Cinema And Audience

Cinema And Audience

( By Suhana Ahmed )    

Image By:- Darshika Singh

From time immemorial, literature and art have not only been a form of entertainment, but also a reflection of society. It began with the theatres-live action and when the technology developed, it turned into films, behind the screen. They say that every fiction roots from reality and it very well influences the lives of people in many ways.

It has had a fair share of positive and negative impacts on people. Talking about Indian cinema, it has grown in many aspects, but still stays far behind in many others. The stereotypical portrayal of a "hero", the ugly stereotypes of women, transexual and homosexual characters and much more still prevail.

On one hand, in this era, where we have got progressive movies like Dear Zindagi, Bajarangi Bhaijaan, PK, Indian cinema still seems to hold on to it's toxic stereotypical and offensive genres and movies like Baaghi and Student of the Year take a bigger space on the charts.

Influence of movies:-

Humans are very influenced by what they see and listen to. This can be a good thing as well as a negative thing. Somebody who is most influenced by movies are children. We must have listened to the news where some kids tried to jump from their balcony just in the belief that their superhero will come to save them.

When people don’t have much excitement in their own life and they watch movies to cherish the freedom and power they wanted to have in their life, they end up following whatever is shown to them. We mustn’t forget how suddenly all policemen bought Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses and became Chulbul Pandey. How suddenly all boys turned in “sakht launda” to Kabir Singh.

But we always forget that when they become Kabir Singh, they promote kissing someone without their consent. We promote the wrong ways to use extrajudicial power in Dabang.

The movie Ranjjhana, in many ways, promoted eve-teasing. The scene where the main male character threatens to cut himself if his love interest doesn't accept his love is both morally and legally corrupt, and yet, we find people siding with him.

Even a few movies that people consider as great movies are having so many problems in them. But if we start banning these movies then there can not be a single movie which one can call perfect. Banning something is never a good idea. It’s a way of seizing freedom of speech.

The only way is to educate people so as to differentiate between right or wrong. Till then, we can limit our movies to comply with some basic humanitarian standards.

Now some movies and characters are beautifully written, but sometimes what they stand for is problematic. When they tend to represent something and are seen as anything more than a fiction, the problem arises. 

What are Bollywood movies like?

It is certain that Bollywood has given us so many gems. There have been movies dealing with mental issues, women issues, breaking gender stereotypes, collapsing toxic masculinity and even in recent times, movies tackling queerphobia have come forth.

A movie where the male lead helps others and fights for justice outright harasses and stalks the female lead and it is seen as appreciable. Absolute disgusting and unreal stereotypes of queer characters and creation of flat women character who or oblivious of everything. Racism, classism and so many more social evils are normalized in the movies.

It isn't the movies' fault entirely.

The fact that despite there being movies with a good plot and good and good social message, they don't get much recognition. We tend to give stardom more important than talent, and also prefer watching unrealistic and illogical plots.

What's demanded is what's served. When putting on the same platform, if an absolute masterpiece couldn't earn enough profit, it says a lot about the people's tastes as well.

We are a country that doesn't talk about sex, which shuns mental issues like it is a virus, and which is more disgusted by someone loving a person of the same sex more than physical and sexual harassment. People wouldn't prefer watching movies that challenge their intellect because there is a sense of rigidity that is built in them. That is where the problem lies.

Kabir Singh isn't a badly written script, but it affected people in the entirely opposite way it should have. The problem starts when a beautifully written toxic and flawed character is idolized instead of criticized. The fault lies when people start defending a toxic character.

The problem lies when people are prejudiced when a sexist or racist monologue becomes the identity of an actor and is cherished everywhere. The problem starts when people consume movies and the actors instead of studying and observing them, instead of relating it to the current world.

It is necessary to teach people, it is necessary to educate them. If the current cinema depicts our society, it's a major hint to us that we need to change a lot.

We need to create and demand better scripts and cinematography. We need to treat actors/movie makers like one of us and not as if they're superior. We need to grow our thoughts process and select the kind of movies we need to watch and give them preference.

The fault lies in everyone and everyone needs to take a step to solve it. 

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.