Pipe Dreams of Becoming a Star

I guess I am officially now on the home stretch of a two-year adventure. However, if you had asked me no more than a few weeks ago, I might have told you that 2009 would mark only the beginning of my real career in Indonesia.

I haven't said much about it, but I am virtually a phone call away from a total lifestyle change. The acting profession is one of great desire and stiff competition. So unless one is content playing a supporting role in his/her local community theater, his childhood dreams of becoming an actor probably don't even cross his mind anymore, much less affect the way he makes decisions concerning his near or distant future. However, if that person happen to want to spend two years teaching English in a country where the average height is about five feet, six inches, and the most advertised product on television is skin-whitening lotion, then his chances of “making it big” would dramatically increase. It's not that I am particularly fond of taking advantage of this unique form of racism, in a country that has suffered a collective inferiority complex after 400 years of Dutch colonization, but it's difficult to ignore the screaming demand of becoming, perhaps, the only young white male in Indonesian show business.

It might sound crazy that I could even hint at the notion of becoming famous in a nation of 230 million people. But I want you to take a step back for a moment from what I've just said. Have you ever met an Indonesian person? Have you ever met an American who's traveled to Indonesia? Have you ever met an American who's traveled to Indonesia and who's spent enough time there to learn the language? I've been living in Indonesia for quite some time now, and with all the traveling I've done and of all the people I've met, I have not yet encountered a single young, white male who speaks Indonesian at the level I'm currently at. I don't say this to toot my own horn. Before I ever even began the application process for a Fulbright scholarship, I was looking into The Peace Corps because my primary goal for living abroad was to become proficient in another language. I just happened to end up in probably the only country on earth with all the right chemistry to produce a superstar out of a regular guy who happens to know the local language.

Recently I have been following leads and looking under rocks for opportunities that could put me ahead in this unique field. I've never been completely serious about an acting career here, so much as I have been simply intrigued to find out if it were possible. But that didn't stop me from arranging a meeting with possibly the only successful, full-time American actor Indonesia has ever seen. Jason O'Donnel is quite a man. I've got his card right here. He's 39 years old; he's five feet, nine inches tall, and he weighs 150 pounds. Granted, he was glazed-over drunk when I met him, but I can confidently say he was one of the more annoying people I've ever met in my life. He spent most of the evening avoiding my questions, belittling my Indonesian, suggesting I know very little about the culture, and encouraging me to find work in another country. When I finally got his card (only because our mutual friend, who arranged the rendezvous, all but forced him to give it to me), he began to lecture me about “how show business works” in Indonesia. He discouraged me from contacting his manager, who's number is on the card, because of the fact that she would likely “demand that I sleep with her” before considering to help me find work. He continued to describe her physically, and I began to drift off into another conversation with a few other Fulbighters who had also come to the restaurant.

His threat level was at red, and I had only wished that he could have been honest with me about the realities of being one of the only westerners in the business here. But the fact that he was so protective and ultimately displeased that another white male dared to show interest in his beloved profession only served to raise my confidence even more. By that time I had already become Facebook friends with a few famous musicians, begun writing an article for a magazine who's owner was also one of the producers of Indonesia's biggest movie in 2008 (Laskar Pelangi), and had already been exchanging e-mails with an enthusiastic recruiter for a modeling agency. You might wonder how I've had time to teach this year!

Ultimately, I don't think that this career is going to work for me though. The program to which I have been accepted at Boston University is suited perfectly for me, and I've already taken a two year hiatus from my formal education. If I really do plow through my master's degree and finish it in a year and a half, as the program is designed to allow, I don't feel that I will have significantly lowered my chances to become a hit in Indonesia, should the desire continue to be fueled throughout my time in Boston. Going back to Indonesia to start an acting career in my mid 20s, however, doesn't seem very likely though if I remain diligent enough to earn a Master's of Education in International Development. Indonesia is huge, but I guess Jason might have been right. This island simply isn't big enough for the two of us.