The Phenomenon of Indonesian Folklore Outspread for Teenagers

Abstract

Folklore is a story that lives in a certain collective environment. In the early days, folklore was a source of education through verbal transmission for people who could not read and write. It is then passed down verbally by ancestors to the next generation to give life lessons and warnings to them. Unfortunately, the outspread of Indonesian folklore has been decreasing each day, especially for teenagers. One of the reasons for the reduced spread of folklore is the intervention of outside cultures that is served with a more interesting packaging, that made teenagers view Indonesian folklore as out-of-date. Other reasons for the reduced spread of the folklore to teenagers are the lack of support from the school’s curriculum and the lack of interest from the general public. This research aims to explore the function of folklore for teenagers, how they know folklore in this era, and the way teenagers understand, and act upon Indonesian folklore. This research uses quantitative method by collecting questionnaire data and interviews about the outspread of folklore amongst teenagers. In the result, it is found the majority of teenagers only know a small amount of folklore. They know folklore mostly from school and storybooks to learn about the moral values inside it. This is not an ideal result for the folklore outspread for teenagers. It would be ideal if the teenagers knew and understood more folklore to apply in their lives, so they could be more open-minded. This research aims to provide the practical solution to this problem.