I'm sure that everyone has written at least one essay on the topic "The Importance Of Media in molding the future of the nation" at school and proving all of then right Narendra Modi unleashed his wave to reign superior over our nation . The Man squeezed the life out of all media be it print , televised, or social and manipulated them to portray him as the last ray of hope for India, The Knight in shining Armour, "Gotham's White Knight" (I hope Mr.Nolan will forgive me for this!).
And it worked superlatively! All his competition were sunk to depths of the ocean as he emerged as a roaring lion and nobody could complain because it was all strictly speaking legal!
So assuming the media is so powerful , I thought of investigating it in a very superficial yet uncompromising manner. And I have found that it is full of misrepresentations Now I have already shared the media's ideology about women in a previous article but there are still many more .
I remember Kangana Renaut saying at an interview that "Its only because there are no good roles being written for women, that there are far less iconic female characters in the Indian Film industry" ( and after QUEEN, I'm pretty much ready to accept what ever she has to say.). Lets Just look at few of the misrepresented communities :
I personally am not a big fan of kids but that doesn't mean I'm going to keep quiet when they are being wrongly depicted in the media. Now kids have always been a big part of movies and I'm drawing references from movies like Bhootnath, Phillips and the monkey pen and the numerous ads that we have to sit through everyday.
First of all Kids DO NOT fall in love like Richard Gere and Julia Roberts and dance around the mustard fields singing Love duets(I'm not saying Rich and Julia do a DDLJ, but you get where I'm going this) .
Trust me, I myself was a kid for about 13 years, so speaking from experience, kids have a instinctive dislike for the members of the other sex. Nor do kids gang-up on their enemies to shove a sharp pencil into his ass just because he was insulted before his girlfriend(ya, right). That never happens because kids have a higher code of morality than adults and their anger is pretty instantaneous.
And from the advertisement's point of view, All kids want to do is get their shorts dirty and drink COMPLAN !Really? Think people, think.
The lesbian Gay Bisexual Tran-sexual community's presence is almost non-existent in the Indian media and what ever small exposure they have in the movies, they end up being caricatures and take up the center stage for mockery and insensitive humor.
In a country where even porn stars are in limelight ,you never see a member of LGBT advertising Soap or washing powder, why? They are also perfectly sane human beings who bath and wash everyday but no ad company is bold enough to break the social conscience . That is the reason why I have utmost respect Shyam Benagal's Welcome to Sajjanpur for giving a respectable role to a hijda, not just as a clapping dancing eunuch but as someone of social importance.
Their version of India is also pretty damn biased. Majority of the american travel documentaries show all of India as this poverty stricken slums of Dharavi with small almost negro looking kids running around butt-nude midst piles of heaps of hills of garbage. Yes, poverty is a big truth that we have to accept, but still India has a lot to offer from stunning backwaters of Kerala to breath taking Rohtang Pass(trying not to sound like a travel agent here). And All you See is poverty?? If Gandhi ji were alive today, he would've probably modified his ever-so-famous quote as " The real india lives in villages but here other beautiful things to see also ,you dumb morons!!".
All serials have a core story which lasts twelve days and then they fill shit, crap and garbage for the next 19 years and 353 days.I really think many of these serials don't even have directors, the actors just show up and say whatever they want on camera and leave. But on the brighter side, you don't have to worry even if have missed six months of a show, because the story remains the bloody same.
These are just some of the misrepresentations that I've noticed and I'm sure there are very many more. But we have to live with it, we have been for so many years now.
And it worked superlatively! All his competition were sunk to depths of the ocean as he emerged as a roaring lion and nobody could complain because it was all strictly speaking legal!
So assuming the media is so powerful , I thought of investigating it in a very superficial yet uncompromising manner. And I have found that it is full of misrepresentations Now I have already shared the media's ideology about women in a previous article but there are still many more .
I remember Kangana Renaut saying at an interview that "Its only because there are no good roles being written for women, that there are far less iconic female characters in the Indian Film industry" ( and after QUEEN, I'm pretty much ready to accept what ever she has to say.). Lets Just look at few of the misrepresented communities :
1. Kids[0-13]
First of all Kids DO NOT fall in love like Richard Gere and Julia Roberts and dance around the mustard fields singing Love duets(I'm not saying Rich and Julia do a DDLJ, but you get where I'm going this) .
Trust me, I myself was a kid for about 13 years, so speaking from experience, kids have a instinctive dislike for the members of the other sex. Nor do kids gang-up on their enemies to shove a sharp pencil into his ass just because he was insulted before his girlfriend(ya, right). That never happens because kids have a higher code of morality than adults and their anger is pretty instantaneous.
And from the advertisement's point of view, All kids want to do is get their shorts dirty and drink COMPLAN !Really? Think people, think.
2.LGBT
In a country where even porn stars are in limelight ,you never see a member of LGBT advertising Soap or washing powder, why? They are also perfectly sane human beings who bath and wash everyday but no ad company is bold enough to break the social conscience . That is the reason why I have utmost respect Shyam Benagal's Welcome to Sajjanpur for giving a respectable role to a hijda, not just as a clapping dancing eunuch but as someone of social importance.
3.American Media
Americans don't rule the world. They just think they do. But with all the soft power from McDonalds, KFC, Apple, Wallmart and others they pretty much single handedly control the world economy. But we have to admit ,their media is biased as shit! Especially about the Middle east.
Every time the american channels show middle east, it full of desserts,oil,terrorist and explosions. They never show like two regular guys having coffee or something. Its like everything after Saudi has to explode! There are normal people there who wake up everyday, eat and drink, curse their job, lie to their spouse and go back to their bed, Just standard-Normally-Average people. People dont go "I dont know what to do today,habibi, I think I'll just blow up a plane or some thing!!".
Every time the american channels show middle east, it full of desserts,oil,terrorist and explosions. They never show like two regular guys having coffee or something. Its like everything after Saudi has to explode! There are normal people there who wake up everyday, eat and drink, curse their job, lie to their spouse and go back to their bed, Just standard-Normally-Average people. People dont go "I dont know what to do today,habibi, I think I'll just blow up a plane or some thing!!".
4.The Indian Serials
I give you the King of misrepresentations. From women who wear full-fledged jewelry 24x7 to men who wear 3 piece suits whilst sleeping, all of the desi serial are nothing short of caricatures. But these serials are feminist none the less, because considering the 20 year average running time of a serial , all the men have a combined screen time of less than 30 minutes. Its all women power!All serials have a core story which lasts twelve days and then they fill shit, crap and garbage for the next 19 years and 353 days.I really think many of these serials don't even have directors, the actors just show up and say whatever they want on camera and leave. But on the brighter side, you don't have to worry even if have missed six months of a show, because the story remains the bloody same.
These are just some of the misrepresentations that I've noticed and I'm sure there are very many more. But we have to live with it, we have been for so many years now.
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