Glamorizing Poverty - Page 2

Originally posted by: naava

Good topic Laila. It's kind of an interesting dichotomy. First of all, on one hand i agree with you. Romanticizing poverty (and i think it's romanticizing more than glamorizing) is disingenuous at best. And to come to India after 20 years in Canada and not get sick drinking the hand drawn water is ludicrous. They should at least show them all with a bottle of Evian 😆 !!

But, wait. This is a silly tv show. Everything that Ekta does is exaggeration but not ever very realistic. Whether she intends it or not, in some ways her shows are satirical. She takes relationships, marriage, rape and abuse, money, power & prestige to extreme and ridiculous ends - total exaggerations.

We get frustrated, but Ekta know that everyone watches these shows for romance of some kind. It's the love story that hooks us, and she's a genius at jodis. So...she can do whatever else seems to fit her fancy.

And to be honest, there IS unfortunately some truth, that materialism is seductive and does many times...certainly not always..obscure deeper values and family relationships. It's not a given, and doesn't have to occur, but sadly it does.

I can live with the romanticism of chawl life...i understand her point, and even a creative point and find it a cute part of the story because, while not realistic, it's harmless.. What bothers me more Laila, is the dichotomy between a patriarchal society and matriarchal one. While on the one hand, the wife moves into the husband's household, and sexual transgressions are swept aside and made light of,(patriarchal), in actuality the men in the PR story are almost all complete idiots to put it bluntly. (Even if hot and handsome 😉 and that of course is why we excuse them !) However, the decisions are all made by the women only & the men for the most part just stand there and say nothing and do nothing.

From Manoar forward there were only two men who were stronger than the women and they were both villains (Ajiit and Dharmesh). So the message is that women run the society, the family and relationships, either by decision making or by drama, and good men are subservient to those decisions and dramas.

To me that's a much more troublesome aspect of the serial. Although, I have to ask a serious question. Does it in reality reflect the current state of India's culture? I don't know. Perhaps it does. And if so, do women take over the leading role because the men refuse to be responsible? Or .. why does it happen? India is so vast and so varied, like many nations within the nation, so there is probably not one answer that applies to all.

But in the storyline, it does bother me. Thanks for posting an interesting topic.

Originally posted by: naava

😲Whoa, Laila - I was thanking you for your thread & agreeing with your observation that Ekta often makes a mockery of serious subjects. Your hostile and rather rude response to me doesn't even make sense, and your personal attack totally inappropriate.

My point was that the mockery of the chawl life didn't bother me as much as the mockery of some other areas. I wasn't bringing up "my topic" I was only giving another example of mockery.

We all know that they keep adding to the numbers living in this tiny flat and yet it's topic of silliness (or it should be). And what's wrong with Savita being nostalgic about her fights at the water line, or Manav and Archana being nostalgic about their childhood in the chawls. They were good memories.

It IS against IF rules to give a personal affront as you did, but since you questioned my integrity , I will answer you personally and then leave you to your thread. I live in the Middle East and I have neither air conditioning nor the finances to buy or run one. And trust me it gets bloody hot here. I do have running water but no hot water in the cold winters,and very little heat. I do in fact understand personally the desire to have basic needs. But I watch the longings for "western culture" in my country, (and i recognize them because i was born in the US and lived there many many years) and it see it changing my country... not in good ways. As people get more and more (and some can afford it just like in India there are wealthy and poor) their desire to be "like the west" is demonstrated in ways that alter the country...it can become a subtle form of greed. And we are losing some good things. . Sometimes it IS better to be poor with strong family bonds than to acquire. No one ever stops at running water. Once you get a taste of luxury, it's very difficult for human nature to not want more.

That was my simple point. Agreeing with you but wanting to make an observation also regarding your topic. I am certainly glad i didn't disagree with you. I can't imagine what the response would have been.

Originally posted by: -LiveLaughLove-

The Deshmukhs are financially secure and thats why they can find joy in chawl life because they know if they want they can get a nice mansion if they want. They CHOOSE to live in a chawl.

For ordinary people living in a chawl this is not the case they don't have the opportunities like the deshmukhs. Look at the Mahatre's they lived in a chawl all their life do they seen to be enjoying it. No! If they did that Ankita would have never married tog ive her family a brighter future. They older children would have never had to compromise with their studies.