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Research Article
Alcoholic Beverages in Indonesian Movies
Redi Panuju and Daniel Susilo*
Faculty of Communications Science, Dr Soetomo University, Indonesia
Address correspondence to Daniel Susilo, daniel.susilo@unitomo.ac.id
Received 28 August 2018; Revised 08 November 2018; Accepted 14 November 2018
Copyright © 2018 Daniel Susilo, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Alcoholic beverages, or what is often referred to as liquor is a threat to
people's lives due to destructive effects when consumed in excess. In
Indonesia, the prohibition on using alcoholic beverages is regulated in
Criminal Code (KUHP). Dealers who cause drunkenness and anyone
who makes children under the age of 16 drunk are subject to prison
sentences. However, as a life story, the phenomenon of using alcoholic
beverages is fascinating and because of that, many works of art such as
movies make use of the phenomenon of using alcoholic beverages as
a story. This article tries to explain how liquor is taken to a big screen,
both as a primary and complementary story. The data were obtained
through observations of Indonesian movies containing liquor scenes in
a period of 1970-1998 and after 2000. Meanwhile, the data analysis
used narrative analysis.
Keywords: alcoholic beverages; indonesian movies; main stories;
narrative analysis; supporting stories
Ashdin Publishing
Journal of Drug and Alcohol Research
Vol. 7 (2018), Article ID 236062, 09 pages
doi:10.4303/jdar/236062
1. Introduction
In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, on-line booze is
called distilled spirit or liquor, which is a type of alcoholic
beverage in the form of ethanol. It is made from grains
or vegetables by fermentation; examples of liquor are
wine, vodka, gin, tequila, rum, whiskey, brandy and soju.
In Indonesia, the terms liquor and alcoholic beverages
overlap, so between fermented and non-fermented
drinks, both are considered liquor. Therefore, alcoholic
beverages that are not distilled are also considered liquor,
such as beer, tuak, wine and cider. Unlike those in North
America and India, alcoholic beverages do not go through
distillation with lower alcohol content.
Indonesian law prohibits alcohol from circulating
freely in the community because it is feared that it will
disturb order and security. For example, in Criminal
Code (KUHP) article 300, it is stated that there is a
ban for dealers who cause drunkenness. Also, anyone
who causes children under the age of 16 to get drunk is
threatened with imprisonment.
The State prohibition on free circulation of liquor
is related to consequences of excessive consumption.
Excessive consumption of liquor can lead to disruption
of liver function, which can lead to hepatitis, gastric
damage, damage to body tissues, increased risk of breast
cancer, damage to brain function, and damage to the heart
and kidneys. This could result in a stroke, nerve paralysis
and organ failure, which could lead to disability and even
damage to a fetus, and result in death [1].
In Indonesian society, alcoholic beverages with
low alcohol content are part of the social tradition used
for cohesiveness functions. In Tuban, East Java, it is
a tradition of parties with alcoholic beverages whose
ingredients are extracted from Aren trees, called Tuak.
Before being fermented, tuak is sweet and is called
Legen. While on the island of Bali, this Tuak drink is
used in the tradition of Cockfghting, where people enjoy
food made from chicken blood and drink tuak.
However, people often make their own liquor from
ingredients that are not permitted for drinking. Examples
include mixing spritus, kerosene and ethanol with unclear
composition. Alcohol that is made carelessly is called
"oplosan". This type of liquor often results in death for
people who consume it. KOMPAS Daily [2] reported
that in just one month (March 2018), the death toll from
liquor in Indonesia reached 118 people. According to
Deputy Chief of Police of the Republic of Indonesia,
Commissioner General Syahfruddin, the incidence of
deaths due to oplosan liquor occurred in West Java, DKI
and South Kalimantan.
The phenomenon of using oplosan liquor occurs in
all social statuses, ranging from economically weak to
elite. A TV station reported that three TNI members were
killed as a result of consuming alcoholic beverages made
from wound healing alcohol [3].