MAY 3 — There is one obvious beneficiary of the Covid-19 lockdown — TV. 

I have never spent so much time in front of the box or with my lap-top propped up on my tummy than these last weeks of quarantine. 

I’m obviously not alone. Netflix’s growing subscriptions and profit attest to millions of bug-eyed viewers around the world.  

All that screen time has led to a realisation. We all live in America. 

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I mean we might take short detours to the UK but for the most part those of us who prefer to consume media in English live most of our “watching” lives in New York, LA etc. 

Even as America’s economy is on ice, its cultural power is on display on screens everywhere. It seems just about everyone in every corner of the world has watched Tiger King

The whole world can reference and relate to the antics of a middle-aged, big cat-, monster truck- and gun-loving, gay redneck and his various friends and enemies in Oklahoma and beyond. It is undoubtedly great television but it does beg the question: what about us? 

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Why are we in South-east Asia and Singapore and Malaysia particularly so reliant on Americans and occasionally the British to bring us TV shows. 

Of course, India and China have their own media worlds and the odd Indian film spreads globally but day-to-day TV for so many of us means watching the USA.  

Even though millions of Asians and Africans consume media in English, we don’t seem to produce much of it or not much that gets widely shared.  

And it’s a shame because to some extent, this disconnect makes it easier for us to relate to people in apartments in New York than to our regional neighbours. 

It’s easy for me to visualise the hilly streets of San Francisco but I’d struggle to visualise Bandung or Bangalore which are far closer geographically.   

Of course, local film-makers have made beautiful films about local life; Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo, for example, but these have not yet mainstreamed.  

The bias of media networks and distributors means we are still more likely to “see” Asia presented by a Western food “adventurer” than a real life Asian. 

Asia from an Asian perspective is still too rare in global media. 

This is upsetting because as a media consumer it means we are just missing good stories. The truth is for every Tiger King, there is a Pigeon Uncle. 

You know, the guy who keeps an absurd number of birds in his apartment or little bungalow. He talks to them, makes bird noises, takes them for walks in those bamboo cages, spends crazy amounts of money on new birds. 

Variations of this uncle exist in every part of this region. These guys have their own rivalries and associations and get into all sorts of scraps with their neighbours and the police (usually noise complaints).  

What these fellows represent though are our own regional subcultures which I think would make for some great documentaries. 

The story of some Malaysian Manyao DJs, their absurdly-sized amps squeezed into their even more absurdly-finned Protons zooming from Puchong to Ipoh, for example.

Or a real peek into the lip-filler filled world of Singapore insta-influencers. The point is we have lots of good stories to tell and stories that not just us but the whole world can relate to.  

I am tired of having laksa explained to me on TV by generously-sized older white men.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.