MMC - Week 1

This is the first week of my year 2 semester 2 of my Bachelor study in university. This is the first time I get to know the subject, Malaysian Media and Culture, which is related to history of Malaysia and also art and performance in Malaysia. I am glad to have Dr. Carmen as our lecturer and tutor who teaches her class in an interesting way. She asked us that why do we hate history because there are too many facts that want us to memorise it. She told us to get interested in history is not just memorise all the facts but to understand why was it occurred.

This week we have a task, it is to propose contributing 1 item to the time capsule program that will only be opened in the year 2120. Time flies and everything is changing rapidly in the new era and people nowadays less likely to appreciate anything around them. The treasure of the people in a country is their culture because that is what makes us different. My choice of item to represent our culture is a photograph of different races which everyone are looked happily because it can show unity in a multiracial country like Malaysia and this is what makes us stronger. This is the spirit that inherited from our elder generation to nowadays and it should be continued by the younger generation. This will make the younger generation to understand that we are one, we should create a harmony country together and make it better.

Example image.

Now I want to talk about the lecture class. The class is really interesting because at start Dr. Carmen told us some words and she asked us to write out the first thing that comes to our mind after listen a certain word. There are plenty of things come from my classmates and some of it is negative. This short activity can prove us how media around us affect our thought. 

After that, Dr. Carmen showed us a local music video called 'Tanah Air Ku' by Azmyl Yunor & Orkes Pudu and she asked us to interpret the the visual of the video. 

At first the video shows two guys opened a box and look into the box. The view shows that one guy is wearing native american costume and another guy is wearing in western style with a cap. I think this is the way of the director of the video to show different races in a different way. Then they take the box and went for a road trip and a sign board that is written 'Kesulitan Amat Dikesali' which is 'Sorry for the inconvenience' in Malay. I think that this is to show that the imbalance of the benefits from the government for the bumiputera and the non bumiputera because the non bumiputera has to work harder to get the same benefits as the bumiputera. Their destination is a beach and Dr. Carmen explained to us that why did they went to a beach. It is because it reflects directly to the title of the song 'Tanah' which means land and 'Air' which means water, the beach is a place where has both of these. At the end of the video, both of them took the box and walked towards the sea together. They opened the box again and the guy was with the native american costume again and the other guy remain the same just like the starting of the video. The video did not show what is in that box, I think the box is represent a thought. A thought that makes us see things differently which makes us think that we are different from other races. I think the whole video with the song is to tell us Malaysia is a good country and we should not always stuck in racial problems. We should go on and let go all the negative thought that will affect our harmony. 

This is my thought towards the music video and there is no right or wrong. This is the beauty of arts because imagination is limitless and this is why I love it.