STOP being passive audience

Assalamualaikum readers.

This entry is dedicated to all movie lovers, drama lovers and all sitcom lovers. We all love a good time watching the TV, binging on chocolates and popcorns, drooling over the cute couple in the series and feeling like throwing a chair towards the villain in a movie. YES.

But today I wanna ask everyone a question, “What did you learn after watching a movie/drama?”

Did you learn anything at all?

Hmm…

Actually watching a movie should be just a hobby, to pass the time, make you feel less stressed and refreshed. Yes. But you also need to get something out of the movie/drama. You need to learn something or get some advice from it as well. If not, you’re just kindda wasting your time.

For example, I have been watching The Good Wife since Season 1, then I stopped after Season 5 or 6, I can’t remember. What have I learnt throughout the seasons?

Politics sucks. Lawyers can take advantage of a situation to their own benefit. Like how Alicia Florrick asked for favours from Peter while she was a newbie at the firm, she took a lot of quick turns with just a phone call to Peter and she suddenly gets all the information she needs within a few days, sometimes in a few hours. Even the judge knows her in court, and there already an upperhand towards winning a case if the judge knows you.

I also watched Scandal for a few seasons. Almost the same story, politics sucks. That a politician will do whatever to stay on top. Almost all politicians somehow would turn into a bad guy, when he is at the top. The guy who cheats on his wife, but still puts on a good face when he is out in public. Undercover operations to clean up messes for the ones who can pay for the team.

Crazy world we live in.

All of these make me think and wonder what else could be going on in the world that we don’t know about. What are the politicians and rulers of countries thinking and controlling? Are we ever going to know about them? Who’s the good guy? Who’s the bad guy?

Now, I wanna go on a little further into Malay dramas. I watch them sometimes. Malay dramas are a little different. Lately, a lot of dramas are based on novel adaptations. And most novels have almost the same storyline, more or less. (at least I see them almost the same)

Usually, the girl will fall in love with a guy, get engaged and then somehow, something will go wrong (the fiancé met in an accident, gets killed or runs away) and the poor girl will continue life miserably. Then comes in our hero, the cold guy with no heart, he owns a business or comes from a wealthy family, has one or two bad habits. His family likes the poor girl, they both get married based on an arranged marriage. This girl will try to impress the guy and his family, does all the right things and the guy would either still act cold or treat her badly. When he finally opens his heart for her, comes in the third party, his ex-girlfriend, ex-fiancee, ex wife….she will plan something to break this couple up. And the story goes on….

Most malay drama fans/audience only watch the drama for the sake of the hero who would be incredibly handsome, or the girl who is super good and kind in the drama. And they would hope that the guy will change into a good guy and they would live happily ever after.

Nobody gives a rats ass about the Islamic point of all these.

See…all Malay dramas, mostly will somehow have Islamic perspective on it, because they are all Muslims. So, why not we, the Muslim audience take something out of it as well?

For example…

In one of the dramas I watched, the hero was married to the heroine and he was a pilot. When the heroine went back to her hometown while she was pregnant, the hero got into a plane crash. They couldn’t find his body, and declared him dead. 6 months has passed and still no clues of his body. The guy’s parents have finally accepted that their son is dead, but the wife started to have psychological problems. She was constantly talking about the husband, and also she had a miscarriage. She was going through a lot, I guess. And about a year later, the story of the pilot rises, he was married to a lady in Egypt and he apparently had memory loss. He came back to his hometown, doesn’t recognize his family or friends, did the DNA test and was proven to be the pilot who was involved in the crash.

So, what now? HE already has a second wife in Egypt. And his first wife (whom he doesn’t remember) is here, still waiting for him.

From a Muslim’s perspective, first of all, if you hear something terrible happening, say Astaghfirullah and Innalillah wa inna ilaihirrajiunnn. Then, do a lot of prayers and zikr. Because we are at our weakest, and syaitons (devils), love it when we are at our weakest. We can easily slip into a quicksand and it’s so hard to get out. Pray a lot of Allah, ask Him for forgiveness, strengthen our hearts and help us in dealing with our troubles.

Secondly, when it comes to problems about the syariah (laws in Islam), we need to study back on what Allah says about these situations. So, we as Muslims, should also find out, how do we settle this problem, handling it the best way that we can. If we have no knowledge on this, we need to seek help from the ones who has.

So, in this case, the drama potrayed that the second wife (wife from Egypt) lets go of her husband, because she felt like she was the one who took the guy away from the first wife, and that the first wife needs him more than she does. But in Islam, that shouldn’t happen. I mean, what will happen to the second wife now? She’ll stay in Egypt a single woman? Pity her.

That’s why we need to ask Allah for help, ask Him for strength in hadling and dealing with situations like this. At the same time, seek advice from ustaz and ustazah, the court and those who has experiences in dealing with such situations.

This is what I mean by active audience. We process the scenes from the movie or drama and we do our own thinking, should this happen, why did this happen, how to solve an issue…not just accepting what the storyline gives you. Yes, these were made for entertainment purposes, but this also rarely happen in reality. Might as well, we learn something about it, apply it in reality mode and solve the issue.

I hope you understand where I’m coming from with this entry. Just don’t accept what’s been given to you. Process and digest them. Make the brain work. Learn something from storylines.

Be an active audience.

Thank you.