Do media have an effect on present society?Is it the other way around? Is it both ways? If so is there some kind of lead? Do media affect our moralities? If so is there a catalyst? Is western influence in media a catalyst?
The FOLLOWING is the sequence of questions that I came up with. I tried to address them objectively and came up with MYanswers for the questions. You derive your own answers. If you want to justify your answer using exceptions please do? you would reach some kind of different conclusion yourself.
What I think is happening is a slow shift in levels of acceptability and I am trying to find out why. Also if the rate of change is increasing. Basically I asked these questions since I felt that the'generation gap' is very small these days. When I was a kid, it used to be 20 years. Right now I think it is somewhat like 6 years.
(Or it could have ALWAYS been 13 years and I am 7 years behind my time).
So here goes.
1. When a serial/movie screen play writer writes something, does he concentrate on the present society or does he think up something that is usually different? What makes people watch? Banality or Uniqueness?
2.Does the author usually get inspired by a single happening or society in general?
3. Does the single happening portray the?Uniqueness? mentioned in the first question?
4. Do you think there is intent in the author to try and sell his newly created?society? By selling society I mean, for example, does he almost always justify the?hero?s actions?
(Clarification. That need not be his/her ONLY intent)
5.Do normal people get influenced by movies and/or serials?
(Clarification: Do you think people would like to be like the for eg? the lead character? For example do policemen want to dress/behave like Nana Patekar in ATC)?
6.What is the effect of such serials on people if there is,
a. A slight deviation from present society or yourself?
b. A large deviation from the present society or yourself?
Are they the same?
7. Do you tend to get more influenced by movies/serials that project a?slight? difference from society or yourself? Like an otherwise normal character doing something slightly different?
8.Do you perceive yourself to be a very normal person?
9.Do you think that people get more influenced by pleasurable activities depicted the than by non-pleasurable activities?
(by pleasurable I meant regular worldly pleasures, drinking, driving a car, eating, having sex(with or without legal partner).
10. Do people get influenced more bygenerally normal people whose actions sometimes do not conform to **?generally normal society?
See I have to classify the word normal with the word?general? mainly because normalcy is once again very subjective. I had to give a layer of abstraction to the word.
11.Do you again answer the above question with a sentence that has the word ?perspective?or a synonym?
(If YES, there is no point in you reading further).
12. Do you see sense in any of the following questions? And are you able to relate these to the present context?
12 a)Does evil mean?not conforming to regular society and hence destructive to ?generally normal?environment?
For eg. Something as trivial as live-in relationships could be evil to a few people. They might perceive it to be evil because it alters their moralities.
12 b).Do you classify the above statement with a sentence that has the word?context? even after I have qualified some of the nouns used?
If so there is no point in you reading further.
12 c). Do you want to by and large keep society and acceptability limits the same way for your children as you see it?
12 d). Do you have your own set of ?personal laws? that are similar to what your parents believed in? If they are different, how different are they?
12 e). How comfortable are you in doing something your parents will not approve of?
12 f).How comfortable are you with it if your son/daughter does something that you don?t approve of?(?Perspective? and its synonyms are allowed to answer the questions)
BACK TO MOVIES/SERIALS
13.Do you think generally there are more pleasurable activities in some movies that are ?evil? as defined above?
14.Does all this mean that if you are a normal person you tend to get more influenced by the evil activities depicted in the serial/movie?(by questions 1, 2, 8, 10,
SLIGHT CHANGE IN TRACK
15.Do you think that the world changes faster because there is an increase in communication?
16.Do you think that the television is by and large is an effective mass medium?
17.Do you think Indian levels of acceptability are very dissimilar to Western levels of acceptability?
18.Do you hence conclude due to favourable answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 that some western serials shown in television and inspired Indian serials/movies, have to be censored/ banned/ warned?
19.Do you think that since education is a far better way of giving perspective to society, the above mentioned points are moot and should be vehemently disregarded without at-least a thought?
20. Or do you thinkwe would have it easier to educate the susceptible if it were not for *irresponsible serials/movies that promote seemingly normal characters promote slightly unnatural actions that could be the cause of?evil? in society?
21. Can you conclude that media has been ever so slightly changing society by constantly ?pushing the limits?enforced in normal society?(due to favourable answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17?
22.Or do you vehemently say that media just mirrors/shadows/fringes on society and has no effect on the course of change?
23.Do you think that the normal urban/rural Indian WANTS to relate himself to the western characters?
24.Do you think that the influence of Western Media could affect the moral balance in India?(By answering questions 20 and 23 favourably)
