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Smoke show: Netflix’s ‘Cigarette Girl’ lights up debate about cigarette depiction in media
Indonesia’s first-ever Netflix series Cigarette Girl causes controversy over on-screen depictions of cigarette smoking.
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Dian Sastrowardoyo, playing Dasiyah or Jeng Yah in the Netflix series “Cigarette Girl“, is seen experimenting with a recipe for a new cigarette flavor. (Netflix/-)
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ndonesia recently achieved another milestone in its film and television industry when international streaming service Netflix finally produced the country’s first-ever TV series for its over-the-top (OTT) platform.
The result is Cigarette Girl (English for Gadis Kretek), a five-episode limited series that has now entered the platform's top-10 most-watched non-English series, with 1.6 million views over the last week alone.
But the series is not without its detractors. Many have objected to its carefree depiction of cigarettes, with social media users expressing their concern that audiences will get into smoking after watching the series.
“I’m afraid that this new series will instead push people to be first-time smokers,” user @ObiWan_Catnobi said on the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, on Nov. 4.
The post reached 2 million views and garnered thousands of engagements from posters who agreed with the sentiment.
The series, adapted from a novel of the same name by author Ratih Kumala, is a period drama directed by acclaimed filmmakers Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah. It tells the story of Dasiyah, or Jeng Yah, the daughter of a kretek (clove cigarette) mogul in the 1960s as she tries to come up with a new kretek flavor.
As usually happens when a movie or TV series becomes popular on X, fans of the series eventually create compilation clips, often of Jeng Yah smoking. It helps that the series stars powerhouse local actors like Dian Sastrowardoyo, Ario Bayu and Putri Marino.
