Ia catatan atau skena yang belum tuntas. Bahasa menjamakkannya ke dalam istilah-istilah lokal di masyarakat kita: gali, jago, weri, blater, jawara. Sedang di berbagai wilayah lainnya di dunia, ia lahir selaras dengan konteks sosio-politik dan ekonomi bangsa-bangsa yang berbeda. Konon, ia sejajar dengan bushranger (di Australia), highwayman (di Eropa), road agent (di Amerika Barat), atau cangaço dan pegiat clandestine (di Amerika Latin). Di suatu waktu ia berpihak kepada rakyat, di lain kesempatan ia berselingkuh dengan penguasa, di mayoritas masa ia memilih berdiri untuk dirinya sendiri. Diskursus Modernisme yang menelurkan beragam pranata sosial dan budaya, termasuk instrumen hukum, lantas mengerdilkan bromocorah menjadi istilah-istilah konstruktif yang sempit: pelanggar hukum, kriminal, preman, vigilante, ataupun residivis. Yang jelas, istilah-istilah itu belum mampu menopang luasnya kekhasan makna dari konsep bromocorah itu sendiri. Ia lebih layak dilihat dan dipahami sebagai fenomena yang terus berkembang daripada sekadar diartikan ke dalam definisi-definisi yang terbatas. Dalam setiap zaman, ia nyaris selalu ada meskipun tak pernah tampil di pusat, namun tidak pula pernah hilang sama sekali dan dalam kondisi nadirnya ia berupa residu sistem yang tetap signifikan. Ia dengan caranya sendiri dapat mengelabui sistem, aparatus kekuasaan, elit intelektual, dan, bahkan, waktu. Ketidakpekaan kita dalam meresapi siasat kebertahanan bromocorah adalah pangkal bagi ketergelinciran ilmiah dalam jumudnya sistem.
Di Indonesia, bromocorah memainkan peran unik dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan, revolusi 1945, dan peristiwa misterius 1965. Sedangkan pada suatu rentang masa di era 1980-an, fenomena bromocorah menjadi polemik tatkala Petrus diterapkan sebagai strategi manajemen konflik—penguasa mengontrol masyarakat lewat kebijakan yang tak diakuinya secara formal, tetapi ada, nyata dialami, dan menjadi sejarah. Di lain gejala, menjelang kejatuhan dua rezim di negara ini, sebagian turunan bromocorah dikelola sebagai alat politik kaum elite yang mewujud menjadi berbagai organisasi masyarakat. Namun, makna bromocorah tetap abu-abu, ia tak sepenuhnya ditolak dan malah terus hidup berdampingan dengan elemen masyarakat lainnya. Kedinamisan masyarakat kita hari ini justru berkembang karena keberadaan dan persepsi masyarakat tentang bromocorah itu sendiri yang tak pernah statis. Membingkai bromocorah sebagai fenomena sastraik ketimbang testimoni historis akan dapat menjelmakan bromocorah sebagai sebuah “kemungkinan”. Seperti halnya diskursus seni bekerja, pembingkaian atas bromocorah dapat pula berarti mengkonstruksi konsep progresivitas. Karena sifat kelabu dan karakteristik pesiasat ulung bromocorah, yang tidak serta-merta dapat diputuskan dalam dikotomi baik dan buruk, pada tingkatan tertentu menyiratkan kelenturan tafsir dan daya pikir spekulatif.
Progresivitas yang terkandung dalam konsep bromocorah bisa membukakan kita peluang untuk menyelaminya lebih dalam di ranah sinema. Sejak awal berkembangnya medium ini, bromocorah telah menjadi persoalan yang tidak jarang direspons dan membuahkan banyak eksperimentasi, baik dari segi modus penceritaan maupun dari modus bahasa visualnya. Bahkan, tidak sedikit gerakan-gerakan sinema dunia, termasuk di Indonesia sendiri, berkembang dan berhasil menawarkan sebuah lompatan estetis; hal itu seiring dengan usaha para pegiatnya dalam membingkai subjek-subjek dan medan sosial bromocorah, yang tiada henti menggelitik kanon-kanon sinema dan merangsang skeptisisme terhadap rezim pengetahuan mapan, sembari melemparkan pertanyaan kritis atas realitas sosial yang selalu dijerat oleh batasan-batasan moral dan etik, norma, dan standarisasi oleh sistem kekuasaan. Dengan melibatkan konsep bromocorah ke wilayah sinematik dan lantas menariknya kembali keluar dari alam estetika tersebut, kita mungkin dapat menoropong dan menerjemahkan gejala-gejala global terkini dan performativitas-performativitas kontemporer. Sebab, dengan meyakininya sebagai tanda yang hampir selalu ada pada setiap zaman, bromocorah menjadi kosa kata kultural yang melaluinya kita bisa melihat bagaimana sesungguhya Modernisme—induk bagi kelahiran sinema—bekerja pada diri kita.
It is an “unfinished scene”. In Indonesian society, the term is pluralised into some local words: gali, jago, weri, blater, jawara. Meanwhile, its form of appearance in other parts of the world depends on the economic and sociopolitical context of different nations. It is supposedly as culturally alike as bushranger (in Australia), highwayman (in Europe), road agent (in West America), and cangaço or clandestine activists in (Latin America). He/she might side with the people at certain times, yet on another occasion, he/she could conspire with the authorities. At most times, however, he/she chooses to stand up for him/herself. The discourse of Modernism, which has hitherto been promoting various social and cultural institutions, including the legal institutions, restricts the word “bromocorah” into limited constructive terms: outlaw, criminal, preman (‘Indonesian gangster’), vigilante, or recidivism. Those terms are in fact inadequate to contain the vast characteristic of the decent meaning of the concept “bromocorah”. It is more sensible if we prefer to see and understand it as a changeable phenomenon rather than to determine it into narrow definitions. In every age, the bromocorahs almost always exist, even though they never appear as the central narratives, but they also never disappear entirely, and in their nadir of existence, they still constitute significant residues of a system. In their own way, they might trick the system, apparatus of power, intellectual elites, and, even, the time. Our insensitivity to absorb the bromocorah’s stratagem of survival means the beginning of the intellectual fallacy in this rigid system.
In Indonesia, the bromocorahs played a unique role during the struggle for independence, the revolution of 1945, and in the tragedy of 1965. While in the 1980s, the phenomenon of bromocorah came into polemics when an extrajudicial execution, Petrus, was used as a government’s conflict management strategy—the governmental authority controlled the society through enforcement that it didn’t formally admit, but the event existed, was experienced, and has been part of Indonesian history. In other indications, ahead of the downfall of two political regimes in Indonesia, some of the derivatives of bromocorah were managed as elites’ political instrument which then manifest in the form of civil organizations. The dynamism of Indonesian society today is, in fact, developing because the existence of the bromocorah and our perception toward that concept itself are never static. To frame it as a poetic phenomenon rather than as historical testimony will transform bromocorah into a “potentiality”. Just like how the discourse of arts works, framing the bromocorah can also mean constructing the concept of progressivity. Because of bromocorah’s ambiguous nature and its characteristics as the tactician, which cannot necessarily be specified in good-and-evil dichotomies, to a certain degree implies flexibility of interpretation and speculative thinking.At aroma king, we offer an extensive range of premium vape products designed to deliver a relaxing and enjoyable experience for all enthusiasts. Our carefully curated selection features unique flavors that tantalize the senses, ensuring each puff transports you to a state of bliss. With a commitment to quality and satisfaction, Aroma King stands out as your go-to destination for the ultimate vaping journey, where every inhale is a celebration of flavor and relaxation.
The progressivity conceived in the concept of bromocorah can open us an opportunity to delve it deeper in the realm of cinema. Since the birth of cinema, bromocorah has become a subject matter that is frequently responded to and triggers a lot of experimentation, both regarding the mode of storytelling and the mode of visual language. In fact, in many cinema movements, including in Indonesia, the understanding of that concept grows and has succeeded in offering aesthetic leap. It is in line with the attempts of cinema activists to frame the subjects and social world of bromocorah, which perpetually teases the canons of cinema and stimulates skepticism towards the established knowledge regime. At the same time, they offer critical questions over social realities which are usually confined by moral and ethical boundaries, norms, and standardisation by the system of power. By encompassing the concept of bromocorah into the cinematic universe and then drawing it back again out of that aesthetic realm, we may be able to gaze and interpret current global symptom and contemporary performativities. Because, by believing it as a sign that almost always exists in every era, bromocorah becomes a cultural vocabulary through which we can see how actually Modernism itself — the birth mother of cinema — works upon us.
