Thursday, October 8, 2009

The great Indian PORN show

Porn is entertaining for few of us. But, the question here arises that can entertainment be served as porn ?

Reality Shows:

"A participant performs the ultimate act of pornography as he disrobes himself in full public view of all that he considers most intimate, stripping himself of not only dignity and self-respect but dismantling in the process, the trust he evokes from those he loves most. We watch in voyeuristic disbelief, with a combination of fascination, horror, guilt and smug superiority at someone's else's misery. It is a spectacle only when participants disclose something scandalous." Santosh Desai (Source)

Society has been constructed in the manner in which relationships are not based on absolute honesty. In fact they are based on insulation of an individuals real feelings from all. A little privacy is given to each of us so that intimacy can be hidden for the greater good. If a person needs to confess to his beloved ones, he / she should tell them in private, not because money involved in it. And I have written about it long back ago.

Television:

Showing interest in the personal lives or lifestyle of celebrities are favourite prime time of our television. TV shows end up ultimately with sex,vulgar,gossips and this idiotic things which are not done for only money to few well elite's greed of money. These have already lost any interest for family or social values. In the name of freedom and choice they want to put the voyeuristic interest to others.

We have in effect created a market for preying on someone else's personal misery. Pimps and prostitutes are jumping on the Television for their greed of quick money and we sit numb and turned into something worse than eunuchs. We behave as self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters.

Television by virtue of lacking depth and being located in real time allows for no introspection. It does not allow you to interact and alter the content. We represent just a vote or 'a sms' to them. We flick from channel to channel and rest our eyes on whatever stimulates us. We are swept away by its combined force while retaining the illusion that we are in control. We keep talking about how we should change the channel if we don't like what we see without acknowledging how the channel is changing us.

Media:

"What the media basically does is, it just strips everybody and makes money out it. The only difference between a strip-teaser and the media is that a strip-teaser bares herself so that others can enjoy her and give money, and the media strips others so that some others can enjoy and give them the money." - RGV (Source)

Porn business is in full flow and stripping each value what our society believes in. For the sake of adventure and quick fame, people are turning towards fake family shows, reality shows and entertaining news channels...

News channels have huge ability to make something out of nothing, make your emotion rush. It’s the height of manipulation. Few video clips from youtube, images from google search, music from here and there with a non sense story is the prime time coverage of news channel.The word 'Exclusive' and 'Breaking news' have lost their significance due to constant repeatable use at every hour. Even Images, ads and videos are created and seen more from the point of view of consumerism than as an expression of ideas. The media in India loves to speculate because they are constantly in need of stories. The manipulation of your emotions with back script music, melodrama and biasing makes you not a viewer but a potential consumer. The pre conceived notion of entertainment is gone. TV channels are not in our hands, we are in theirs..

Honesty is important, but not at the cost of entertainment. There's a fine line between portraying reality and stereotyping. The problems of our nation like poverty, hunger, illiteracy, naxalism, unemployment, corruption and natural disaster. We readily import the nuisance but always shrug off to import cleanliness, honesty, patriotism, sacrifice etc. because these need to come out the closet of A/C rooms of these people and need very hard work which these people are not used to.

It’s the manipulation and unreliability of methods media use to determine what people want and label as TRP ratings. What media should fix is error in the systems, not the society. Media is trying to reconfigure society by exposing the hypocrisy of others. But media itself has little understanding or control over its own actions. You will be labeled as dictator or censor on talking about self regulation. What a pity..

West:
The West is entranced by India's poverty and filth- that's the USP of India for them. Slumdog Millionaire represents the 'poverty porn' (word first coined by Times reviewer only). They don't want to show us just who we 'really' are or positive achievements but show how our lives are growing materialistic and controversial. And our our elites are clones of the modernized west.

Conclusion:
TV shows or media is not interested in the truth but specifically seeks that truth which will cause damage to the individual's self esteem and poison relationships. Children are treated as Mini adults if they are potential consumers or just neglected completely. Our society has taken voyeuristic path and children turning on to the habits of adults. People love to see other's in pain. People want to breathe a live of luxury and flamboyancy with the route of credit also. The luxury industries is doing what it takes to cater to the whims & fancies of rising class. The aspirational lifestyle doesn't limited to material objects but it has evolved into unique and personal experiences. Really rich exploit the proletariat in much the same way as the men exploit animals.

6 comments:

  1. Hello Himanshu,

    I accidentally stumbled upon your blog and something in me told me to subscribed to your post. I haven't made a mistake.

    Porn is entertaining, you might disagree. However I do agree with most your points here

    Reality Shows takes away the privacy of a person, privacy for which people buy houses. But who cares. We love denigration and we are having it

    TV is good example of a good thing gone wrong. Prime time programs are all vulgar. But yet remote is in our hands. The entire thing puts up a question on our upbringing

    I dont want to talk about news channel because i dont watch them anymore. They are lowest form of entertainment one can get. Blatantaly violative of IP laws.

    West is ageing. And it is expected from them.

    Lastly, though i agree with much of your points but still there are few things where i dont agree...

    Everyone has right to express his views and it is upto us what to take so the question is on our upbringing. Remote is in our hand and it is upto us what we control.

    Your conclusion seems bit communistic..but one thing i know
    hard work is everything

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  2. I really loved the post as this is something about which I want to write a post on my blog...
    It's very true that No any Society can be based on COMPLETE honesty, and Serials On the Name of SACHH (Truth) are trying to devastate this insulation. It would eventually create a chaos in the system which we call "FAMILY". Either it is exploitation of emotion or demonstration of Obscenity, in the name of reality... They are leaving no stone unturned to increase the T.R.P of the show.
    I accept..it is our choice what we want to see..However, when choices become habit, one can not realize..And Majority of people in India are not able to make correct choices...so how one can expect that they would be so conscious that they would change the channel....and the crucial thing is that people have to leave wrong choice to pick new for a prosperous and peaceful society.... :)
    media an TV are inevitable part of Society...and in a way it is their duty to Intellectualize the people rather than feeding their filthy Greed.

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  3. Thanks Tarun for putting such detailed comment on my post. I am pointing the fact that choice has not us still quality work as lobbied by the cable channel supporter. All the quality stuff has came from foreign channels only. I have become sick of 24*7 entertainment dose by TV channels. And news channels, they are worse than gossip channels. Where are the journalist for coverage of ground realities. As Amit expressed his concern that majority of people in India are making their opinion over this manipulated news item. It only harms us in the long run, as upcoming citizens have no clue about their own country. The gap between India and Bharat is widening...

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  4. Amit, you are here again with acute words. Thanks for it. As you pointed that exploitation of emotion should be our major area of concern. TV has long left its motto to Intellectualize the people... Amid floods, champions league is operating in Andhra and police atrocities in the naxal problem is completely forgotten. My worst fears about information pollution in choas is coming true. I don't see any solution Amit, do you ?

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  5. funnily enough, i was talking to a friend this morning about the same issue.we were both commenting on this entire move to be more and more shocking.
    a leading channel has launched a show about a dwarf girl married to a 'normal' man.
    earlier a channel had a show about conjoint twins,
    then there was child marriage.
    the only thing remaining is necrophilia and possibly sex on shows...
    it is all quite sordid :(

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  6. Gargi madam, we have all sort of choices to see on TV but their themes are same.

    Entertainment is anti thesis of reality and it is born when people are not happy with their lives. Only sarcasm in comedy comes near to the reality but wait, it will hurt sentiment of any person, caste, party and religion. Hush Hush..

    And if you go for news, paid news and patriotism kills unbiased opinion of all issues.

    Those who talks highly about their culture and religion without knowledge, this TV has multiplied number of such morons...

    Idiots are coming to rule us infew years. G W Bush had done this to America and we will have our version of Bush in coming years...

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