Originally posted by: ThaneOfElsinore
About the legalities, you might be right. However, you must also note that copyright laws in India are one of the weakest and most exploited in our country's legal sphere. So even if the laws of "asking permissions" exist, it's a theory. In practice, most deals are done behind closed doors. It's highly likely that coming under the same media conglomerate would have some positive implications for the participating parties.
@Red: That's such a sweeping generalisation with absolutely no concrete evidence. While many creative works build upon existing tropes, themes, or even specific stories, it's highly improbable that every single entertainment project throughout history lacks any unique elements whatsoever. There are certainly works that are considered highly original and groundbreaking. Your term "loosely inspired" is vague and subjective. What constitutes "loose inspiration"? Copying complete taglines and scenes are also "loosely inspired"? How easy it is to discredit a person and multiple achievements, isn't it?
@Violet: I reiterate, my family is as connected to mass media as yours is. So I do know the financial pathways that force them to take such steps. I also repeat, your argument here is an appeal to pity and a pragmatic fallacy. By emphasizing the stressful schedules and lack of creative scope faced by writers due to the demands of television production, your argument attempts to evoke sympathy and understanding for the unethical practice of copying and plagiarism. While the industry's pressures are true, it doesn't logically justify or negate the act of copying itself. It tries to sway opinion through emotional appeal rather than logical reasoning about the act of copying.
@Green: You are also presenting a situation where the television industry must copy because new storylines don't get TRPs. This is a clear case of false dilemma: either copy and get TRPs, or be original and fail. You completely negating the possibility of finding genuinely new and engaging storylines that could be successful with a broader audience or different marketing strategies. There have been good shows in the past. Even right now, UKA is topping the charts. It's predictable and has conservative elements, but the audience is watching it. It's a remake too, but it's much better than the current shows. This shows that if written and marketed properly, better stories than what we have right now still have a chance. Your statements also overlook the potential innovative ways for online viewership to contribute value even if it doesn't directly translate to traditional TRPs.
Sorry to inform you, but you've probably missed out my edit part completely. If the TRP audience is left with no other choice than the stuff television churns out nowadays, they'll definitely not give ratings to the new storylines.
For example in a leaking water pipeline, unless there is a complete fixing of the pipeline system, the water will keep leaking somewhere or the other. Similarly on ITV, if we have regressive alternatives along with new stories (which has been the case always since TV became a mass media in India), people have the regressive option too. They'll naturally gravitate towards it since the audience is painfully orthodox in our country that's already plagued with societal biases, no matter how much progressively and pragmatically many of us might want to think.
What I am trying to imply is that if there are no such copied and backward options for the ITV audience, they'll simply switch to watching different stories. I call it "forced exposure" to newer content. You have completely missed my actual point and started covertly calling me out on my incapability to contribute to the TRPs, just because I criticised the existing system. Typical ad hominem fallacy.
So if you're critiquing me and other people for pointing out the obvious and most importantly, the ethics of professions, you should also probably know that television isn't repairing any of its current mechanisms. It's not even taking an active step towards any kind of betterment because it believes in band-aid solutions like almost all industries and institutions in our country.
It's clear that in a money-world, ethics take a back seat. It's clear that in neo-capitalist industries, there's no focus on the larger, more serious issues and the vision of future growth in the industry is severely hindered because of the continuous money minting processes.
Money is important, I agree. The problem lies in the fact that no one bothers to disturb the status-quo. Television producers and writers are getting what they want by these regressive shows. I am upset at the fact that rather than using an opportunity to gradually evolve the TV landscape, these money-minded vultures are exacerbating the situation to make more profits. And this is for all institutions right now in this land. But when we see public platforms, they are seen through an ethical lens, with a lot of accountability to the public because of whom they're printing notes. Just because you want money and ratings, doesn't mean you spread negativity, unscientific temperaments, irrationality on general entertainment channels and fake, sensational news on national media.
Riddhi, I understand your perspective but I find your arguments deeply flawed. I don't wish to bring this up, but putting down people because they rightfully criticise something is just, for the lack of a better word, unwarranted.
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