Reality television: The truth behind how people react
Reality television and its negative impact on Indian society is a much talked-about issue these days. Everyone blames the channels and the producers for attempting to corrupt the social fabric of..
A FRIEND of mine tells me that these days when he sits down to watch television, he has to first make sure that his mother is no where within a viewing distance of the television. This is not because he watches pornography or something. It’s just that he is a sitcom addict but feels his mother will vehemently object to some of the jokes that are cracked by the characters. Laugh as he may, his mother will disapprove of his choice of favorite television shows and create an issue about it, thereby disrupting domestic peace. I reflect on the situation at my home. I am almost always left to my own resources in the sense that my mother is blissfully oblivious to whatever I do, as long as it has no disastrous consequences in the long run. She trusts my discretion completely. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had our shares of arguments when she had flipped her lid after listening to some of the actors cracking a joke or two about the private parts of their body. She had sat down to watch an episode or two of some of my favourite sitcoms with me and had actually giggled at a couple of clean jokes. But because most of these sitcoms thrive on jokes about sex, sexuality, one night stands, alcoholism and actions undertaken in all their drunken glory, she finds my love for these shows somewhat unpalatable.
To be very honest, I am a sucker for this shows. But never in my life have I felt that the views projected there have in anyway affected my life adversely. I have not turned into a raging alcoholic, not indulged in promiscuous escapades or not even suffered from drug abuse and the likes. On the contrary, I have bonded with many a person over our love for sitcoms and have become good friends with them in the long run. I don’t think that I would have made half as much friends as I have now if I had only talked to them about an educational program on mating habits of dolphins and the likes, with due respect to such shows.
Before trashing some shows as un-Indian and corrupting the moral and ethical fabric of the country let’s take a sneak peek into what actually makes these shows so wildly popular that we are willing to have shouting matches with our parents but not give up watching them. Let’s face it, sitcoms make us laugh. The jokes, the witty one-liners, the goof-ups etc all crack us up like no other.
Some people say that through the characters of sitcoms, we all want to live our unrealised American dream-beautiful houses, earning a fat pay packet in dollars whose going conversion rate is still fifty times the value of rupee, driving swanky cars, stuffing our face with all the lip-smacking goodies, hanging out with so-called ‘cool’ people who speak in fluent English, are free from parental control, have apartments of their own that they share with friends, indulge in nightouts and parties and live in big bad glamorous cities. Some might even put it down to some kind of ‘gora’ complex that still lingers in many hearts and minds in our country. Whatever be the reason, I don’t see the Barneys, the Charlies, the Sheldons etc bidding farewell to Indian television in even a very distant future.
Then there are shows like Bigg Boss, infamous for its wildly explicit contents, conversations laden with expletives with people eventually coming to fist fights, couples going all touchy-feely on screen. You cannot even blame only American television making its way surreptitiously in the Indian market. There are Indian production houses who produce shows considered ‘unacceptable’ in Indian sensibilities. You have Roadies, Emotional Atyachaar etc where people openly abuse each other by hinting at the promiscuous natures of each other’s mothers and sisters. The entire nation stays glued to the television and watch with unwavering attention when the camera zooms in on a man and woman canoodling in a corner or when a man is called ‘impotent’ by the anchor of the show. People download episodes of these shows, discuss them over steaming cups of coffee etc. And then people turn around and hold these shows responsible for tarnishing the image of the Indian culture and heritage.
Tell me something, if Bigg Boss Season 4 had triggered off a nationwide debate as to whether the show is posing as a threat to all the moral values that a family and Indian society as a whole stand for, then why did this particular season become a TRP-grabbing one? Why was Dolly Bindra’s newfound stardom the topic of discussion amongst many instead of publicly denouncing her for her brutish behavior on screen? Why, in spite of the wayward ways of some of the contestants, the show’s TRP kept on soaring? Simply because the show had found many takers. What should we conclude from this? That a startling majority of Indian citizens do not actually care what’s going on in the television as long as they get their quota of airtime entertainment? That Indians can only whimper and whine about televisions’ derogatory impact on our culture but not do anything to mobilize the mass against it? If the vast majority of Indians had a problem with the contents of Bigg Boss, they should have simply stopped watching it. But records tell otherwise; they actually enjoyed and speculated at length as to who will get evicted this week. Many people even kept the discussions going in their Facebook walls.
Almost the entire young generation in India has their conversations peppered with the four lettered word. Then why do people have an issue of reality television projecting Indian youths as a rude, violent, voyeuristic lot? The name says ‘reality’ television; these cuss words, the fist fights-these are what happen in reality. Also the shows will look quite scripted and will lose their essence of reality, which is what they stand for. These days even parents don’t bat an eyelid when they sit down to watch the all-new bold and no-holds barred Indian reality television. No amount of parental monitoring can check the youth to indulge in these voyeuristic pleasures. Unlimited access to the internet has brought home pornography free of cost. People, irrespective of their age, social standing and culture watch scantily clad women, lecherous men and the Indian youth freely exchanging blows and cuss words on screen. But till now no one has launched a nationwide protest that has actually caused the television producers to stir and take notice of the discomfort the Indian families are exposed to every day, rather night. Apart from moving Bigg Boss to the post 11 pm ‘adult’ slot, even the information and the broadcasting ministry hasn’t done much to assuage the so-called anguish of the television viewers who have complained about the contents of the reality shows. Face it, production houses do their bid to fill the coffers of the state while the intensity of protest from the viewers has been too feeble.
I am not at all speaking in support of the producers of these shows and the channels giving them airtime. But what I honestly feel is that viewers are making a big issue out of it without exactly having a clean slate to begin with themselves. If they feel their children are a young and impressionable lot, then they must do their bid to prevent them from watching these shows. But then again, it is characteristic of young people to do exactly what they aren’t allowed to. Breaking rules and doing your thing is an essence of youth in most cases. So by merely restraining them you cannot counter the evil effect of reality television. Moderation and self-control are what we need. If a show directly or indirectly glamorizes drug abuse, promiscuous sexual encounters and violence, then the youth must be taught about the consequences of these rather than merely imposing mindless rules on them without caring to give an explanation. There are people who are exposed to all the evils that reality television stands for but have a firm grip on reality and are not carried away by all things glamorous and harmful. This realization of what is important is the need of the hour. Because reality television with all its harmful effects is here to stay. TRP’s will skyrocket, infamous personalities will gain celeb status and viewers, young and old alike will continue to watch it. It is up to you to exercise moderation and self-control and check any form of aggressive behavior inspired by what you see on screen.
Then there are shows like Bigg Boss, infamous for its wildly explicit contents, conversations laden with expletives with people eventually coming to fist fights, couples going all touchy-feely on screen. You cannot even blame only American television making its way surreptitiously in the Indian market. There are Indian production houses who produce shows considered ‘unacceptable’ in Indian sensibilities. You have Roadies, Emotional Atyachaar etc where people openly abuse each other by hinting at the promiscuous natures of each other’s mothers and sisters. The entire nation stays glued to the television and watch with unwavering attention when the camera zooms in on a man and woman canoodling in a corner or when a man is called ‘impotent’ by the anchor of the show. People download episodes of these shows, discuss them over steaming cups of coffee etc. And then people turn around and hold these shows responsible for tarnishing the image of the Indian culture and heritage.
Tell me something, if Bigg Boss Season 4 had triggered off a nationwide debate as to whether the show is posing as a threat to all the moral values that a family and Indian society as a whole stand for, then why did this particular season become a TRP-grabbing one? Why was Dolly Bindra’s newfound stardom the topic of discussion amongst many instead of publicly denouncing her for her brutish behavior on screen? Why, in spite of the wayward ways of some of the contestants, the show’s TRP kept on soaring? Simply because the show had found many takers. What should we conclude from this? That a startling majority of Indian citizens do not actually care what’s going on in the television as long as they get their quota of airtime entertainment? That Indians can only whimper and whine about televisions’ derogatory impact on our culture but not do anything to mobilize the mass against it? If the vast majority of Indians had a problem with the contents of Bigg Boss, they should have simply stopped watching it. But records tell otherwise; they actually enjoyed and speculated at length as to who will get evicted this week. Many people even kept the discussions going in their Facebook walls.
Almost the entire young generation in India has their conversations peppered with the four lettered word. Then why do people have an issue of reality television projecting Indian youths as a rude, violent, voyeuristic lot? The name says ‘reality’ television; these cuss words, the fist fights-these are what happen in reality. Also the shows will look quite scripted and will lose their essence of reality, which is what they stand for. These days even parents don’t bat an eyelid when they sit down to watch the all-new bold and no-holds barred Indian reality television. No amount of parental monitoring can check the youth to indulge in these voyeuristic pleasures. Unlimited access to the internet has brought home pornography free of cost. People, irrespective of their age, social standing and culture watch scantily clad women, lecherous men and the Indian youth freely exchanging blows and cuss words on screen. But till now no one has launched a nationwide protest that has actually caused the television producers to stir and take notice of the discomfort the Indian families are exposed to every day, rather night. Apart from moving Bigg Boss to the post 11 pm ‘adult’ slot, even the information and the broadcasting ministry hasn’t done much to assuage the so-called anguish of the television viewers who have complained about the contents of the reality shows. Face it, production houses do their bid to fill the coffers of the state while the intensity of protest from the viewers has been too feeble.
I am not at all speaking in support of the producers of these shows and the channels giving them airtime. But what I honestly feel is that viewers are making a big issue out of it without exactly having a clean slate to begin with themselves. If they feel their children are a young and impressionable lot, then they must do their bid to prevent them from watching these shows. But then again, it is characteristic of young people to do exactly what they aren’t allowed to. Breaking rules and doing your thing is an essence of youth in most cases. So by merely restraining them you cannot counter the evil effect of reality television. Moderation and self-control are what we need. If a show directly or indirectly glamorizes drug abuse, promiscuous sexual encounters and violence, then the youth must be taught about the consequences of these rather than merely imposing mindless rules on them without caring to give an explanation. There are people who are exposed to all the evils that reality television stands for but have a firm grip on reality and are not carried away by all things glamorous and harmful. This realization of what is important is the need of the hour. Because reality television with all its harmful effects is here to stay. TRP’s will skyrocket, infamous personalities will gain celeb status and viewers, young and old alike will continue to watch it. It is up to you to exercise moderation and self-control and check any form of aggressive behavior inspired by what you see on screen.
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