate so much on matter of taking off shirt on-stage with different hypothesis. Worst still, disagreement among the opinion seems to be unacceptable due to this matter somewhat chained with religion and etiquette. Unchaining it means you are a secular Malay, while leaving it alone means that you are somewhat an escapist. A single (bold and underlined) conclusion has to be made.

Well, this thing has been going on since forever. In 2005, In Perak, a female club singer cum dancer was caught by the state religion authority for wearing a short sleeve tight top. Not a tank top. Wow! If they were really zealous in doing that, they will find bazillion of them here in my college! Not only they can reveal their rubella and BCG bulge on their arm, but also other things near the cleavages.

A Malay proverb says Bapa borek anak rintik ( A son attitude reflects the fathers attitude ), which brings me to think of the possible ways of which this semi-naked incident to occur. Don’t get me wrong, I am not referring this to Faisal Tahir’s biological father. It applies to his ‘stardom’ father. Do make yourself clear that he was performing for the 8TV Rocking Concert to celebrate their 4^th anniversary held in Central Park Avanue.

The Media Prima conglomerate consists of several free-on-air channels. They were gathered through acquirisation, creation and mergers. The collection of channels includes TV3, ntv7, TV9 and finally 8TV itself. To avoid clashings of viewers, each channels has its own target group. This means their programming were dictated by the people it targeting. Generally, it goes as follows:-

TV3 - The hotshot, or the Wolverine in the X-Men mutant arsenal, this station is the most established and well known in Malaysia. The spearhead of Media Prima. The pioneer of private TV station in the nation, TV3 aimed to be the mainstream TV station that fulfills everyone channels appetite. Shows including cartoons in the morning, woman shows, Americano telenovelas, Hong-Kong serials, occasional Hindustans, Malay soap operas ( including Pontianaks ), and American phenomenal serials. It virtually has no target groups, very family oriented, although most of the shows is in Malay. TV3 is also famous for its spot-on journalism which vividly reflected through its 1-hour news slot Buletin Utama which also spurred unforgettable names like Karam Singh Walya, Pang Chin Fei and Azizah Ariffin....did I mentioned Azizah Ariffin?

Ntv7 – Targeted towards the young executive, Francise-running corporate woman, the Donald Trump wannabes, class-concious people. The in-house shows made for this channel often feature coat/blazer wearing hosts. Or blouse/evening dress woman in warm hues. Do not expect some funky spoilt brat shows with seasoned converse and washed-out jeans jumping around – quiet rare. But programming includes comedies from seasoned comedian such as Seinfeld and Raymond. Independent movie maker timeslots is genius. They even had roadtours to malls… ehem… expensive malls in big towns such as Penang, Johor Bahru and Klang Valley. Trying to project the high culture and elitism inside it.

TV9 – As soon as you heard the catchy rebana music montage of this channel, you probably get the idea of its target group. Going by the motto “dekat di hati” ( close to heart ), TV9 has a viewer target around the Malay-belt-states. These states are Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, which compromises Malays as majority ethnic composition. Their 8 o’clock news includes tudung wearing newscaster with overmake-uped cheeks and the colour green as its corporate image. The shows includes Malay classics, religious programming, Indonesian soap-operas, Malay-translated Nickoledeon cartoons and finally.. but not least…. Charlie Chaplain show. Um..

8TV – A channel made for the uber cool college kids which drives their parents Volkswagen Golf GTi and wear Paris Hilton overgrown shades thru the Smart-tag lane on LDP. Probably the biggest money-maker in Media Prima stables, this channel is the reincarnation of Metrovision ( remember socks!? ). The channel features loads of reality shows and latest American serials. Even as far as Las Vegas censored edition which turns like a cut-and-paste flick. Also frequently features Korean dramas and Mandarin news. In-house production much focused on fast-paced lifestyle, non-conformist and sometimes radical ideas. 8TV strives to be the preferred channel for the Kenny Hills, Bukit Tungkus and Damansara Uptowns citizen if they’re wasn’t any Astro. Strictly 16-40 age range. Or those who are quite exposed, open-minded ala-Paris in the morning, Tokyo in-the evening people.

The incident maybe indicated that the folks at 8TV were thinking that the concert is enjoyed by their target group. Even the crew employed, were of the same mindset perhaps. I’m not quiet sure there may be TV9 crew present during the concert since Media Prima is good in synchronizing staffers between channels ( this is of course to save cost ).

SKMM ( The Malaysian Communication & Multimedia Commission ) reported that there is a 2 minute delay between the live feed and broadcast period. Yet, no alteration of what would have occurred happened. This 2 minute delay is important in the case that Faisal Tahir’s show went awry ( etc. electric guitar burned, a suicide bomber came in or some lunatic dancing stark naked on the stage ). Yet, the shirt ripping incident was taken lightly by the several dozen crews who just might taught: Hmm…. 8TV fans must be enjoying this!

Finally, Faisal Tahir, the star who were born by 8TV itself. All of the people in the chain of command in 8TV has been intoxificated by the ‘target group’ idea. The idea has been infused into Faisal Tahir while he was still in the nebula of stardom. And finally, when the star is born, 8TV as the stardom father thought they have nurtured the greatest money making child, giving him the second OIUM podium. Yet, the unexpected occurred.

Maybe, Media Prima should do something what the Americans have done a long time ago. It is called ‘localization’. Do a radio or TV channel specifically for a certain region. Like the Sinar Harian newspaper which only appeared on the east-coast states of Peninsula Malaysia. The content can be picked according to the sensitivity and reception of the ‘target group’. For instance; big towns like Penang, Klang Valley and JB got the spanking new, visually daring and Americanized shows and the Malay belt can get the etiquette-based religion centered programs. TV3 on the other hand can stay in neutral, offering a mix of both, so as long as there is no big thinking gap between the urban, suburban and rural areas.

But wait! If Media Prima does that, and I’m here in Kedah barred from accessing 8TV, how am I going to know Faisal Tahir in the first place? Besides, Malaysia is too small and impractical for those localization sets. If that would happen; I wouldn’t be able to listen to his Gemuruh right now.