Volume III JURNAL Nomor 2 Komunikasi Oktober 2014 ISSN 2301-9816 Indonesia The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan

Abstrak/Abstract East Asian television dramas from Japan, and South Korea have become a significant part of the cultural global- ization process in the Indonesian mediascapes since the 1990s. The Indonesian cultural, political and social specificities have created significant distinctions on how these television dramas reconstruct the shared imagination of (East) Asia in comparison with how it is in other locales. The research findings have extended the discussion of geocultural/linguistic regions, which argues that the success of a television drama in one region, for example telenovelas in Latin America, is affected by a similar cultural and linguistic background. It echoes that the Asian case should be analyzed in a distinctive framework compared to other regional case studies, specifically in the circulation and distribution process. The research concerns a multi-layered analysis that draws on the methodological resources of textual analysis and institutional research, which contextualized these television dramas culturally, historically and geographically. The aim is to understand how the two primary media technologies in the in-between space of production and consumption, namely television and pirated DVDs, work as intermediaries and also as gatekeepers since they precondition commonalities between these television dramas with local expectations.

Drama televisi dari Jepang, Taiwan dan Korea Selatan telah menjadi bagian dari proses globalisasi budaya di Indonesia sejak tahun 1990an. Indonesia memiliki konteks budaya, politik dan sosial yang spesifik sehingga ada perbedaan yang signifikan dalam proses pemaknaan drama televisi ini dalam hubungannya dengan bagaimana imaginasi mengenai ‘Asia’ (Timur) dilakukan di Indonesia apabila dibandingkan dengan negara lain. Hasil penelitian pada akhirnya mengembang- kan diskusi mengenai wilayah geocultural/linguistik yang mengasumsikan bahwa kesuksesan drama televisi di sebuah wilayah, misalnya Amerika Latin, dilatarbelakangi persamaan budaya dan sistem linguistik. Maka dari itu, studi kasus ini, yang terjadi di wilayah regional Asia, harus dianalisa dengan kerangka pemikiran yang berbeda dibandingkan dengan studi kasus di wilayah regional lainnya terutama dalam proses sirkulasi dan distribusi. Penelitian ini menggunakan beberapa metode seperti analisis tekstual dan studi institusional yang memposisikan drama televisi dari negara Asia Timus sesuai dengan konteks budaya, sejarah dan geografinya. Tujuan utama penelitian ini adalah memaknai bagaimana dua media teknologi, televisi dan DVD bajakan, bekerja sebagai intermediaries dan juga sebagai gatekeepers ketika kedua media ini mengkonstruksikan commonalities (asumsi bahwa adanya persamaan antara apa yang ditampilkan di drama televisi dengan konteks lokal Indonesia).

Kata kunci/Keywords:

Drama televisi, globalisasi budaya, media teknologi, intermediary/gatekeeper, DVD bajakan

Television dramas, cultural globalization, media technologies, ntermediary/ gatekeeper, pirated DVDs

Program Studi Inggris, Introduction Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya, revious research on intra-regional television Universitas Indonesia, Depok 16424 products countries mainly focused on areas Pwith historical, cultural and even linguistic [email protected] backgrounds shared with the countries of produc- tions. These studies, such as the analysis of Jap- anese dramas reception and circulation in Hong Kong (Leung 2002), Japanese dramas in Taiwan (Iwabuchi, 2001), Korean dramas in Hong Kong and Singapore (Lin and Tong 2008; Kim 2007) or telenovelas in Latin America (Straubhaar, 1991),

84 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014 have concluded that a strong regional flavor and a desire of cultural proximity are the driving forc- The flow of East Asian transnational popular es of these television dramas. However, with the culture products has affected the complex imagi- developing complexity of the cultural traffic, es- nation of East Asia as a part of cultural globaliza- pecially in Asia, the analysis of television dramas tion in Asia. Research working on this area has “…should be oriented towards the structure and concluded that, in the end, cultural globalization modalities through which the products partake cannot be understood within the existing media into the political, social, cultural and economic imperialism model of cultural globalization. Koi- material relations within the different locations chi Iwabuchi (2002) argues that the regional con- where the products are produced, circulated and nection in Asia through the transnational flow of consumed” (Chua, 2012, p.12). cultural products should no longer be analyzed This case study focuses on how East Asian from the West-Rest perspective. television dramas circulate in Indonesia and the Additionally, it is important to define what East process that occurs in the in-between space of pro- Asia means, especially as it relates to this research duction and consumption. The context to be ana- specifically. What is the implication of using the lyzed has moved beyond the proximate East Asian term East Asia as a contrast to the location of the markets of China, Taiwan and Singapore because research, which is in a Southeast Asian country? the focus of the discussion will be a Southeast As argued by Ainslie and Lim (2015), “While this Asian market, located in a different sub-region of area is still defined as ‘Asia’ and is part of the Asia. Two media technologies1, namely television Asian continent, Southeast Asia is a wholly sepa- and pirated DVDs, are taken into account as in- rate part of Asia from those countries considered termediaries, which sometimes also work as gate- to be a part of East Asia” (p. 3). Because these keepers, because they precondition commonalities television dramas come from East Asian coun- between these television dramas with local expec- tries, analysis on how these products are circulat- tations. he arguments proposed in this article re- ed in a Southeast Asian country need to focus on fute previous hypotheses of regional affinities as the comparable characteristics of the countries of a driving force in the flow of television products production and the country of consumption. These within a region. comparable characteristics, such as the cultural, political and social aspects and the “ordinariness” Intra-Asia Cultural Traffic of the audience, are the main reasons why this re- All kinds of cross-border connections are rapid- search is expected to deal with new issues, which ly increasing in Asia. The dynamic flows of popu- have not yet been explored by other research in lar culture happen across national, geographical this area of media studies. and geopolitical boundaries within a specific con- The emergence of a regional East Asian popular textual environment. culture connection, as argued by Chua Beng Huat ...since the 1980s popular culture products (2012), was primarily affected by the liberation of have criss-crossed the national borders of the East media industries in several parts of Asia, which Asian countries and constituted part of the cul- had opened up the market for these television dra- ture of consumption that defines a very large part mas. By the late 1980s, the authoritarian regimes of the everyday life of the population throughout in the region, including China, began to liberal- the region. This empirically highly visible cultural ize the media industries even though the govern- traffic allows for the discursive construction of an ment continues to regulate the transnational flow ‘East Asian Popular Culture’ as an object of analy- even up until now. As a consequence, there was a sis. (Chua, 2004, p. 202) speedy development of television stations. There was a massive amount of airtime that needed to be 1The main focus of this article is the circulation process of filled quickly and inexpensively. Imported serial East Asian television dramas in Indonesia by investigating dramas were considered the best options in filling the institutional practices of a broadcast television station extra airtime, and in early 1990s Japanese televi- and pirated DVD sellers and also by analyzing texts pro- sion dramas were the most accessible ones as they duced within those institutional practices. As an example, were produced abundantly. Consequently, televi- sion stations, such as STAR TV and Channel U dubbing and subtitling are seen not only as cultural prac- in Hong Kong and Singapore, started to fill their tices, for example the low-budget subtitling practices by airtime with Japanese dramas. pirated DVD producers could be analyzed not only from In early 2000, there was a significant shift its institutional practices but also from a textual analysis from Japanese dramas to Taiwanese and Korean of the (broken) English or Malay subtitles. Due to the re- dramas. When Korean dramas first circulated in search limitation, the article will not cover the audience or Asia, audience chose these dramas because they any viewership aspects. The writer of the article has ex- essentially had the same formulae with the previ- plored this aspect in another article: Imaginary ‘Asia’ In- ous Japanese dramas. The successful penetration donesian Audience’s Reflexivity on K-Dramas. In Ainslie, of Korean dramas into the regional market was M. J. and Joanne B.Y.L. (Eds). (2015). The Korean Wave due to appropriate timing. The post-1997 Asian in Southeast Asia, Malaysia: SIRD. Financial Crisis had trampled the Korean nation-

85 Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries al economy, forcing the government to step up the from Japan, Taiwan and Korea have formulated exporting of Korean popular culture as part of the the textuality, which is heavily influenced by their national export industry. The result for this expan- transnational disposition. As an illustration, the sion of export resulted in: “The confluence of these early development of Korean and Taiwanese tele- two separate industry strategies led to the rapid vision dramas came as a response to a regional importation and screening of Korean TV Dramas market need. For that reason, there are a number in the rest of East Asia, except Japan, creating the of similarities in the thematic content and visual so-called ‘Korean Wave’ in the region” (Chua and aspects as these dramas are produced based on Iwabuchi, 2008, p. 4). At the same time, the crisis dramas, which were circulated earlier. The circu- had steered television industries in other coun- lation network has indeed shaped these compara- tries to look for relatively cheaper programs com- ble textual elements. pared to the expensive Japanese dramas. By early Besides its textuality, the popularity of these 2000, Korean dramas started to replace Japanese television dramas in the Asian region is also af- dramas in most parts of East Asia, such as Hong fected by strategies done by producers and distrib- Kong, Taiwan, and China, and also in Singapore. utors in order to extend the life span of these dra- In order to contextualize the nature of East mas. One way is by circulating them to locations Asian television dramas, it is necessary to look at outside the production countries and by creating the development of the dramas in relation to one “media spectacles.”4 Tania Lim (2008) identifies another affecting their textual formulation. Japa- that most East Asian producers and distributers nese television dramas, or what Koichi Iwabuchi would create media spectacles in order to extend (2002) characterizes as “trendy dramas2,” gen- the life span and to increase the profile of their erally centre on romantic stories between young television products. She argues that: professionals in an urban setting. This thematic Such spectacles include lavish concerts and element would then be formulated in Taiwanese road-shows in the largest cities around the world, and Korean television dramas. Referring back to advertising for global brands as a signifier of their an earlier discussion, Korean dramas were shaped success as a pop icon, and generating lots of news in conversation with the development of Japanese and more likely rumors of love triangles, rivalry dramas. As mentioned earlier, in early 2000, Ko- and other kinds of stories that stir the public’s rean dramas were replacing dramas from Japan imagination, feelings and opinions about the stars as a cheaper option3 for television stations in Asia. behind the shows. (Lim, 2008, p. 47) Chua Beng Huat (2012) has explained that Ko- One example is . After the rap- rean producers came up with relatively the same id popularity of MG in many parts of Asia, and formulae with Japanese dramas. A significant dif- also some other parts of the world, there was “an ference is that the characters in Korean dramas F4-merchandising and advertising empire” ap- usually come from a younger generation. They re- pearing quite provisionally through concert tours, main entangled in familial relations while insert- albums, music videos and celebrity appearances ing an additional layer of drama, a combination in mega events which lead to a huge fan follow- of romantic and family themes. In the matter of ing in 2001 to 2003. These Asia-based networks thematic content, these television dramas share a of production and distribution reflect the regional comparable story line, mainly focusing on roman- dynamics of cities, which are connected geo-lin- tic involvements, familial relations, and more im- guistically in order to create a prospective mar- portantly, an urban context. ket. For example, in Singapore, if there are new For this article, it is significant to bring forward and popular television dramas or other television these comparable elements even though to claim shows like reality shows and game shows, there East Asian television dramas as a genre would re- will be a ready supply of program-associated mer- quire more intensive research. The fabricated the- chandise to be distributed to all over the region. matic and visual elements echo how the dramas One particular popular culture product is comple- mented with other lifestyle products. 2 There is also a categorization of “post-trendy drama” re- ferring to dramas after 1990s because those before 1990s East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia are already regarded as “trendy dramas” (Schilling (1997)). The most prominent local Indonesian television However, as argued by Iwabuchi (2002b), the “post-trendy station broadcasting East Asian television dramas dramas” could also still be categorized as “trendy dramas” is Indosiar. It was established during the period because the notion of “trendy” refers to the visualization of changes, in late 1990s, when the broadcasting of urban consumptive lifestyle depicted strongly in these system opened up possibilities for more private commercial television stations to be established. dramas. For this research, the notion “trendy dramas” is Since the beginning, this television station has used in this sense without referring to Japanese dramas from before 1990s. 4Douglas Kellner, in his work Media Spectacle, defines 3“…the economic downturn in Asia in the late 1990s made media spectacles as defining moments in a collective or so- the cheaper Korean programming a popular alternative ciety’s life. They are “…a phenomena that itself has been in these media markets. Korean television dramas were a subjected to the logic of spectacle and tabloidization in the quarter of the price of Japanese ones…” (Shim, 2008, p. era of the media sensationalism, political scandal and con- 25) testation…” (Kellner, 2003, p. 2) 86 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014 positioned itself to be the most prominent televi- F48, which could be considered as a momentous- sion station in broadcasting East Asian television ly popular culture phenomenon in Indonesia at dramas. When Indosiar was first established on the time. Many fans decorated their belongings, 11 January 1995, it broadcast a number of Asian including bags and t-shirts, with the faces of the television programs ranging from kung fu series boy band members, downloaded the series’ theme from Hong Kong like The Return of the Condor He- song as their mobile ring tone and even learned roes5 and Bollywood films from India. Subsequent- how to sing the song by heart, despite not under- ly, after establishing its position, receiving high standing meaning of the lyrics. At that time, one ratings and attracting a large number of adver- could find F4 knick-knacks in shopping centers tisers, it continued broadcasting Asian television scattered all over Jakarta and also other cities in products as its main focus. Indonesia. In January 2003, the F4’s concert was The first development of East Asian television one of the biggest concerts ever held in Jakarta. dramas in Indonesia started in 1998 when In- The atmosphere was chaotic, as Setijadi (2006) dosiar first broadcast a Japanese television dra- described: “Outside, thousands of eager fans who ma, Tokyo Love Story. It received high ratings could not get hold of tickets stood on trees, on top and opened a new genre of East Asian television of buses, climbed on gates and even risked their products on this television station, Drama Asia or own safety by climbing on construction cranes just Asian Dramas. Afterward, it began broadcasting to catch a glimpse of their idols” (Setijadi, 2006, more Japanese television dramas, such as Long p. 197). These fans crowded the concert venue to Vacation, 101 Proposal and Ordinary People. As a watch the Taiwanese boy band, famous from the matter of fact, Tokyo Love Story was not the first television drama Meteor Garden. Japanese television drama ever broadcasted in Following the popularity of Taiwanese tele- Indonesia. In 1983, TVRI, as the only television vision dramas, especially Meteor Garden, there station in Indonesia at that time, broadcasted Os- was a significant shift to Korean television- dra hin6. Besides in Indonesia, Oshin was popular in mas, opening up the flow of Korean popular cul- 59 other countries, especially in other developing ture products in Indonesia. In 2001, Endless Love countries in Asia. This shows how East Asian tele- (also known as Autumn in My Heart) was broad- vision dramas have had a long-standing historical cast from Monday to Thursday, at 6 pm, consid- presence in Indonesia. ered prime time in Indonesia. The attractiveness The next development of East Asian popular of Endless Love opened up a barometer for a new culture products was signified by the booming wave of television dramas from Korea, continuing popularity of Meteor Garden from Taiwan in 2001. its predecessors from Japan and Taiwan. The em- After a few years airing Japanese television dra- phasis on Japanese dramas in the 1990s, Taiwan- mas along with other kinds of East Asian televi- ese (especially MG) in 2001-2002 and also the era sion products, the broadcasting of Meteor Garden of Korean dramas from 2002 until now are import- marked the high popularity of East Asian televi- ant to give a contextual time frame on how they sion dramas in Indonesia. At that time, “The rat- have become a part of the Indonesian audience’s ing for MG reached 5,1 with a 29.9 share and this everyday lives since the 1990s until now without was considered as a very high rating. This has also disregarding other television dramas from other influenced other television station’s policy in im- countries. porting East Asian television series7” (Merdikan- All in all, the emphasis on Japanese dramas ingtyas, 2001, p. 3). Meteor Garden, considered in the 1990s, Taiwanese (especially MG) in 2001- the highlight of East Asian television products in 2002 and also the era of Korean dramas from 2002 Indonesia, opened up a new discourse on Asian- until now are important to give a contextual time ness. Another example of how popular culture has frame on how they have become a part of the Indo- constructed Indonesians’ imagination of the coun- nesian audience’s everyday lives since the 1990s try of production is reflected in the popularity of until now without disregarding other television dramas from other East Asian countries.

5The Return of the Condor Heroes is a Hong Kong tele- Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries vision series adapted from Louis Cha’s novel of the same In analyzing these television dramas coming title. It was first broadcast on TVB in 1983 in Hong Kong. from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, the circula- It was broadcast on Indosiar in 1995 (from Monday to Fri- tion practices need to be interrogated as an in-be- day.) tween space. Within this in-between space, the 6 product is distributed from the country of produc- A Japanese television drama, which was aired on broad- tion to country of consumption and there are sev- caster NHK from April 4, 1983 to March 31, 1984. The se- eral actors who are involved, namely the broadcast ries tells about the life of Oshin Tanokura during the Meiji television stations and pirated DVD sellers9. Both period up to the early 1980s. 8 7Translated from: “Rating MG yang mencapai 5,1 dengan A Taiwanese boy band which become popular as the four share 29,9 terhitung bagus dan mempengaruhi kebijakan male leading roles in Meteor Garden with members Jerry stasiun televise lainnya dalam mengimpor serial Asia” Yan, , Ken Chu, and . (Merdikaningtyas, 2001, p. 3). 9 Before moving forward into detailed empirical 87 Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries are types of technology that enable the circulation fore the broadcast television station or the pirated of these television dramas in Indonesia. Further- DVD sellers choose particular television dramas to more, these two intermediaries have become a be broadcast or sold. They will screen what titles part of the audience’s everyday routine. Television are available in the market, especially those that is a technology, which is available in every house- are popular in their country of productions. Indo- hold, while pirated DVDs have become an alter- siar, according to an interview with the PR staff10, native technology of distribution. Both have rap- in this practice, is legally constrained under the idly mediated these television dramas across time government broadcasting regulation, including and space. In this circulation network, there are the foreign program quota and content regulation. multiple layers of mediation and each layer is so- Upon screening what titles are profitable, Indo- cially, culturally, economically and even political- siar will then select a title (selecting process). The ly contextualized in each institutional practices. last stage is the filtering process and for Indosiar, In these layers of mediation, broadcast television this is a process of multiple layers of censorship station, in this case Indosiar, as the most prom- based on particular regulations from the state. In inent television station broadcasting East Asian this filtering process, the television drama would television dramas, and pirated DVD sellers work need to go through the Film Censorship Board and as intermediaries in constructing commonalities then the self-censorship process of the television and glossing over differences between television station. Afterward, the television dramas would dramas from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. In be censored through the dubbing process, which other words, what are considered as affinities be- will be discussed later on in this article. tween East Asian countries and Indonesia are not These censorship/regulating practices refor- in fact embedded in the television dramas. They mulate East Asian television dramas before the are a part of the preconditioned reception context Indonesian television audience consumes them. set up the intermediary practices of Indosiar and This institutional practice does not only reformu- pirated DVD sellers. late the content of the television dramas but also First of all, this research has found that there reflect how its institutional practices are bounded is an interconnection between various intermedi- within the government’s regulations. As an exam- aries, such as when pirated DVDs sellers use tele- ple, Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) vision as references. The way they promote the released a warning letter to Indosiar on 12 June latest titles is a part of their intermediary practic- 2012 regarding the scene in the Korean television es, which is how the sellers predetermine the re- drama, Protect the Boss11, which portrayed a scene ception context with marketing strategies such as: in which the actors and actresses almost kissed. “This title will be aired soon on television.” This The broadcasting commission is tasked with en- is used to entice audiences to watch the series in suring that the content is acceptable and in line advance before it is aired on television. The audi- with the lawmakers’ definition of “norms of decen- ence is invited to be one step ahead of the televi- cy and pudency.”12 These multiple layers of regu- sion stations. This reflects how television is still lations, as argued previously, ensure that televi- a reference even for the pirated DVD sellers, for sion content remains in line with the morals and both kiosks and online vendors. Furthermore, this values espoused by the state. This turns television demonstrates the inter-connectedness between tool for state-sponsored moral policing. the two major intermediaries, which actually op- Pirated DVD sellers (or producers)13, on the erate differently, legal and illegally. 10 Both intermediaries work to screen, select and The interview was conducted by the writer of this article filter what the Indonesian audience consumes. As in 2012 in Indosiar office in Daan Mogot. an example, the screening process happens be- 11A South Korean television series starring Choi analysis, it is necessary to explain the limitations of this Kang-hee, Ji Sung, Kim Jaejoong, Wang Ji-hye, and Park research. First, the study of the circulation network will Yeong-gyu. It was aired in Indonesia in 2012. 12 not cover the work of transnational media and cultural An excerpt from the Indonesian Broadcasting Commis- industries in the region. Transnational media companies, sion warning letter (number 354/K/KPI/06/12) on 12 June such as South Korean television dramas promoters, are not 2012: “This kind of violation is categorized as a violation included in the discussion due to difficulty in obtaining the against children and teenagers’ protection, restrictions of necessary data. However, throughout the analytical stag- sexual scene and norms of decency and pudency which es, this limitation has actually shaped the research. It has are aired by a broadcasting institution.” Translated by the shifted the focus to other participants in the network that researcher from: “Jenis pelanggaran ini dikategorikan se- are directly connected to the reception process, such tele- bagai pelanggaran atas perlindungan anak dan remaja, vision stations and pirated DVD sellers. Other actors, such pelarangan adegan seksual serta norma kesopanan dan as printed media (tabloid/magazines) or virtual community kesusilaan yang disiarkan oleh lembaga penyiaran.” of audience (Facebook fan page) are not included in the 13There are some limitations to the research of pirated discussion due to the space constraints without any inten- DVDs. Much of the information available is based on lit- tion of diminishing their substantial roles in the circulation erature studies and a limited number of interviews. Based network. on the preliminary research for this case study, the people

88 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014 other hand, are not under the constraint of the of practices for both mediums are different even government regulation as it works in a non-legal though the prevalent one is the economic motive. terrain and their screening, selecting and filtering Since Indosiar operates legally, laws/regulations process are more bounded to the economic motives bind the screening and selecting process. As men- instead of the regulating practices. First of all, pi- tioned earlier, the Indonesian broadcasting regu- rated DVDs exemplifies the role of technological lation controls the number of non-local programs15, transmission in understanding the in-between creating limitations for Indosiar in deciding the space of production and consumption because, in number of East Asian television dramas to be Indonesia, it relies heavily on the technological broadcast. Due to this regulation, Indosiar needs means, such as reliable high-speed internet access to pay attention to the quota of foreign programs and the innovation of disc burners. For the pirat- and also the content. As stated in the broadcasting ed DVD producers, internet technology is essen- regulation, the content should not be in contradic- tial because it is their primary means of obtaining tion to “the religious values, ethic, morals, norm, the media, through the use of P2P (peer-to-peer) and national culture,” which thus limits the types offerings14 on the internet. In screening titles to of dramas that could enter the ‘gate.’ be disseminated in the Indonesian pirated DVD On the other hand, pirated DVD sellers are able landscape, the motives are quite similar with In- to screen and select a wider variety of television dosiar. The main consideration is to find the most dramas, which offer a more substantial number marketable titles by referring to how popular they of options for the audience. However, due to the are in their countries of production. mediating lines between the two intermediaries, After selecting which titles to be sold, based on the filtering process by pirated DVD sellers is still the writer’s observation, the filtering process can highly influenced what is being broadcast on tele- be seen from the displaying of products and the vision. Eventually, the types of television dramas packaging of the pirated DVDs. First of all, the ki- circulated in Indonesia, by both Indosiar and pi- osks classify the titles into various categories with rated DVD sellers, have been narrowed down pre- a free-style classification, such as New Release, conditioning the reception context. The screening, Drama, Comedy, Horror, Action, Asian Series, selecting and filtering process, as a routinized Western Series, and others. In some kiosks, East practices of both intermediaries, are constructing Asian television dramas are categorized according acceptable features making these television dra- to its country of origins and because at the time mas more proximate to the Indonesian context, of writing the most dominant one is Korean dra- at least in the lawmakers’ perspective. The next mas, all Korean dramas are categorized into one. section will discuss another routinized practice However, in other kiosks, there is an Asian Series of both gatekeepers and/or intermediaries, which category consisting of television dramas from Ko- has constructed commonalities between each type rea, Japan and Mandarin (Taiwan, Hong Kong or of television dramas: dubbing and subtitling. China). The popular titles would either be on full display, such as being hanged on top of the DVD Dubbing and Subtitling: Altering Mean- boxes or plastered on the walls. In some kiosks, ings and Constructing Commonalities these popular ones are put on the front section of the DVDs in the box. Based on the observation, Indonesian audiences rely completely on the one factor in deciding which titles should be in full translation of the original language because the display is actually based on what is being broad- language between the producing countries and cast on local television stations reflecting the web the consumer’s country are different. In the circu- of mediating lines between the broadcast televi- lation of East Asian television dramas, television sion and the pirated DVD sellers. stations and those who produce pirated DVDs re- In conclusion, both means of technology work construct the product to adjust it to the Indone- within layers of intermediary practices in screen- sian context. The meanings originally construct- ing, selecting and filtering the East Asian - tele ed in the production stage are necessarily altered vision dramas. The motives behind these layers before it even reaches the consumer. This is true for both methods of translation, namely dubbing involved in this business are not that keen to reveal the op- on television and subtitling on pirated DVDs. The erational details. Most of the time, they know very little or two intermediaries have marked a preference in do not have any knowledge about where the original discs the audience for either dubbing or subtitles. The came from or where they were manufactured. audience will know what to expect. If they watch 14The Indonesian piracy network relies on the Chinese-Ma- laysian piracy network, which uses the P2P offering meth- 15Article 41: “(1) The Government shall prevent the entry od. This has affected the mediation process of the televi- of import film contradictory to the religious values, ethic, sion dramas, especially how the pirated DVDs mediate the morals, norm, and national culture. (2) The Government language. In this research, the mediation of language will shall restrict the import film by maintaining the proportion be used to investigate the nature of the intermediaries in between the import film and Indonesian film to prevent mediating the television dramas to the Indonesian audience the foreign culture domination.” (Translated by the re- as a preconditioning in the circulation network. searcher)

89 Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries the series on television, they will know it will be Malay or English, especially for the fi rst edition dubbed and if on DVDs, there will be options of copies. Subtitling is simply for the sake of getting- subtitling, mainly English, Malay or Chinese. the-point, not for a complete understanding. For Dubbing is the preferred method used by most Indonesian audiences, choosing the Malay subti- television stations, specifi cally Indosiar which is tle is a challenge on its own because even though famous for broadcasting East Asian television Malay is actually the root of the Indonesian lan- dramas since the 1990s. Economically, dubbing guage, there are some signifi cant differences, es- is more expensive than subtitling. Indosiar used pecially in vocabulary. to have a dubbing department, but in 2010, the department was closed and the dubbing process was outsourced to a production house16. The pro- duction house used the same voice-over actors/ac- tresses (henceforth dubbers) for a variety of East Asian dramas. This repetition by using similar voices will affect the audience as they will hear the same voice coming out of the male and female protagonists or other typical characters like the mother or children because the production house will use the same dubbers for different television dramas. Furthermore, dubbing is a practice of censorship/regulation due to the government reg- ulations and also the authority of the television station, the production house, the translator and (Screenshots taken from Romantic Princess18; pirated dVd) even dubbers. Dubbers are a part of the occupa- tional groups with their defi ned constraints and Top-left-corner : “Tapi tak berkesan kau variables, such as their values and ideas, which pergi ke lapangan terbang sekarang” are regulated by the censorship regulations as Top-right-corner : “dan berhidup di sosial yg well as by the practices of their routines. This has mulia” created the style of dubbing affecting the fi nal re- Bottom-left-corner : “Sen Chuan tak tahu sult of the dubbed version. maksud apa Cik Muda” Subtitling in pirated DVDs offers a different Bottom-right-corner : “Pastilah kau me- experience to the Indonesian audience. Since In- maksa mereka” donesia is a part of the Chinese-Malaysian net- work17, the subtitle options are usually English, The screenshots above show the signifi cant Malay, and Chinese. Due to the language simi- difference in vocabularies for the two languages: larities within the countries of the network, the Malay and Indonesian. On the top-right-corner pirated DVDs suppliers in Indonesia do not need screenshot, the Malay subtitle literally means: to do their own subtitling, which cuts the costs as- “to live a social noble life.” These vocabularies are sociated with translation. Since the whole point of used in a different sense in the Indonesian lan- piracy is the low cost and speed, the choice of sub- guage. For an Indonesian audience, noble will im- titling refl ects this value completely. Moreover, ply high position in the social life. In this particu- unlike dubbing in television, subtitling in pirated lar scene, the meaning is actually “to live a happy DVDs is not regulated like the regulation of cen- life” because the male character was telling the sorship. The main motive is economic, which is the female character to go on the plane and move on lowest cost possible. That is why, most of the time with her life. This example refl ects how the Malay the subtitles in the pirated DVDs of East Asian subtitle could give different meaning for an Indo- television dramas in Indonesia are in broken nesian audience because even though the two lan- 16 guages have similar roots, the differences could In the interview, the PR staff was not able to give the obstruct the meaning-making process. However, name of the production house. despite this translation barrier, for those who do 17 Baumgä rtels’ research fi ndings (2006) reveal that piracy not understand English or feel more comfortable in South East Asia has two major networks, which are the with the Indonesian language, the Malay subtitle Muslim Connection (mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia) is the best option. and the Chinese Connection (mainly from China, Hong There is a signifi cant difference in the mediat- Kong and Singapore), which usually have better quality. ing action of dubbing and subtitling. First of all, in dubbing, the actor/actress’ original voice is elim- However, there is a lack of reliable, detailed information inated, which is an important component in the due to the limitation in conducting any kind of research on performance. This changes the communication piracy. He also concluded that pirated DVDs in Indonesia source that is the specifi c voice and also the conno- usually come from the Muslim Connection (through Ma- laysia) even though the main source is actually the same 18A Taiwanese Television Drama (Gong Zhu Xiao Mei, with the Chinese Connection that is from China. 2007)

90 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014 tations in relation to the image and the character. of visual information as well as dialogue. (p. 79) Dubbing is often perceived to be less ‘authentic’ The subtitler must decide which information is than subtitling, because the original performance most relevant to the audience and this is a me- is altered by the addition of a different voice. diation process, which is the transfer of meaning However, it could be argued that re-voiced film from the original text to the subtitle. As a result, and television comes closer to the actual viewing subtitle and dubbing eventually can change the process where only decoding of the moving imag- perceptions of a character, an intention or mood. es and sound is required and this is, in fact, more Another aspect to be taken into account is how ‘authentic’. (Mera, 1999, p. 80) meanings are transferred and even altered with As Mera argues, argued in the quotation, dub- the two methods of translation, dubbing on tele- bing could be seen from two contradicting per- vision and subtitling on pirated DVDs. The first spective. In one point, the elimination of the actor/ sample will reflect this alteration of language, actress’ voice can reduce the direct experience of which eventually leads to the alteration of mean- the television dramas; on the other hand, some ing. In Meteor Garden (2001), there is a famous will argue that dubbing will make the audience line from the male protagonist: focuses on the moving image and sound without having to be distracted by reading subtitles. Fur- “Kalau minta maaf itu berguna, buat apa ada polisi?” thermore, as argued by Chua (2008), “Through (Indonesian: taken from the television dubbed version) dubbing, audiences are ‘induced’ into consumption “What are the police for if apologies do any good?” of the familiar, which facilitates real-time identifi- (English: taken from the pirated DVDs English subtitle cation with characters on screen.” (p. 78) version) Second of all, dubbing requires synchronizing “道歉有用的話要警察干嘛? (流星花園)” specific words to a degree with specific lip-move- (Chinese) ments. In any dubbed version of television series (or films), perfect lip synchronization is almost im- In both, dubbed and subtitled version, there is, possible to achieve. Dubbers will attempt to create and will always be, a problem of interpretation. the best possible match for the lip movements, but The above sentence is an example on how liter- slight incongruence is unavoidable. “… the bigger al translation has the potential to disturb the in- the cultural gap between the two languages, the terpretation process. In 2001, as Meteor Garden greater the challenge for those handling the dub- raised to popularity, this phrase also became very bing operation” (Kilborn, p. 645). Furthermore, popular. The original meaning encoded in the television dramas, as argued by Kilborn, use an Chinese text has been altered in both the dubbed abundance of close-up shots intensifying the vis- and subtitled versions. Both the Indonesian and ibility of lip movements. In the context of this re- English translations are the literal meaning of search, this aspect of dubbing is significant since the Chinese text. However, the original meaning the dubbed language is either Korean, Japanese refers to the mafia films in Taiwan, which often or Mandarin, which have an entirely different use this phrase showing how contextualized this linguistic system than the Indonesian language phrase is. This is an example on how both dubbing (including in pronunciation, intonation, and other and subtitling alter the meanings and how they linguistic elements). The specific dubbing style of are not able to translate cultural context. Most East Asian television dramas in Indosiar is actu- Indonesian audience members do not understand ally caused by this technical limitation of dubbing. this particular sentence. However, it has become In the mean time, in subtitling, audiences are one of the most memorable and popular sentenc- able to pick up “the ebb and the flow” of the lan- es from the television dramas continuously even guage. It is argued within the translation commu- until now. This reflects how complete understand- nity that subtitling can guarantee authenticity ing of meaning seems to be insignificant for both of the audio experience in listening to the origi- dubbed and subtitled version. nal voice of the characters and also the original Another form of language alteration is the flavour of the language, the mood and the sense. changes in the tone or mood of the language in the “Hearing the real voices of the characters not only dubbed version. As I explained previously, the lin- increases meaning in terms of specific dialogue or guistic system of the original language and Indo- plot structure, but gives vital clues as to status, nesian language is completely different. All of the class and relationship” (Mera, 1999, p. 75). How- East Asian countries producing these television ever, almost half of the dialogue is sometimes lost series have a different linguistic system with the through subtitling because of the limited space for Indonesian language. In translating the dialogues the subtitles. It also adds the activity of reading to from the original television dramas, the dubbers the watching experience. will have to recreate the tone and intonation be- Subtitles change film from an audio-visual me- cause it is being translated into Indonesian. This dium to a more literary medium which requires has created, as argued previously, a specific kind a greater level of attention from the viewer than of dubbing language, which could be described as a dubbed film. Time spent reading subtitles is overly dramatized. Moreover, it also does not use a time spent away from the screen action and this is typical Indonesian conversational language style, clearly a problem when there is both a great deal which is more like a written language being used

91 Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries orally. East Asian television dramas since Indosiar first broadcast Tokyo Love Story in 1998. This inter- QUEEN OF REVEARSALS (2011) mediary act needs to be analyzed by looking at Transcribed by the researcher from the television how other Indonesian television stations schedule version: their programs. One will ask the question, why this time slot? According to the PR staff, officer, Woman: “Wah ... bagus sekali ... cantiknya ... these time slots were chosen to suit the majority cantik sekali ya?” (dramatized intonation) of East Asian television dramas audiences, which (pause) are mostly housewives, teenagers, domestic help- Woman: “Aku ... aku harus ... mengatakan se- ers (for the noon time slot) and also workers (for suatu padamu. Kalau aku tidak mengatakan- the late afternoon time slot). nya sekarang. Aku rasa aku tidak akan bisa However, in doing so, Indosiar is actually con- mengatakannya lagi.” (formal sentence struc- structing commonalities of these television dramas ture, uncommon in everyday conversation) in comparison with local products. After observing Man: “Apa itu?” Indosiar’s broadcasting schedules, by reserving Woman:”Cobalah membaca pikiranku. Aku afternoon time slots and prime time slots, 4.30 to rasa ... kau pintar membaca pikiranku.” 6 pm, there is an indication that these television dramas are categorized in an equivalent space Literal English translation (translated by the with the local programs. The ideal construction researcher): that East Asian television dramas are appropri- Woman: “Wow ... so nice ... beautiful ... it’s re- ate enough to be put in a time slot with the larger ally beautiful, right? (dramatized intonation) number of targeted younger audience members in (pause) parallel with the information received from Indo- Woman: “I ... I have to ... say something to you. siar in the interviews. If I don’t say it now. I don’t think I can say it Furthermore, Indosiar used the label: Drama again.” (formal sentence structure, uncommon Asia, which literally means Asian Drama. Even in everyday conversation) though in the schedules, there is the word “Korea” Man: “What’s that?” in brackets after the term “Drama Asia,” the usage Woman: “Try to read my mind. I feel ... you’re of the word “Asia” to describe East Asian televi- good at reading my mind.” sion dramas is in itself an essentializing mode. In other days, there is a “Mega Bollywood” program, This sample is used to reaffirm that Indosiar which refers to films from India. One would say has constructed a particular style of dubbing lan- that by using “Asian” to refer to East Asian prod- guage in terms of diction and intonation style, for ucts while Indian (or Hindi) films are not labelled example the overly dramatized intonation and as “Asia,” this reflects how the television station also the formal conversational style even though constructs what it means by “Asia” as a part of the the context was non formal. As an audience, when intermediary activity. The over-simplification of watching a television drama in Indosiar, one would using the word “Asia” reflects that it does not mat- know what to expect. Audience members will hear ter whether they are Korean, Japanese or Taiwan- the same voice from the characters because Indo- ese. They are “Asian” and not even “East Asian.” siar will actually use the same voice-over actors/ As previously discussed, in the analysis of pirat- actresses for regular characters, like the female ed DVDs, these countries are lumped into one big and male protagonists, male and female antago- category of “Asia” on the circulation level as well. nists, the mother character or even the child char- Besides constructing commonalities through acter. It does not matter if the television drama is the routinized dubbing culture, the filtering pro- Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese, from an economic cess through language alteration is also a form of perspective; it is obviously more convenient to use appropriating the content of these television dra- the same voice-over actors and actresses. As an mas. Unlike the pirated DVDs, which are not reg- audience, this creates a line of similar experience ulated by the government regulations, since the when watching the television dramas from Korea, pirated DVDs business is operating in the non-le- Japan or Taiwan constructing commonalities and gal terrain, dubbing in the television version has glossing over differences. to follow the strict public regulation of censorship. Another evidence of the practice of construct- One of the most taboo content which has to be cen- ing commonalities and glossing over differences, sored according to the Indonesian broadcasting besides the screening, selecting and filtering pro- law is anything related to sexual content. If the cess, is in the scheduling process. When this re- government censorship institution, or even the search was conducted (from 2011 to 2014), these television’s own authority in censorship, can elim- television dramas are broadcast in three time inate any sexual scenes, including kissing scenes, slots every weekday in Indosiar: at 12, 1 and 4.30 the production house and the dubbers need to pm19. The last slot, 4.30-6 pm, is considered prime time. This prime time slot has been reserved for a filling-the-broadcast-time slot decision by putting it so 19There is also an East Asian television series in the 3.30 early in the morning without targeting a large number of am slot, but this slot is reserved for re-runs. It is basically audiences. 92 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014 make sure any dialogs that have any sexual con- ual connotations. tent are not translated literally. Most of the time, At this point, television plays a part of a gate- the translation is so different with the original keeper by multiplying its censorship practice not version and if the scene is not explicitly related to only from the visual aspect but also the audio the content of the conversation, the dubbed ver- aspect. By making sure the mediated television sion can be accepted as it is without any confusion drama no longer has any sexual content or sim- from the audience like the example I have chosen. ply minimizing the sexual content, the television station is making sure what enters the gate is re- constructed according to what is regulated by the authority. It does not only stand in the gate decid- ing what could enter the gate, but once the prod- uct enters the gate, there are some things which needs to be regulated and changed, such as what is being delivered in the dramas. On the other hand, the pirated DVDs version does not have this issue in translating the lan- guage. However, as I explained previously, due to economic factors, the subtitles in pirated DVDs are not done for the audience’s complete under- standing. One will find foul language in the sub- titles of the first copies of the pirated DVDs. The (Screenshot from Hanakimi20 (2007), pirated DVD) language for these subtitles is usually broken En- glish or Malay, which means it is grammatically HANAKIMI incorrect and will sometimes be incomprehensi- English subtitle (from a pirated DVD ver- ble. If the technique in dubbing makes it possible sion)21: for the television station to censored the television B1: Who else is there that I don’t know about? dramas, the subtitling in pirated DVDs is also re- Doesn’t matter if constructing the content of the series with its lim- you’re talking about I Cup or a G-cup? itation in delivering the original text. The pirated B2: Are you really that captivated by DVDs do not reduce or eliminate certain content, large-breasted women? like sexual content censorship, but the foul subti- B1: Idiot! I love beautiful ones. For now, I just tles and the fact that most of the subtitles are not want to find the in Indonesian (in Malay/English/Chinese) could right one that will excite me. affect the audience’s interpretation of the text and can even reduce any content incidentally. Dubbed version: (Literal English translation The Malay subtitles are the most favoured sub- by the researcher) title for East Asian television dramas in pirated B1: Apa tidak ada foto lain? Misalnya foto ce- DVDs for those who do not understand English or wek yang lebih feel more comfortable with Indonesian language. cantik atau foto cewek yang lebih berani lagi? Also, subtitling is affected by this economic mo- Are there any other pictures? Like a naturally tive, which means it is not done in the purpose of beautiful woman or a more vulgar one? precision of meaning. Since the pirated DVDs in B2: Hmm ... dasar ... otakmu itu payah sekali. Indonesia come from the Chinese-Malaysian net- Errr ... loser ... your brain is so dirty! work, is it apparent that the Malay, and also Chi- B1: Kau ini yang payah. Disini aku perlu itu ... nese subtitles, is considered as the most econom- perlu sesuatu ic and suitable subtitles for the pirated DVDs in yang lebih panas ... this network. Subtitling in this kind of medium is You’re the loser. I need that ... I need some- simply for the sake of getting-the-point and not for thing hotter ... a complete understanding of the original dialog. If the technique in dubbing makes it possible for In this scene, the characters are male students the television station to censor the dialogs in the in an all-male school who are discussing women, television dramas, which will make the audience specifically discussing breast sizes. However, in misunderstand elements of the storyline, the sub- the dubbed version, the dialog is translated in a titling in pirated DVDs is also limiting the audi- way that the word breast is no longer used, even ence’s experience in completely understanding the though the dialog still implies (not explicitly) sex- television series. The subtitling is reconstructing the content of the series with its limitation in de- 20A Japanese television drama, known originally as livering the original text. The pirated DVDs do not Hanazakarino kimitachihe/ Hana zakari no kimi tachi he: reduce or eliminate certain content, like sexual Ikemen paradaisu. Hanakimi was broadcast on Indosiar in content censorship, but the low-quality subtitles June 2011, 4 years after it was first broadcast in Japan. and the fact that most of the subtitles are not in 21 Indonesian are actually distracting the audience The researcher has cross-checked the English translation from the narrative of the drama. with the original meaning in Japanese. 93 Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, The Circulation Network of East Asian Television Dramas in Indonesia: Television and Pirated DVDs as Intermediaries

Television (dubbing) and pirated DVDs (sub- ities and glossing over differences as a strategy to titling) re-constructed the East Asian television sell these television dramas. The intermediaries dramas in order to be consumed by the Indone- are trying to reflect the pre-assumed regional af- sian audience. For the sake of a smooth reception, finities by scheduling East Asian television- dra the television station has created a routine style of mas in the afternoon time slots along with local dubbing which increases this sense of commonali- programs, which are assumed to be appropriate ties as compared to the subtitles on pirated DVDs. for a larger number of viewers, including younger As argued in the earlier section of this chapter, viewers, compared to Hollywood films or televi- intermediaries deliberately try to manufacture sion series broadcasted in the evening time slots. a cultural-linguistic market from the common or The television stations also co-opt the television shared elements by glossing over significant dif- dramas through censorship, both visually and in ferences. Dubbing could be analyzed as the inter- terms of the dialogs by the process of dubbing. mediaries’ strategies in glossing over the nuance This is not only a mediating activity in creating a specificity of the country of origin be it Japan, precondition for the television dramas to be con- Korea or Taiwan. The dubbing style, the overly sumed by the audience, but would end up catego- dramatized intonations and the same voice-over rizing East Asian television dramas along with actors/actresses for all television dramas, has local programs, enhancing the possibility for them created these commonalities. They mark the au- to be well-received by a larger number of viewers. dience’s preference and create what the audience Another illustration of how these commonalities expects when they choose to watch the television are created in the variety of East Asian television drama on television. This adds up to how Indosiar dramas, no matter whether they are Japanese/ categorizes East Asian television drama as Drama Korean/Taiwanese, is the routines of the dubbing Asia or Asian Dramas in its scheduling and pack- practice. By using the same voice-over actors and aging as intermediary activities. actresses and also repeating the same style of dub- bing, the dubbing process creates certain expecta- Conclusion tions in the audience when they watch the dubbed In conclusion, television and pirated DVDs first version on television. The television station has work as intermediaries in screening, selecting and equated these television dramas and lumped all also filtering what can be consumed by the Indone- of them into one category: Drama Asia or Asian sian audience, even though both operate different- Drama. By using the term Asia to describe these ly. This is especially true because television sta- television dramas, the intermediaries construct tions work under government regulations unlike the regional affinities these television dramas the illegal business of pirated DVDs. The screening have with the locale, namely Indonesia, as a part process is determined mostly by economic reasons of “Asia.” for both intermediaries. In these practices, their In other words, the previous hypotheses of how cultural context and wider social relationships cultural proximity and regional affinities work as construct their ideas, values and practices. More- a driving force in the flow of television products over, research findings have indicated that there within a region has been re-evaluated with this is an interconnection between various intermedi- case study. The regional affinities are not embed- aries, like how pirated DVDs sellers use television ded in the television products, but could be read as its reference or how television uses tabloids to as a precondition set up by intermediaries before market the television dramas broadcasted. The the audience consumes them. These television mediation process has accommodated the various dramas come from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, social relationships between these intermediaries, which are countries with different historical, cul- creating a web of mediating lines. It is not a lin- tural or linguistic roots than Indonesia. Therefore, ear transmission of a product along a straight line the regional affinities thesis is contestable in the moving from the producer to the consumer. There intra-Asia cultural traffic. Asia is a region consist- are layers of mediation and each layer is social- ing of distinct sub-regions, unlike the case study ly, culturally, economically and even politically of telenovela in Latin America (Straubhaar, 1991) contextualized. Within these layers of mediation or Australian soap opera in the United King- by the intermediaries, there will always be an al- dom (Cunningham and Jacka, 1994). In this case teration of meaning. There is endless textuality study, North East Asia (country of production) and in which meaning is transferred and altered from Southeast Asia (country of consumption) are locat- one text to another, like in the practice of dubbing ed in two distinctive parts of the region. Through- in the television version and subtitling on the pi- out the analysis, it could be inferred that there is rated DVDs. In doing so, they are also vulnerable a necessity for these intermediaries to create a to the exercise of power, namely the governmental sense of belonging to the portrayal of Asia in these regulation for television or the economic drive that television dramas by constructing commonalities affects the way low-quality subtitling is used in pi- between Indonesia and the East Asian countries. rated DVDs. This, of course, requires further research, which More importantly, the intermediaries work could highlight the consumption and decoding within the network while constructing commonal- process within the community of audience.

94 Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia Volume III, Nomor 2, Oktober 2014

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