Preachy Art

21 October 2004 7:09 pm

I have to admit that I hate watching Malay-language programmes on Channel Suria ("suria" means "sun" in Malay). No doubt my prejudice is based on my experience from years ago, when I made more effort to switch to the channel every now and then. Perhaps now they have better programmes. People who are regular Suria viewers would be able to enlighten me.

I hate the dramas most of all. The plot is always trite and sexist. It makes me feel like Malays are still living in another century, where men are in charge and women are just chattel. I remember watching this drama about a married couple some years ago (Ramadan-themed dramas abound at this time of the (Islamic calendar) year). The man in the show was the stereotypical male chauvinist pig. He was head of his own company and consequently rich and arrogant. His wife was the stereotypical Cinderella, a devoted wife who didn't work but laboured over household chores daily and uncomplainingly. He was mean to her, cold and curt. He was oblivious and apathetic even when it became to clear to any viewer within 15 minutes of watching the show that she was hiding a serious illness (much coughing and fainting spells). Maybe the dramatic irony was intentional, but still. Anyhow, do you see where this is going? You do, don't you? I'll give you 30 seconds to think, and then we'll compare answers.

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Okay, here goes. Wifey's illness got worse and in her despair (cos Asshole Hubby didn't give a shit) she drove off to her mother's house to seek comfort. Mother was furious with AH but lovingly attempted to nurse daughter back to health, to no avail. AH got a change of heart when the end of Ramadan came, and the emptiness of his life and his home struck him. Overcome with remorse, he rushed to Mother-in-Law's house only to find Wife critically ill, on the verge of death. He cried and begged for her forgiveness on her deathbed. She opened her eyes exactly 5 seconds before the credits rolled. The viewer was left to assume that his remorsefulness gave her enough strength to fight her illness and eventually recover from it, or that she died but not before knowing that he was sorry for being a jerk all this time.

This show had me agape with disgust and boiling mad over the many glaring errors of logic, even as I tried to assuage my distress with mental reminders that this was a work of fiction. Let me explain why I have issues with the drama.

  1. Firstly, I don't understand why a man rich enough to head his own company, own a huge house and 2 cars (one for himself and one for Wife) could not afford a maid to keep his house in order. Why was the Wife doing housework all the fucking time? I don't know anyone that rich not having a maid. Obviously the scriptwriter made him a Scrooge in the housekeeping expenses department just to make the audience hate him. As if being a cold, absent husband is not bad enough.


  2. I hate the portryal of the Wife as a meek, long-suffering woman eager to please, afraid to offend. If he had rescued her from a life of abject poverty in a remote village by marrying her, it would be slightly more understandable why she took his abuse with teary eyes and fervent prayers for patience. One would suppose she was so fucking grateful to him she didn't dare complain when he didn't hire a maid for them. But this was a woman who came from a wealthy family too, judging from the size of her mother's house when she came crying to her. What did her parents teach her about self-respect? Nothing, I suppose. Obviously her character was created as a model of the ideal Malay woman, meek and subservient and uncomplaining, whatever her social status or education level. Disgusting.


  3. Another thing, if the couple was so rich why didn't the Wife see a specialist about her illness? What, Hubby didn't give her any medical allowance? It's ridiculous, she went running to Mother and was practically bed-ridden the entire time, on the verge of death, surrounded by people reciting the Quran, praying for her recovery. What the fuck? Why didn't ANYONE think to send her to the hospital? Even if Hubby was a mean fucker, surely wealthy Mother would have the presence of mind to get her daughter treated? Mr Scriptwriter decided to make everyone stupid in this story so that Wife's condition would worsen, in time for Hubby to regret his behaviour and come begging for forgiveness. Lame.


  4. Finally, there's the ending. I absolutely hate endings like that, where things are resolved with a teary deathbed scene. Fuck that. I have had the misfortune of knowing enough abusive and irresponsible men (husbands and boyfriends) to know that leopards do not change their spots so easily. If the Wife's moment of consciousness at the end of the scene was meant to suggest impending recovery (through the return of the Hubby, no less; even when they're jerks they get to be heroes), you can bet all your life savings that he would be back to his old ways once she was out of danger. Especially when she was such a pathetic pushover.

Dramas like the one I just bitched about are really vehicles for preaching stoic tolerance and forgiveness of male abuse. Obviously it is in the interest of some sections of Malay society to keep their womenfolk in check. Why should I watch shit like that? It's too late to make me a grateful, long-suffering little woman. I've already survived abuse and emerged stronger, and I'm too educated to see myself as inferior to men. Suria has to have the courage to portray life honestly and curb the urge to preach or propagate obsolete ideals if it wants to win viewers like me.

Meanwhile, I will stick to my TV diet of CSI.

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Older entries
Ramadan - 08 October 2006
Where I Have Been - 03 October 2006
Baby Talk - 10 August 2006
6 Weeks of Separation - 16 July 2006
Unacceptable Rudeness - 21 June 2006