Monday, April 03, 2006

The National Pastime

Because of it's widespread popularity in the US, baseball is referred to as "America's national pastime". After living in Indonesia for almost a year now, I've finally determined that Indonesia has a national pastime as well. Surprisingly, I'm not referring to corruption, nor the tendency for simple administrative processes to be as complicated and time consuming as possible.

Yes, it's clearcut. Indonesia's national pastime is transvestism. Every local television channel features sinetron (soap operas), sitcoms and variety shows that star, or are hosted by, blokes who like to dress up as women. Channel surf at any time of day or night and you'll spot an Indonesian guy camping it up as a character who would be right at home as one of the crossdressing Monty Python team or a cast member of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Loud makeup, garish clothing and facial hair make you wonder whether Dame Edna Everage (or Boy George) have franchised their characters in this part of the world.

Given that slapstick comedy is a popular television genre here, I see a big opportunity to resurrect The Three Stooges for a comeback on Indonesian television. In drag, of course.

1 Comments:

Blogger venitha said...

I can't decide if this makes me want to visit Indonesia or to stay far far away. =)

7:47 AM  

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