“…unfortunately, here in Indonesia, people are busy in becoming God,
they’re only human, but judging another human…”
It’s been a big controversial issue in Indonesia, where Livi Zheng as a director of Bali: Beats of Paradise, claimed herself that her film is listed in the oscar nomination selection. She also claimed, it is categorized as a feature film in contention for 2018 best picture, and ‘compete’ with Avengers: Infinity War.
OK, so.. what’s wrong with this statement?
At first, all of the press announced this news proudly, they called Livi Zheng “the director of Hollywood Film”. She also has been invited as a guest speaker in more than 20 universities for teaching and sharing her experiences as the director of Hollywood Film. Surely, Indonesia was proud for another creation from a young nation to be recognized internationally.
But, it only lasts until one of the media shout “The Dark Side of Livi Zheng’s Paradise“, looks like they want to reveal the mastermind behind Livi Zheng’s success in the film industry. Hence, they called Livi Zheng “si anak singkong“, which refers to a person who is financially poor and plebeian.
Well, yes, press as a media has the freedom to communicate and express any information to the public. Although, the freedom itself often be misappropriated and overexploited, leading to public figure bullying, mass judging, mass protests, and even unity disruption.
After the media revealed the dark side of Livi Zheng, it became viral,
and soon MetroTV held a TV show with Andini Effendi as the moderator,
entitled Q&A – “Belaga Hollywood”.
Somehow, I think it’s more like a “bullying” show.
Take a look at the setting, Zheng was on the right, alone,
while Joko Anwar and friends were on the left,
MetroTV is provocating.
Zheng wasn’t told by MetroTV about the title,
thus, she didn’t bring any friends, crews or family.
When I watched the video, I try to look at each side’s perspective,
do some research, watch other videos,
and think deeply about every statement.
The whole Q&A video was trying to show that Livi Zheng
is a narcissistic, that she is too much adore herself,
too much confidence (quoted from John de Rantau), too much bullshit (John de Rantau), and too soon to claim herself as a “Hollywood Director”.
Livi Zheng’s body language supports the statement above,
as it might be indicating that she felt guilty, fearful, or uncomfortable.
Moreover, the film itself has used many public figures and government to be promoted,
and almost half of the film is showing about how Livi Zheng directed the film,
it looks like “behind the scene” section with a longer duration.
Now, let’s try to think clearly from Livi Zheng’s perspective.
She is a woman, born in Indonesia, minority,
but fortunately had an opportunity to study in the U.S.,
(it is fully funded by her parents, according to the press),
then she’s been struggling for years to fit herself in the film industry.
And when her film listed in the oscar nomination selection,
(it is because she has all the money required to play the film in the U.S. cinema, according to the press),
she is very proud of herself that she is, sort of,
being a representative from Indonesia.
She routinely told the press and even post it in her socmed.
Then, when everything going smooth,
she’s invited to a talk show,
which they said it would discuss about career in the film industry,
it turns out that the talk show is attacking her,
even brought her family background into it.
From the “discussion”, I think none of them is right.
The moderator itself has been subjective from the very first.
Joko Anwar and friends wanted to “… create a positive ecosystem in the film industry…” which is too ideal to realize,
as there are often random things happened in business,
thus it is not impossible to happen in the film industry as well.
I see Joko Anwar and friends as a group of idealistic people,
trying to change Livi Zheng’s mindset.
And it’s not gonna happen.
Take a look at her background, she’s been very long in the U.S.,
and she must have been exposed to their culture,
which is… it is a normal thing to be very confident and proud of your own creation.
On the other side, Livi Zheng may not fully understand about Indonesian culture,
where “let your creation speaks, and you just shut up” is applied here.
The thing is, actually, the public could analyze which is an incredibly great film,
and which is not a good one,
unfortunately, here in Indonesia, people are busy in becoming God,
they’re only human, but judging another human.
Additionally, rather than focused on judging and scoffing a “different” person,
Joko Anwar could just focus on producing a much much better film
to get into the Oscar nomination far better than Livi Zheng,
and may be even work together with her,
to know more about her,
to deliver a different mindset to her,
so she might be realized that she has been too much all of this time.
We are not a communist, where everything has to be the same and uniform,
we are democratic, where we have our own rights and boundaries.
References
Click to access 91st_reminder_list.pdf
https://www.oscars.org/news/347-feature-films-contention-2018-best-picture-oscarr
https://www.oscars.org/news/166-documentary-features-submitted-2018-oscar-race
pic source: Google
CHILD AND THE UNIVERSE 