On 15/4/16,
our teacher initiated a discussion on Fourth goal of Cultural studies.
In Cultural
Studies, we studied about four goals of
CS. The fourth is about " CS analyses not only the cultural work, but also
the means of production".
Marxists
critics have long recognized the importance of such 'paraliterary' questions as
these:
1) Who
supports a given artist?
2) Who
publishes his or her books, and how are these books distributed?
3) Who buys
these books?
and . . .
what is the 'control' of majoritarianism on the production of culture /
literary text?
Here is an
interesting article.
One TV
serial was stopped being aired. Shohini Ghosh who is Professor at the AJK Mass
Communication Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia questions something interesting.
The
character of Jassi was a bit bold for Inian culture.
We can see
how majority of the audience can control and see that some voices can be
curbed... some voices can be relegated in the margins from where they are no
longer heard.
That's how
production of literary text can get affected and hence it is one of the four
important goals of CS.
Moreover,
The writer
also questions something interesting which is eye-opener. "When the show
started to bend under (what appeared to be) the majoritarian will of the
viewers, I began to wish that the makers of Aadhe Adhoore had gifted Jassi the
habit of reading. She may then have come across a translation of Rabindranath
Tagore’s Streer Patra (`The Letter from the Wife’) written in the early decades
of the twentieth century."
This
observation has two imp points:
1) Are our
characters in TV serials and films readers? Do they ever read good books? In
the moments of crisis, do they find their answers after reading a paragraphs
from some books? We have seen Hamlet reading book on stage? Why, even if our
females in TV serials are educated, our characters in popular serials and films
do not read?
2) Tagore
was very progressive for those early days of India.
"When
Streer Patra was published in 1914, Tagore was at the receiving end of scathing
attacks for dishonouring the institution of marriage. Tagore was undeterred. I
wish the makers of Aadhe Adhoore had also remained undeterred.
Jassi should
have lived." (The serial ends with the death of Jassi).
Read full
article here. . . and if you come across
any such cultural artefact, please share with insighful critical analysis.
(This reading and thinking task is for your summer vacation.)
We had to
give our feedback regarding this article.
Here are my
views:-
4th goal of
Cultural Studies deal with not only cultural work, but also the means of
production. This goal can be observed in many ways.
One of the
observations mentioned in the article is... why female characters in T.V and
Films do not read on stage or screen? We cannot find any female characters
reading in any popular serials or movies. There is politics working behind this
also. If the audience will find the female character reading books in popular
daily soaps, they might also start reading. Mostly audience copy their
favourite characters. If the girls will read then they won’t watch stupid daily
soaps. The producer will lose their audience.
We mostly
see the female characters as Adarsh Bahu only. If the female character is bold
and offbeat the serial won’t get much appreciation or it will go off air.
For Example:
- Priyanka Chopra’s character in ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ and other movies. Compare to
other movies, ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ was less appreciated.
There are
many coming with a social reality, but gains less popularity in comparison to
the other Masala movies starring many popular stars. The Masala movies get a
high platform for publicity and gain high profit also.
For example:
Movies like ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘Phata Poster Nikla Hero’ were released during
the same duration. Not many of us would have gone for the movie ‘The Lunchbox’.
Power and politics highlights the story with good source of income not good
story.
Power, Money
and Politics decides what should be telecast or not. That’s why all daily soaps
are similar.
Comments
Post a Comment