The hurtful level of generalisation.

So I've been wanting to watch movies at the cinema lately ( not that I am a fan , in fact most of the money invested on movies at the cinema will go worthless , it does not tally with my attention deficit level ) , so I enjoyed scrolling lists of movies available and been reading reviews. Speaking of the lists , the movies that considered at the 'consideration level' are Train To Busan , Alif dalam 7 Dimensi and Pekak. ( actually I chose Train To Busan , initially wanted to watch it last Thursday , but I am just too lazy to drive ) 

So yesterday I saw a post that reviewed Pekak and I must say it clearly says NO to anyone who opting to watch it since most of the element portrayed revolved around social problems that is happening around us , and the tittle was deemed to be misleading since the commentor thought it will highlight the 'deaf'part. However the reviewer did not finished watching it because she can't take it anymore , so thinking that it will not do the justice on the movie as a whole , I am curious to read more reviews on the story itself ( and perhaps wanting to watch it myself , to see how ). 

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( what's inside my mind ) ( its my mind debating here ) But that's the thing , why would I watch something that had been negatively reviewed , said to be not worth it , and perhaps will harm your in some ways. I took the comparison of taking drugs , I said that I can't comment on something that I haven't tried it myself , or a situation that I never stand in but I already know the side effects of taking drugs , hence why should I try to watch this movie? ( but later I thought that drugs are just too much to be compared with , since in involves more scientific evidence , plus the effect are widely known in a larger scale )

I decided to wait for more reviews. Instead of watching it haha.

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But guess what after two paragraphs , I am not even trying to do justice on the PEKAK movie but I am going to highlight the comments on the review itself . I came across many of this phrase for almost 300 comments ;

' Sume cite melayu sampah '
( All malay movies are rubbish

And that makes me realised , what's hurtful is actually the level of generalisation made on certain issues. Just like how all malay movies are labelled rubbish due to the existence of PEKAK and many of other malay movies that were considered rubbish. This is not doing justice to ALL Malay movies. I can't deny that there are lots of malay movies fails to  reach certain standards set by other international movies ( well at least catered the good values ) , even I cursed to one of the malay movie I watched back in 2012 because its just too ridiculous and I can't take it ( and it was 2012 , me in 2012 , most of the time make direct judgement without even thinking ) 

I don't know about you but most of the time I opt for Malay movies , when I'm in the UK scrolling what movies should I watch to be my dinner company . I enjoyed watching malay drama's though most of it are considered not relevant to the society.Being 'considered as not relevant' is one of the result to the level of generalistion , where it creates a sceptic society. So whenever they hear things like 'Malay drama' 'malay dramas' , they'll will have certain jargons inside their mind , and says no to it. 

Reality check , the insensitivity still going on in most Malay dramas and movies. I guess this was largely affected by the norm and practice of the society. Its so different on how people react to a hug scene in Malay dramas/movie and a hug scene in an international dramas/movies , because we know hugging is just not accepted between opposite gender , so I guess this is one big good challenge to directors and producers in Malaysia , which to portray the feelings of a certain scene without the need of physical touch. Its hard but I am sure it is possible . 

even writing this down is very hard since I'm blended inside the society , where I am used to the same level of generalisation. 

Speaking of it , its just the same for phrases like 

' Orang gemuk malas - bodoh -mulut celupar '

( just because you met countless of the same species with same characteristics , its not ALL . Because me myself is standing in this shoes for now ( doakan for future please insyaAllah ) , its hurtful for me who tries really hard to speak good things , who gives my all to my studies , even spending hours at the swimming pool and exercising ). Sometimes I know some of you is trying to reverse the psychology , whether its me being sensitive , or its you being too harsh with your words. 

 ' orang kurus gila ambik dadah ' 

( there's this one case where a drug addict killed a family of three last month in Melaka , the suspect is quite big in size , bigger than a ' drug addict usual size' , so people goes ' aku ingat penagih ni semua kurus ( I thought all drug addicts are thin ) , 

I suggest that there are many choices of words available to limit the level of generalisation ; 

it can either be ' one of the malay movies ' ' most of these kind of people ' ( most sounds generalizing but it limits the level of it , saying not all but most . It can also be either [ half , some , 'mentioning specific thing' ] . This may include jargons of critiques , instead of the usage of word 'rubbish' twist it into a motivation ' need lots of improvement' , sometimes its hard to replace the words because of the need of impact for the producers/directors to realise how bad the movie can be  , but at least counter the harsh comments with something that can change to status quo ( some points that can be taken into account ). 

We need to learn how to suspend our level of generalisation especially when it comes to sensitive issues. Because by saying things like ' ALL malay movies are rubbish ' is simply too harsh for producers who produced really good movies ( even if you say things like : eh aku tak maksudkan movie sekian sekian pun , movie tu bagus , but you just used ALL there )  . Because nonetheless , the directors , the sets of actors , the people who's directly or indirectly involved with the production , is someone's father , someone's son , someone's , at least consider the harshness of your words , how it will affect them ( because I used to be the reckless person in the past , speak what my heart desire , not thinking how my writing affect people emotionally ) .

Even if they are not someone , not even someone you need to bother , they invested their time and energy to the production , at perhaps due to those reasons they failed to notice the side effect / impact of story they're making , so be wise , give comment / suggestions that may lift them up , give remarks on the cinematography , or perhaps some good values in it , just because there's a majority of bad things , that simply means , there's no good moral about it . Perhaps to you it sounds too absurd if I said they failed to notice ( the bad side / impact of the story ) , so here and now is the time for you reviewers to make them notice ( try in the most subtle way you can)  , your existence are valuable you know it. 

though I sometimes forgot , what colour is the house since it changed last few years from orange to grey. With annoying Olen behind the laptop , I will miss this view. A week left before departing back to Cardiff :') 


Lets be less sceptic ! Perhaps kinder with your words and actions as well ! Lets be that uplifting society ! 

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