People generally almost always laugh it off when someone says that media content effects people's lives because it changes perception for people who don't know better. That there should be good content because it creates awareness of how things should actually be dealt vs how they are dealt.
I say this in regards to almost all Indian TV shows, especially EK's.
In shows like this one, where there are vamps that literally get away with everything under the sun, the selfless, poor damsel in distress lead that literally lets everyone walk over her, always forgives for the sake of relationships etc, and the dumb male lead who gets worshiped but fails to do anything productoive - this may somewhere stem from reality or a distored sense of idealism. Honestly i can't even figure out where these characters come from - but they do create an impact on people. There are so many people who think these characters are real, yes it's their fault but you can't change how they take something overnight. these guilble people take in all the negatives shows have to offer and somewhere start applying them to their own life.
I mean why is the Nand always the spoilt brat or a straight out vamp? Why are the in laws always shown rigid, strict, bodering on the edge of evil. Why are mother in laws or step daughters or daughters who grow up mother less with just their father's affection shown negatively? This whole idea of a Vamp that literally never changes. Who are inherently evil but literally get away with all sorts of S**T including murder. I'm sorry but this is not real life. People aren't just black and white. Majority of the people fall into the grey area where both darkness and light lives within them. Pure and absolute evil is far more rare than Tv shows us. This happens in every case unless the said person is the main lead of the show. Then she's someone who against all odds is a soul cleansed to the point there can never be shades of grey even within her.
I say this from my own experience. My ex-step mother was a gulible woman with some sort of mental disability now that i look back in retrospect. I was only 7 when she came into my life and I lost my mother a year after that. Still she treated me like absolute crap because somewhere she was convinced that step-children are inherently evil and if she didn't make my life hell, i would makes hers hell. I mean i was a bit spoiled and stubborn but that was mainly because of my parents - in their disagreements and fights i was being neglected and then my entire life changed. It's alot to take in for a child. Whatever stubbornness i showed during that time - it didn't deserve the treatment i was given simply because she was convinced that she had to act in order to stop me from abusing her. like i said i was 7/8 there is literally nothing i could have done to her. But she literally used all of these tricks i see in these soaps. Stupid things really but they made my life crap as hell during those years.
Moving on, despite of that marriage which eventually ended, i grew up with a single father who loved me a great deal. Sure we had our differences but he always kept me with him. We lived a comfortable life and everything - but i didn't grow up to be a spoiled brat simply because i was an only child who was motherless. That's literally bulls**t. Despite of all the negative influence around me i turned out to be okay. Okay enough that i get on pretty well with my current step mother who i respect as a woman and because she cares about my dad.
So my entire issue with these soaps is that yes while there are bad people out there, most aren't inherently bad or good and these shows are so freaking misleading. I mean what exactly are they trying to show? i understand it's mostly about making money through keeping the audiences entertained but why can't they just put the tiniest effort in making things just slightly real. Show that people don't get away with things scott free. That there are consequences. I mean for heaven's sake, i just want one seen where a character like Abhi realises how amazingly he has F**Ked up his child, exactly as he did with his sister.
Okay rant over. Really this show is getting to me but i think it's a mixture of all the things i've come accross lately. I've just stopped watching everything at this point which i think is healthier for me.