Media Icons: Their roles and impact!

Our favourite local and foreign media icon? This was a challenge for us to decide on as a group of five, as we all had our own favourite. However, after much discussion we have agreed upon choosing Jinnyboytv as our favourite local media icon and JustKiddingFilms as our favourite foreign media icon. You might think these icons are too ‘mainstream’, as so we thought. BUT do we really know how they started and gained their succession through the social media known as YouTube?

JinnyboyTV started in 2012 with their members consisting of Jin Lim, Reuben Kang and Alan Lok are well known Youtubers in Malaysia and internationally for making comedy videos. JinnyboyTV talks about Malaysian culture, portraying it in a fun and unique way and most of their videos are in English. Therefore it is easily understood by a wide range of people. As Malaysians, we feel familiar towards their videos and the way they present them as the contents are relatable to our life and culture. Originally, JinnyboyTV was set up to be an avenue for Jin to post videos of his radio interviews so non-radio listeners would have the chance to watch them. Jin had no intention of being a filmmaker, according to one of his interviews from Meld Magazine. When he bought his camera, his mom said to him that she believed he would use the camera for only three months and then put it aside for the rest of the year. Nevertheless, this turn out as a motivation for him to make short films.

The films that are created by the JinnyboyTV gang usually varies from comedy, drama and personal life adventures. The comedy style videos are usually based on life experiences that every Malaysian would have encountered such as "Only in Malaysia", "ABUDEN?", "My Generasi", and "Typical Malaysian Drivers" which are all one of their most popular uploads. The short films that have more of a serious context usually presents a didactic or sentimental message. They also upload video logs from their holiday or hangout trips which keeps their viewers updated and have more of an insight to their getaways which includes: America, Australia, Japan, Korea, and also Singapore.

JustKiddingFilms, based in America with millions of subscribers on their sub-channels, is also similarly popular for their comedic way of conveying their messages. JustKiddingFilms started off by being one of the low end comedy Youtubers in 2007. However, they made a tremendous amount of progress recently with more projects and videos planning out for their subscribers in the near future. The founders of the ‘niche’ company began with Bart Kwan and Joe Joseph. They have known each other since high school. They started their youtube channel after college, introducing a new and unique style of comedy mostly conveying stereotypes of the Asian community. Moreover, they challenged the American media and the society’s perception on the minority races which they are part of therefore many can relate with.

These Youtubers have pointed out many important aspects to us in aiming to inspire those who have big ambitions in their lives. For instance, both groups showed us that the people that they work with are not only colleagues and crews, but they are also friends and family. This comes to show their level of maturity to get along well with each other and that they have the chemistry intact to develop a well taskforce. Another important thing is their own story about themselves. Joseph from JustKiddingFilms once said “if you take those opportunities that come to you and able to change within, develop and grow we can see success ahead". These words suggest that a change was needed for them to continue pursuing in the film industry. Nothing is impossible as one will never know the possibility of something until the first step is taken.

source: JinnyboyTV,https://www.youtube.com/user/JinnyboyTV

JustKiddingFilms,http://justkiddingfilms.bigcartel.com/

CONFRONTING CHALLENGES

How many of us would actually choose to watch a local movie instead of a foreign movie in the cinema? Most of us are likely to choose a foreign movie over a local movie, just like how people are willing to pay and subscribe to Astro just to have access to foreign channel such as HBO, Fox Movies, AXN and Disney Channel. How often it is that teenagers would tune into local news channel for updates on our country’s current events? Also, why do local people prefer to pursue their media career overseas such as in the United States or in Taiwan instead of deciding to stay in Malaysia? How should we Malaysians help to boost the local media industry? Well, in order for Malaysia’s media industry to grow and blossom, local society should be open minded in accepting changes, while people should venture around with different media for a wider exposure and the government should launch policies to transform Malaysia into a tech-savvy country.

Malaysians should embrace changes with an open mind. Changes of attitude is essential while paving the road for success. Local media still tend to be very conservative about their thoughts and not willing to accept changes as they hold on to their beliefs blindly. For example, some people believe that in order to be successful in Malaysia, one must be a Muslim because Malaysia is a country with a significant amount of Muslim population. This attitude has caused many talents to be discriminated because of racial issues. Therefore, talented youngsters tend to pursue their media dreams overseas, resulting in a lack of competent talents in our local media industry. Besides, changes should be made on the perception of the public towards our local media. Locals usually switch channels once they see local TV programs playing. In order for Malaysia’s media to have progression, local media consumers should be supportive to the changes made. Also honest feedback should also be voiced through relevant channels.

We believe that people should also venture around with different media for a wider exposure in this area. This includes tuning into foreign news and feedback from their locals with their opposing opinions to get an idea of the media's intentions towards viewers and to create an open mind set. This way, when our local media presents a propaganda, we are less likely to be brainwashed or drawn into their psychological schemes. In addition, venturing around helps us acknowledge different storytelling methods. Moreover, being exposed to the media outside our country helps us think outside the box and generate new ideas that could possibly bring changes to our local media. It certainly helps in developing effective and efficient production techniques. As we do have gatekeepers keeping track of what goes out to viewers, it could be a challenge to express our opinions to the public because the government tends to filter out standpoints that are in contrast with what they want the public to believe.

As Malaysia is in a crucial state to survive in this media industry, they should experiment and discover genres that might be more received by audience internationally and not only locally. Our lack of creativity can be seen where the community we live in only place their interest mostly in horror movies where storylines and plots are repetitive and redundant. Therefore introducing other types of films would challenge Malaysians’ perception on genres such as sci-fi and comedy. Furthermore, the target audience must not be prioritised by one race only as we should also try to expand our imagination and try to relate with other communities as we live in a multiracial nation. For example, portraying numerous movies about the supernatural or ‘gangsters’ might give the adverse impression on certain groups of people which can be an issue. Thus, people should also be aware of the impact of media. In addition, introducing tech-savvy gadgets to the younger generations is vital so that experienced media practitioners could be produced in the future. Malaysians must step out of their comfort zone and be media-literate. But most importantly, mass media are not only there to entertain but to educate the public as well.

In a nutshell, every Malaysian should do their part in developing our local media for the better. 'United we stand, divided we fall'. Therefore, it is our obligation to contribute to the local media so that it is able to break through its shell and be on par with the more advanced media around the world.

Sources:

Chong, C. (2015). JinnyboyTV | Youtuber. [online] Jinnyboytv.com. Available at: http://jinnyboytv.com/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2015].

JustKiddingFilms, (2015). JustKiddingFilms | Teaching Good Things in a Bad Way. [online] Available at: http://www.justkiddingfilms.net/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2015].

Meld Magazine - Melbourne's international student news website, (2012). From ‘Just Jin’ to JinnyboyTV. [online] Available at: http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2012/08/from-just-jin-to-jinnyboytv/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2015].

YouTube, (2015). How We Met: Joe. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDRuGFBYr2s [Accessed 29 Aug. 2015].

Youtube.com, (2015). YouTubePhilophobia - JinnyBoyTV. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= drJjlMOEHpI [Accessed 29 Aug. 2015].

Editors: Christianna Pilay, Xin Ying

Researcher: Ahmad Zoriff Yusmadi

Writers:Annie Gan, Sanmantha Khoo