Discussing Environmental Issues Through Children's Animation

Solo - A cute and clever little girl named Timas is facing a problem. Timas must confront a monster in the form of buto ijo that has emerged after being buried for thousands of years. The monster's appearance is triggered by environmental damage.

Timas is a descendant of Timun Mas living in modern times. At a very young age, she can already assemble robots, including when she participates in a science competition that encourages her to create four robots.

The problem arises when a monster named Tojo, an acronym for Buto Ijo, rises again after being buried for thousands of years. Tojo awakens because its prison has been opened due to environmental damage. Once it successfully rises, Tojo wants to regain its power by absorbing the forces of nature to restore its vitality.

Tojo rises with the intention of exterminating humanity by first damaging the surrounding environment to obtain sources of power from nature. Tojo's goal is actually to save the earth, where it has been buried for thousands of years, from the destruction caused by humans. However, Tojo's method of saving the earth turns out to be wrong and instead disrupts the balance of nature.

It is here that Timas wants to save people from Tojo's threat. Timas gains power after the four elemental amulets that have protected her family for thousands of years possess her robots. Timas's four robots transform into Satria Bumi, Satria Tirta, Satria Bayu, and Satria Geni, each representing the four elements of nature: earth, water, wind, and fire.

It turns out that these four elements awaken due to an ancient power that has been buried for thousands of years. Once again, that power awakens because the earth where it was buried is damaged due to human actions. However, unlike Tojo, Timas wants to protect humanity and the environment to create balance so that nature can be preserved. From there, an exciting battle between Timas and Tojo begins.

This is how Studio Manimonki packages environmental issues and folklore with a more contemporary style. This children's animated film is part of the Project Semesta being worked on by the animation studio from Solo.

Inspired by Javanese Culture

The founder of Studio Manimonki, who is also the director and screenwriter, Yudhatama Fajar Nugroho, said the initial idea for the story was taken from the folk legend of Timun Mas. However, the man commonly known as Yudha adjusted the story to a contemporary and modern setting.

Yudha also presents a story that is somewhat different from the fairy tale that people usually know about Timun Mas. According to him, the folk legend from Java actually tells more about the environment, where the giant or buto wants to disrupt the balance of nature, and the Timun Mas family wants to protect nature from destruction.

Yudha was also inspired by Javanese philosophy about sedulur papat lima pancer written in Suluk Kidung Kawedhar by Sunan Kalijaga. Sedulur papat (four siblings) are companions at birth, namely amniotic fluid (kakang kawah/amniotic fluid as the elder), adhi ari-ari (placenta as the younger), blood, and the umbilical cord. Meanwhile, lima pancer is the unborn baby itself.

“But we interpret it ourselves, meaning that the sedulur papat becomes the four earth elements, water, wind, and fire. The fifth element is humanity itself. So for balance, humans must be in harmony with that. Therefore, those who protect the environment are not only the four elements but also humans themselves,” he said.

Raising Environmental Issues

Yudha intentionally raised environmental issues in his work due to his childhood experiences. According to him, when he was a child, there were many animated series that addressed environmental issues, whereas now, he feels there are fewer.

“For example, when I was a child, there was the cartoon Captain Planet that specifically talked about the environment, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had some episodes about it. But now it seems to be lacking,” he said.

In fact, according to him, children can grasp environmental issues. However, not many are willing to incorporate environmental issues into stories. Therefore, Yudha wants to at least fill that gap by producing it himself.

Because he is addressing a rather heavy issue for children, namely the environment, Yudha wants to package it in a relaxed and funny yet still exciting way. Thus, he chose the genre of comedy-action for the children's animated film he is producing.

“We want to make it as light as possible with comedy; we also do not want to be preachy, but the message can get across that, look, why did the buto rise? Because the place where it was sealed and buried is damaged, because the trees were cut down and there is environmental pollution,” he said.

Yudha just wants to spark children's awareness about the importance of environmental balance, including the child themselves as its guardian. Through a light and funny package, he hopes children will enjoy the animation currently being produced.

“If they [children] can enjoy the animation, the messages contained are expected to resonate within them and be carried into adulthood. Thus, when they grow up, at least there will be a little spark to care for the environment,” he said.

Yudha stated that he is still developing Project Semesta. He and his team are still “cooking” the script. Although there is already a story premise, the details of the story will likely be sharpened further. Once the script is finalized, the character visualizations will be perfected to make them more appealing. The work is expected to be completed by October 2024.

Intellectual Property (IP)

Project Semesta is one of the intellectual properties (IP) owned by Studio Manimonki. At least the production house has several IPs such as the animated series Yuta and Jataka. According to Yudha, IP is the heart of the creative industry, including animation.

“IP is part of investment. In the future, studios [animation] should depend on IP for survival. But in Indonesia, there is not yet a studio that can truly thrive on IP. Perhaps because investing in IP is quite gambling, we do not know which will succeed,” he said.

Due to the high investment risk of animated series IP, investors tend to shy away. Thus, it is not uncommon for animation studios in Indonesia to struggle to develop their own animated characters.

Project Semesta being developed by Studio Manimonki is one of five proposals that passed the curation of the Open Call for Children's Animation Screen Indonesiana.TV organized by the Cultural Media Center, Ministry of Education and Culture.

“Animation studios sometimes find it difficult to develop IP. Well, this happens to be a platform [Indonesiana.TV]. This is government support to develop our own IP,” Yudha said.

Later, the production results from Studio Manimonki will be aired on the broadcast channel and website Indonesia.TV. Yudha plans to continue developing the story of Timas for several more episodes.

“The first episode is funded by the Cultural Media Center. For the subsequent episodes, if there are investors, we will develop it further for several episodes. But we do not yet know how many episodes; the point is this is still very early, so everything will likely continue to evolve,” he said.

This article has been published on Solopos.com on Monday, June 10, 2024.