Kampung Boy (TV series)
| Kampung Boy | |
|---|---|
A frame from a Kampung Boy storyboard (from left to right): Ana, Mat, and Bo
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| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Created by | Lat |
| Theme music composer | Dave Andrew, Farid Ali |
| Country of origin | Malaysia |
| Original language(s) |
Malay (Malaysian release) English (International release) |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | North America, Philippines |
| Running time | 26 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Lacewood Studio Matinee Entertainment Measat Broadcast Network Systems |
| Distributor | Itel |
| Release | |
| Original network | Astro Ria |
| Original release | 14 September 1999 – 12 September 2000 |
| External links | |
| Website | web |
| Production website |
web |
Kampung Boy is a Malaysian animated television series first broadcast in 1997. It is about the adventures of a young boy, Mat, and his life in a kampung (village). The series is adapted from the best-selling graphical novel The Kampung Boy, an autobiography of local cartoonist Lat. Comprising two seasons and 26 episodes—one of which won an Annecy Award—the series was first shown on Malaysian satellite television network Astro before being distributed to 60 other countries such as Canada and Germany, the series began airing on September 14, 1999 and ended on September 12, 2000.
A main theme of Kampung Boy is the contrast between the traditional rural way of life and the modern urban lifestyle. The series promotes the village lifestyle as an environment that is fun and conducive to the development of a healthy and intelligent child. It raises the issue of modernization, proposing that new values and technologies should be carefully examined by a society before being accepted.
Lat's animation has won praises for its technical work and refreshing content, although questions have been raised by Southeast Asian audiences over its similarities with Western animation and its deviations from the local style of spoken English. Malaysian animation critics held up Kampung Boy as the standard to which their country's animators should aspire, and academics in cultural studies regarded the series as a method of using modern technologies and cultural practices to preserve Malaysian history.
In 1979, the autobiographical graphic novel The Kampung Boy was published. The story of a young Malay boy's childhood in a kampung (village) proved to be a commercial and critical success, establishing its author—Lat—as the "most renowned cartoonist in Malaysia".The Kampung Boy's success prompted Lat to consider using other media to reach out to the masses.
The seeds for the animated adaptation of The Kampung Boy were sown in 1993 in a conversation between Lat and Ananda Krishman, founder of Measat Broadcast Network Systems. Western and Japanese cartoons flooded the local television channels during the 1990s, and Lat decried those productions for violence and jokes that he considered unsuitable for Malaysia and its youths. Recognising that the younger generation preferred colourful animations over static black and white drawings, Lat was keen for a local animated series to promote local values among Malaysian children. After Krishnan's company offered Lat financial support to start an animation project, the cartoonist began plans to adapt his trademark comic to the television screen.
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