On being mainstream

I was busy editing the promo clip for the movie Cuci yesterday when my sorta boss came into the editing suite.

G: Banyak dah belajar?

H: Haha.. banyak. Amatlah banyak.

G: Okay la tu. Later when you go back to College I bet you'll be better than your peers. You've got a real working experience. You know how to cut a promo, what to look for when editing and all.

H: Yeah, I guess so.

G: You lucky you know. Belum grad dah jadi editor. Most of the people dah grad pon tak dapat buat kerja macam ni. Biasa-biasa buat benda kecik-kecik je, drama, promo simple-simple. This is for a movie you buat ni bro. This is mainstream. You're already in the mainstream, bukan independent or underground filmmaking. Mainstream. You continue doing this and you'll definitely be sought out in the industry.

And then he left the room. I was like.. Wow. I don't really know but he did sound very honest. Nevertheless, it wasn't the hope or the expectation that got me thinking. Rather, it was the word: mainstream. Oh my God.

Truth be told, I was never a fan of the mainstream. Need examples? Well, most of my friends end up doing 'mainstream' courses like engineering and medicine. I'm studying films. I listened to Linkin Park only to stop after they started to get regular airtime on the radio. I love My Chemical Romance.. before I started to notice kids wearing red ties to Sungei Wang. While everyone else seems to be happy with Windows, I'm much happier with a Mac.

I don't know why. I like to be different from people, I love discovering things on my own. I don't like something just because it's the in thing at the moment. I don't like it when people ask me why I don't buy 'cool' brands like Quicksilver or Nike and Adidas instead of going to FOS. What is cool? Coolness is arbitrary don't you think? Just like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. The same goes for people who laughed at me because I've never been into a club. Why? Because I study in Limkokwing where most of the people there are club addicts. So what? That doesn't make me less of a Limkokwing student. The best years of our lives is also an arbitrary statement. Sure, to most people it was their university days but to me, it was 2001 to 2005 in MCKK.

Okay, well.. so you can see why that simple word got my mind changing gears. The more I think about it, the stranger it feels. I was never really a fan of Malay movies other than some nicer ones like Cinta but now here I am, doing a promo for one. Nevertheless, I remember reading an article in ROTTW a few years back by an artist. I couldn't remember who he was but he was talking about people accusing them of going mainstream and make music for big corporations and money instead of staying true and underground, making music for the fans and as medium of expression. He said something like this:
Sampai satu masa dalam hidup ni kita kena fikir banyak benda selain daripada nak stay true. Kita hidup kena usaha cari makan.

I don't know about other people, but to me there is already that feeling that I need to start earning income on my own (No, I don't want to do MLM. Please, don't bother). Nevertheless, I don't think that being mainstream have to mean that you need to push aside your dreams, ideas and aspirations for the sake of producing something that can make money. I see it as a starting point. You work for people and do what you are told to do first, earn a living, gain reputation and build up your name, everything you need to get to the top. After that, you are free to be true. Nobody starts from the top right?

Experience, experience, experience.

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You’re currently reading “On being mainstream,” an entry on pelangi hitam putih

Published:
Saturday, December 15, 2007
by amerhadiazmi