THE REPRESENTATION OF TECHNOLOGICALLY LITERATE ULEMA IN THE TELEVISION DRAMA “TUKANG BUBUR NAIK HAJI”

Abstract

Tukang Bubur Naik Haji (TBNH) was one of the most popular television dramas in Indonesia. The popularity was measured either by its long-running drama episodes – i.e. from the year 2012 until 2017. In the outline, the story was about the Jakartans daily life with the figure of Bang Sulam as the main character. Bang Sulam was a chicken porridge seller who aspired to perform Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca) as a part of Five Pillars of Islam. In TBNH, there were a number of scenes that represented the existence of ulema (Islamic cleric) in the midst of society. The ulema was not only propagated religious messages conventionally but also used technology as a more effective means of delivery. The delivery of religious messages through this technology channel was analyzed by semiotic and multimodality approaches. Through these methods, a number of scenes in TBNH were examined and viewed from various sides such as the camera angle, text analysis, the actor’s gaze direction, the color semiotics of the attribute, etc. The result of this study showed a technologically literate ulema represented by breaking the fourth wall, the use of tools in delivering messages, white as a symbol of purity, and the adapted text to the montage scenes.