OF DRAMA QUEENS AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES

There are several things that bring out the concept of “longstanding pain” in our lives—queues, government or a wickedly deep tooth cavity. But all these pale in comparison to the object of my irritation today—television soaps operas! Come seven in the evening everyday and my family crowds around the television set, almost salivating in eager anticipation of their daily fix of family drama. Now I’m sure apologetics for this growing form of visual entertainment would argue that it isn’t exactly harmful and would accuse me of making a big noise about nothing. Well, a closer look at the effects of ‘serials’ on any society, especially ours, would reveal that these hour long dramas are not as benign as they may seem.

Essentially, a large section of the public watches these soaps with escapist intentions. They seem to provide a temporary distraction from their otherwise banal and monotonous lives. The ‘riveting’ plots, the big twists and the chunky jewellery complimented by impassable layers of make-up for even the most ordinary, indoor scenes all form a part of this ‘charm’ that keeps audiences across our country glued to their TV sets every weeknight. But here’s the scary bit—what happens when people begin to imitate this preposterousness in their everyday lives? That can happen on many different levels. First, it can result in the creation of extra drama when there isn’t any at all. A lot of soap opera fans eventually develop an honest belief that their lives are ‘empty’ without a good dose of tears, tantrums and scheming. These soaps have only made our society much more emotionally fragile and people have lost the ability to be stoic about the smallest of things. This does not match the requirements of the life around us, which demands a high emotional quotient as a pre-requisite for success.

Next, the audience demographic has seen a major paradigm shift and with the greater accessibility of television sets even in low income homes, the viewer ship has increased. But the settings of most soaps operas have remained the same—big, affluent families that live in mansions with a surprisingly large number rooms for when the characters need to storm out in a fit of rage. Ideas of economic and social meagreness are reinforced within the denied sections of society and they begin to set unrealistic dreams for themselves. Worse still, they might even resort to unhealthy and detrimental ways to achieve their desires. By and large, most soaps only serve to perpetuate stereotypes and this will never give us as a society the impetus to rise above. Intellectually, the amount of stimulation is about as limited as the acting abilities of these soapstars.

It is quarter to seven now and my mother seems edgy. Any attempts by me to make even the slightest contact with the television remote control will definitely result in a week-long banishment from the dinner table. Promptly, the rest of my family takes its place at the foot of the revered Samsung, waiting in deferential silence for the advertisements to end and the first notes of that hallowed theme song to ring out. Oh well, at least we’re spending time together as a family—even if it does involve sitting in front of a screen in a zombie-like fashion for an entire hour.