Representation of widowhood on television

Purva

@-Purva-

Dazzler

24

+ 5

Posted: 13 years ago

#11

Originally posted by: charminggenie
@Narangi,

Absolutely agree, I think we "the viewers drive some sadistic pleasure when we see the age old social evils being glorified, it swells the pride and gives an opportunity to feel vindicitve about these practices.But at the same time find audience memory and acceptance very fickle, they lapped up strong serials like SHanti, buniyaad etc earlier, now also if there comes a slightly different show like MAryada, BALH, Sasural genda phool etc they get fascinated, even BV got its initial audience coz it promised a take on a social evil, so I feel its a tango with both the partners, Production houses need a constant story with wholesome drama always coz of the time constraits and audience takes whatever is being churned on.Some watch these serials out of sympathy others to see a reflection of themselves or if nothing else for the so-called chemistry of the leads.

Hence more than anyone else I blame IB ministry and the censor board for their hypocritical stand, if they put their foot down and negate a story line with any glorified social evil, we will come a long way.

You forget an important factor - time frame. When the serials were telecast on DD and early days of GECs, they came with a specified time-frame. The producers, writers, actors, channel everyone was aware that they need to complete the story within a specific limit of days/weeks whatever. So the serials started with a specific concept, stuck to it, completed the track and were off-air. No one bothered with adding unnecessary tracks and characters to stretch the story. Today the serials start with a concept, barely touch upon it in the first 6 months, then keep adding additional tracks and finally when the viewership is totally gone, then they hurriedly return to the original concept and kill it in two days flat.

3

Reply

Quote

charminggenie

@charminggenie

Stunner

37

+ 2

Posted: 13 years ago

#12

@Narangi,
Totally respect what you said!

Though people criticizing show like SMJ ,and defending social evils like DV make me truely believe in the sorry state of our society but then sharing views with many including you gives tremendous hope.

We, as a society do lack a moral, civic and social fibre else we wont have to resort to a Lokpal to prevent corruption , there wont be any case of social evils like FF, DV irrespective of what is churned out on tv and certainly we would have more sense not to get influenced from movies and indulge in road rage.

During my childhood I remember reading about cases where children died as they performed stunts after watching SHaktiman etc, the number of cases increased but no action was taken for a long time by anyone I think it went to court and it was brought under scanner later on.

See, truely, in a very ideal situaton we dont need a govt body but for that everyone has be socially aware and intelligent enough to separate the reel from real, but till we reach that state I want to know what steps we can take to check tv viewership without affecting freedom rights.

4

Reply

Quote

charminggenie

@charminggenie

Stunner

37

+ 2

Posted: 13 years ago

#13

@CHitrashi,

I cannot figure out women wearing make-up and saree to bed, and cannot see any hotness if a hero man-handles his so called love.

I did mention time constraits-"Production houses need a constant story with wholesome drama always coz of the time constraits and audience takes whatever is being churned on",
And i concur with you that its this demand to keep on coming with tracks which is the main hurdle for PD to stick to the original concepts ,however inspiring they can be, but then I saw that brilliant serial recommended by Annika, MAryada, really different , had issues but I liked how strongly they projected women, I guess it went on for more than a year or two and was popular as well.

But honestly when I see people defending polygamy, sexual abuse etc it makes we wonder if the fault lie within ourselves, our own social conditioning and frankly the intelligience level.

4

Reply

Quote

whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

23

Posted: 13 years ago

#14

Originally posted by: charminggenie
@Narangi,
Totally respect what you said!

Though people criticizing show like SMJ ,and defending social evils like DV make me truely believe in the sorry state of our society but then sharing views with many including you gives tremendous hope.

We, as a society do lack a moral, civic and social fibre else we wont have to resort to a Lokpal to prevent corruption , there wont be any case of social evils like FF, DV irrespective of what is churned out on tv and certainly we would have more sense not to get influenced from movies and indulge in road rage.

During my childhood I remember reading about cases where children died as they performed stunts after watching SHaktiman etc, the number of cases increased but no action was taken for a long time by anyone I think it went to court and it was brought under scanner later on.

See, truely, in a very ideal situaton we dont need a govt body but for that everyone has be socially aware and intelligent enough to separate the reel from real, but till we reach that state I want to know what steps we can take to check tv viewership without affecting freedom rights.

You know I have great sympathy for your position as well.

My position may seem uncompromising, but I do recognize how complex the issue is in India. I concur that our society isn't mature enough to handle freedom of expression/censorship free media etc...At the same time I think, well, how patronizing of me to think that! And I cannot get over that impasse.

Increasingly, I have become quite worried at the levels of censorship being exercised by the govt...take the recent cartoon controversy for example.

It seems to me to be setting a terrible precedent. And I fear that the more we censor, the more lazy we get as citizens; the less capable we become, as a people, to educate ourselves and be informed citizens.

Edited by narangi_77 - 13 years ago

4

Reply

Quote

charminggenie

@charminggenie

Stunner

37

+ 2

Posted: 13 years ago

#15

@Narangi,

So true, that cartoon incident had me boiling as well, it was something to be taken with tongue and cheek yet we saw our parliamentary reprensentatives spending more time and money arguing about it then passing any meaningful bill, also the hooligans who created a ruckus at the Professor's place.
How can we forget a certain Miss CM, of the tiger state who is resorting to censor internet , ban many newspapers and also coin a girl as Maoist for questioning freedom of expression in the state.

Yes, these are all cases of power and authority goin to the head and misuse of censorship ,hence I understand your POV, all in all I feel we are a conflicited state with no accountability established individually or for whole society .

4

Reply

Quote

whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

23

Posted: 13 years ago

#16

I'm glad someone else finds this an endlessly fascinating topic of discussion!

you don't know how many times I have felt like banging my head at some of the things go on here on IF. Each time I have tried to bring up how regressive something was, I would get shouted down...on the grounds

1. it's only a show (which is very very true) but like you I do believe that subliminally these shows endorse, celebrate, and reward regressive thinking and instead of going ga-ga we should be switching channels.

2. This is the reality (SHOCK! HORROR!) and that I'm "too modern" (whatever that means) and cannot "impose" my views on a traditional audience...

This rather puts the kibosh on my participation in most forums!

Edited by narangi_77 - 13 years ago

4

Reply

Quote

bewafa

@bewafa

Dazzler

24

Posted: 13 years ago

#17

OK...not going to talk about censorship because most of what I wanted to say has already been said 😆

I've asked my mother this plenty of times...why do they show widows always wearing pastel colours...my mother just says..."most of them are wearing jewellery and deck up etc"...and then she said "it's still progress because traditionally, a woman was supposed to wear white and not wear any jewellery...at least pastels are still 'colours' 😆"

A lot of the time though, these widows are shown to be older grannies...and then you have the whole "old people don't wear bright/dark colours"...which is still very persistent...so maybe they're not showing 'widowhood' but just grannies...

Now...another thought...all the widowed grannies seem have white hair...the married grannies seem to dye their hair 😆

Examples: Bhabhima in YRKKH (she's old enough), the granny from Ram Milaaye Jodi, Saroj from Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha, Amma from Pratigya...etc

A lot of the times, the widows that dress up in bright colours are usually the vamps...Niharika (BALH), Komolika (KZK) etc...these are all Kekta shows...but I'm sure others also follow this vamp rule 😆

Then again, you had Parvati in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki...who was a granny in the end...and a widow when she thought Om was dead...she looked better than her "younger" self! 😆

This above post is a mess. Explains the state of my mind atm.

Sorry for putting you through the effort of reading it 😆

Reply

Quote

Purva

@-Purva-

Dazzler

24

+ 5

Posted: 13 years ago

#18

One of my profs in the Univ had helped me to understand that concept well. Had taken up a popular writer as the subject of my paper and he alerted me to the phenomenon.

What is popular literature will always support the status quo - the popular romances will always have MCP heroes and the Damsil in Distress heroines. There would be an overdose of emphasis on retaining age-old prejudices and traditions etc. What is termed as classic literature will always question the society and social norms - rebellion and revolutionary thought comes not from popular literature but the classic ones.

The same goes for tele-serials. The real popular and TRP busting ones, and the long running ones are actually regressive in thought and message conveyed - whether it is the representation of widows, or the vamp, or the sacrificing heroine.

Balaji specializes in churning out the popular masala, it has to perforce stick to preaching regressive thought and caricatures. The real path-breaking serials like Hum Log, Saans, Astitva (though it degenerate later) etc. have constantly striven to break the mould and question the social constructs.

2

Reply

Quote

Representation of widowhood on television - Page 2

Related Topics

Explore Topics