When I was a kindergarten (pre-school in the UK) teacher, my teaching colleague, Hector, once said to me,
“Kids these days. They never understand the joy of playing firecracker or playing in the field. They always spend so many times with their gadgets. Gadgets make their eyes hurt and less concentrate on academic.”
I agreed with that statement, but at the same time, I disagreed. As a teacher dealing with 5-year-old children, that is an everyday conversation among parents and teachers at least in Indonesia. In terms of psychology and health development, I think it is true. There are certain developmental stages of childhood when children are prone to the amount of screen that they are exposed to. Inevitably, it will have some effects on their eyesight or concentration to some extent.
But since I don’t have a psychology background, I have no rights in claiming such. I am more interested in observing how my students play and involve in the conversation with my students about how they play. Apparently, they still enjoy play pretend using cooking playset, dolls, blocks with their friends at school. Even though at home, they may be very skilful in operating their gadgets to click YouTube app and search their favourite channel.
So, this conversation took place way before I watched this film that I’m going to review, but both have some connection in the theme of children’s play.
The film is titled Kulari ke Pantai (I Ran to the Beach, 2018), a children film that was created by renowned duo Indonesia children film producer and director, Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana. Many Indonesians have a high expectation of this movie because it has been almost ten years since their last collaboration.
The film follows cousins, Sam and Happy, who used to be close but they have drifted apart as they grew. Sam is a nature girl who loves to surf and lives nearby the beach. Meanwhile, Happy is a city girl who revolves her life around Instagram. On school vacation, they travel together with Sam’s mother. Due to their opposite personalities, Sam and Happy often clash. At the same time, they learn experiences and values about each other that make them change their views about others and the world.
I don’t remember much about the detail of the film because I haven’t rewatched it, but one thing I remember clearly is that Happy’ appears to be the one whohas significant character development . Maybe because I can relate to Happy more, especially to the situations of the students I was teaching. Happy is struggling in the film. She is “forced” to leave her posh life in the city. She also has to speak proper Bahasa Indonesia (she speaks English almost all the time with her family) during the trip. Also, she needs to adapt to Sam who is in total opposite with her.
There was this one scene when Happy is affected by social media peer pressure. Happy has to cancel going to a concert with her Instagram friend. She thinks that the world ends just because of that.
On the other hand, Sam is used to living in nature, familiar with making friends with strangers, and having fun in anything that she is doing. She clearly doesn’t understand the situation that Happy is in; neither does Happy about Sam’s way of life. Sam slowly also adapts to Happy and starts to realise that there is another way of human interaction and how important it is for Happy.
Kulari is somehow similar to Petualangan Menangkap Petir (Lightning Catching Adventure, 2018) which I wrote on my other blog post. Through the leading characters duo (Sterling – Giant; Happy – Sam), both film highlight the complexities of Indonesian’s children’s world as a whole. In this so-called digital world era, children in one area may be exposed to social media while in other parts, some are not. The films depict how these children cope with these differences when interacting with each other.
I think Kulari and Petualangan represent the kind of child’s play that merges digital and traditional together. In the world that we live now, it seems to me that children need both plays.
Those who are from a more privileged family, we know for sure that it is almost impossible to avoid them using digital media or accessing social media, considering its affordances. But they also need to be introduced to the real world surrounding them too and how they can learn valuable lessons from it. In the films, this is the case for Happy and Sterling.
Children from families who are less privileged or when their parents limit their digital media use, they may be experts in outdoor play. Yet, at some point in their life, they may encounter social media in any ways or playing with friends that use digital media. So, it’s better to prepare them too by explaining what it may mean for them, for instance, why they don’t have it, why they can’t play with it yet, how they should use it, or other questions that children may ask the parents. This situation is best describing Sam and Giant.
Okay before I finish, I want to quote something.
“Media representations can be seen as real in some ways but not in others: we may know that something is fantasy, yet recognize that it can still tell us about reality.”
David Buckingham (from Media Education Manifesto)
From his point of view, I think that these children films do have some exaggerations and “fantasy” in their depiction about children, of a perfect children’s life. But, they also inform me about the reality in Indonesia to a certain degree.
There are advantages and disadvantages of social media in the children’s lives. But, not being exposed to digital media may also bring some challenges if they are about to live in a place with digital advancement.
I know this may sound so cliché and seems to be easier said than done. But, through my experience teaching children age 4 and 5, it’s just so much fun when I don’t limit the play. Just engage fully with them with whatever play source I have, either YouTube or cooking playset (and blocks too haha).
Not a food blog 
One thought on “Hector”