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“To
be or not to be”---this universal dilemma of youth has been the theme and
subject of active politics, dream career, passionate romance and creative
contradictions; even before the prince of Denmark had remarked. Though beauty
and freshness at its divine moulding, youth’s “songs of innocence” are
often engulfed with the uncertainties of life. Yet, I do not hold such
uncertainties a fallacy to our total development. Uncertainties offer us the
pleasure of discovery and the pleasure of realization. To put in the words of a
sacred hymn, “We shall know
each other better, when the mists have rolled away”
Well,
now without glorifying further the essence of youth like some nostalgic
Victorian poet or an old prostitute, I take a direct plunge to the issue of
media and the youth. If beauty is instant, intellectuality is slow. Hence, I
request my readers with an earnest humility to bear my prejudices and
endeavourer with a patient and logical conscious.
The
media has segregated humanity through its representation and stereotyping of
characters. Stereotyping the youth has led them to selfish interests---with a
totally instrumentalist view of “achievement”. Representation and
stereotyping is all due to the political, social and economical advantages and
discourses of a particular or a personal group. Such stereotypes help the
audience in “effortless gratification” without any self-involvement or
debates, the very anti-democratic and capitalistic methodology of communication.
Youth, of its inquisitiveness and the mist (which I spoke about) is moved
within the disguises of ideologies.
I
start my article with the references from the ad world. A fairness cream
promises a dark girl a bright career in the airlines. So, is it that beauty lies
in complexion? Are the unbeautiful, ugly useless a subject to mere mockery,
ridicule and frustration? Is the distribution of wealth and admiring the nature
and art only the privilege of the beauty (in reference to “Saundarya Sabun
Nirma)? At least in India, we have the dark idols---Krishna, Draupadi and Ram
whom we worship and lay our faith upon, not of their mere beauty and dark
complexion but of their intelligence, self-control and firm ideologies.
I take
the example of another ad, a banking ad (HSBC) shows a boy turning the angle of
a telescope pointed at the Saturn to a girl changing her dress, and then finally
grinning in triumph. The achievement of tuning in to a sensual excitement caused
the loss of some new scientific interests. Is this the message of the ad? The
carefree action mocked the perseverance one puts in some honest endeavour. Well,
I must pity the media’s poor sense of the youth mentality. We are very much
concerned regarding the social responsibilities and duties. The unethical
representation of the men folk is that they have nothing better to involve in
except ideal gossips, cricket fits and girl-friend tensions. (How come there
is tension if there is love?). We are made to believe that a pimple
or an armpit odour, the natural physiological reactions of puberty and
job-hunting respectively, can ruin a relationship.
Moving
on to the news section, and their interpretation of youth. The youth stories are
bound within the periphery of sex, crime and Bollywood “hot newz”.
Sensational news captivates our fantasies, giving call to the latent carnal
psychological tastes. It is quite a serious issue of how the media includes or
excludes views for their political and economical manipulations. Did the news
–media ever focus on to the pro-reservation OBC”s demands and agitations as
passionately as the anti-reservation YFE group? The reason being that Arun
Poorie, Rajdeep Sardesi, Parnab Roy, Vir Sangvi and Prabhu Chawla do not come
from the OBC fraternity.
Well,
we also have those achievement stories---of Dhoni, Sania Mizra or Abhijit Sawant,
the rags-to-riches stories. The news media is misguided to interpret that
success and money is the only means for a Youth Idol.
Films
lead in the rat race of stereotypes. To avoid the shock therapy and a faster
box-office turnout, heroes have to be Prince Charming and the girls have to be
Cindrellas. Love is monopolized with the bold and the beautiful. Such
constructed and fascinated representations are not fair, as they do not portray
the reality. Thus, a youth has nothing better to do except flirt his girl-friend
or ride macho bikes in the streets of LA.A youth cannot have “jawani” if he
cannot dance in the DJ or doesn’t sport Jockey underwear. “Mardangi” in
films is all about aggression, howling, bloodshed and Sunny Deol.
Speaking
of a latest release,” Phir Hera Pheri ” I was disturbed to see the amount of
jeers amongst the educated youth in a multiplex. The peels of laughter justified
the basic underlying poison of the film-to do anything to achieve money. Fraud,
cheat, use Government uniforms, threats were the sub-conscious lessons, coloured
with some silly farce.
However,
“Rang De Basanti” exposed the vices and the potentialities of the youth in a
balanced fashion. I fully agree that we do seriously lack an ideal. Like DJ,
Aslam, Karan and Sukhi we too are aimless—living in a trans of belief and
disbelief, trust and distrust. We do not know whom to tunn to at times of
failure, confusions, dilemma, frustration, depression and conflicts. Parents,
teachers, institutions, Government, God all failed. What then? The only choice
remains is suicide for the educated, terrorism for the uneducated and drugs for
the frustrated. The director very subtly suggested a solution---to change
within. Yet, even for this inner transformation, we need some external
motivation and ideals. At least, the guys in “Rang De Basanti” were lucky
that an honest heart with strong motives, in the form of Sue came to their help.
But the present not-reel life scenario is hazy. Another question might pop
up---can going to the past be a solution? Shall Bhagat Singh, Azad and
Vivekananda inspire us again? I believe that the spirit to rebel and firm
conviction lies with the identification of the enemy or the dilemma. Those
youths universally recognized their fixed enemy---the exploitation of the
British. But, now in this e-mailed era, the problem is that we have failed in
this identification of the enemy.
Stereotypes
in media have limited our range of imagination and the reality. Positive and
negative characters are often the result of such unjust representation. Though,
they help in cultivating some general views, the media also needs to show the
responsible youth. Let not the media range our thoughts with their capitalist
models. Stereotypes gulfs social ties. Media must socialize people into beliefs,
roles and behaviors.
Let
every youth live his life fully, give form to every feeling, expression to every
thought, reality to every dream and not get under the influence of the creeping
images of stereotypes.
Surely,
we shall erase out the maladies of confusion and live out our individualities to
its fullest potential, pride and liberty.