Scare Ourselves to Death: Reality Television on Ghost in Indonesian Television

Tito Imanda (New York University)

Television programs with local content require big production cost, while programs from Hollywood or South America are a lot cheaper. Indonesian television decisions to produce more programs with local contents can be seen as if they were care about Indonesian character building. However the situation is easy to understand from the simplest supply and demand perspective, as ratings for local programs are always lots higher than foreign ones. Indonesian audiences like to see themselves better than seeing people from other countries.

But then, universal formulas like violence, love affair or horror are still applicable for those programs. This paper will examine the success story of Indonesian reality television programs focusing on appearance of ghost. This kind of programs is indirectly influenced from the current success of East Asian horror movies, but the content, settings, and style are uniquely Indonesian. While religions deny the concept of ghost, somehow these programs are able to include supporting opinion from religious leaders. Despite being criticized for not promoting a rational thinking among the viewers, television stations are continuing turn fear into commodity, successfully gain high advertisement income from these programs, and creating a whole new superstitious generation.