Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
“Anything that violates the ethicalities of a society, can be termed as violent” Dr J.S. Anand
From jokers in circuses and jesters in the courts, entertainment has taken great strides not only to gain a respectable place in society, but also to become the nerve-centre of human activity of late. In previous times, people used to work in fields, or in offices, or at their respective work places, and entertainment part of their lives started when the national TV started its programmes at 7.00 p.m. Or an hour or so in the morning news. [I am talking of India]. The entire day was free to do their work.
But, by and by, the idea of entertainment has inundated all the reserved segments of a man’s daily routine. Rather, it appears to be the era of hard-core entertainment, and work has been pushed to the periphery. Technically speaking, we need entertainment only after a hard day’s labour. But, now, it appears we are so bored that we are served such heavy and dense doses of entertainment even without doing anything.
Films are served on the OTT platforms and data is nearly freely available to the great mass of humanity, young and old, wise and other-wise. Wherever you are, you are accessible. So, one issue is settled. Man is thoroughly bored, and therefore, he needs hard doses of entertainment.
FILMS, MEDIA AND THE NATURE OF VIOLENCE
We need to understand the nature of violence. Bloodshed in the streets, arson, real life murders – are not alone violence. It appears we have no tooth for anything which does not show sufficient violence. Taking cue from this human weakness for violence, the entertainment industry has broken all records, particularly, in OTT platforms, where naked violence is exhibited and brutal murders, sex scenes are clinically shot.
If the Censor Board approves them, how can we raise a finger? Perhaps, they take a liberal view of an artist’s freedom to express himself. But, the way things are presented, call for a bit more introspection on the part of the creators. If art has a social edge, do our films and media have no sociality? No social responsibility? Is there no need to bother what is being presented caters to the joy of the actors and directors, and falls foul on the younger generations who are watching these shows ad infinitum?
TRAGEDY VERSUS MELODRAMA:
Let me bring to our discussion the difference between tragedy and melodrama. Tragedy has the power to purge the emotions of pity and fear, and bring about a catharsis in the hearts of the people witnessing the tragic event on stage or screen. Screen has far vaster possibilities of displaying emotions than the stage. Still, a tragedy is a tragedy. How violence is presented in a tragedy? Rather than going to Shakespeare’s tragedies, I would prefer to invoke Sholay. Everyone has seen this film, and everyone knows how Gabbar removes a moving insect on his arm, which signifies that a young boy has been killed. A lesser directed or artist would have shown clinically how the boy is captured, and then, his fingers are chopped off, and then, presented to the adversary.
This is called melodrama, which we see in Webster’s play ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ where half a dozen dead bodies are seen lying on the stage, or the Duchess is killed clinically by Basola.
REDEEMING ASPECTS OF ENTERTAINMENT/ TRAGEDY:
A murder loses its redeeming aspects in the hands of a propagandist, whereas in the hands of a master, it is elevated to the level of a tragedy, which has every stake in uplifting the consciousness of the viewers.
Do our OTT people who sell in millions, have any regard for the soft-tuning of society? Do they have any welfare agenda? Or they regard it as a one-way ticket bankruptcy?
Where are they going, and where are they taking us all, in the absence of social commitment.
If literature has an elevating character, how can we excuse film makers and media men from this responsibility? Better, call it accountability?
WHAT IS VIOLENCE?
What is violence? Anything that violates the ethicalities of a society, can be termed as violent. It is violence when fear is sprinkled on the masses so that they do not speak. It is the pre-violence stage, as inflammable though. Then, don’t we see how girls are dealt in our society. Is it not violence when they are forced to act against their wishes even by their parents in the name of love? Kids who must be in schools, when forced as day-laborers, is it not murder? Do we still need real life murders? The ‘jhoppar patti’s’ [slums] are breeders not of Slumdogs, but Slum Minds also. Most of the criminals can trace their descent to these chawls – disturbed maps of human consciousness.
We are talking of violence in OTT platforms. In films. Which are out to entertain us. Just imagine how many murders, rapes, and molestations a small boy watches on his mobile? In thousands. Can he have a nice sleep at night? Can he grow up to a happy youth? What we expect from such people? Can they be decent citizens of this world? Disturbed minds, distorted visions, – they are denizens of the Waste Land which is expanding just in front of us, and under our very feet.
STOP SHOWING BRUTALITY OF ANY KIND:
The International Academy of Ethics believes that artists need to realize the fact that excessive doses of brutality shown in the films, in the name of hardcore entertainment, or creative freedom, are no doubt, bringing in good returns, but at the same time, destroying the young crop. They are imbibing evil notions. Monsterization of the mind, in which : Fair is foul, and foul is fair, – as the witches in Macbeth say, is underway on a huge scale. As actors and artists, can we allow it to go on? Can we hasten the pace of this monsterization? Thrills have killed the man in man. They will kill the child in the child. Do you want us to commit ‘harakiri’?
Demons and monsters are a great cheesy food for imagination. We have now brought them down at the real level. In films, we see evil enacted in great detail, as if this is the only way, to release the pent up emotions of a person. In fact, I would say, this entertainment is brutal, and inhuman, and in every sense, unbecoming and unworthy.
Noam Chomsky talks of the “culture of violence’ in one of his interviews, and goes on to accuse America of sustained violence in various forms. Are we too a part of the crime that the advanced world has committed? If we perpetuate this crime, or become silent spectators, we are on the side of the criminal gangs who are spreading non-sense in the disguise of entertainment. Let us call a halt to this nefarious practice. Enough has to be enough.
Author: Dr. Jernail Singh Anand is Founder President of The International Academy of Ethics, a think-tank of Poets, Philosophers, Thinkers, Scientists and Social Scientists. He is Professor Emeritus with the European Institute of the Roma Studies, Belgrade and Honorary Member of the Serbian Writers Association. Dr. Anand has authored 150 books which include 9 epics which are considered world classics. He has innovated the theory of Bio-text in critical theory. The Univ. of Neyshabur, Iran has conducted a Research Project on his Poetry comparing it with Iranian Poets, under Dr. Roghayeh Farsi. His works have been translated into 20 world languages. Contact: anandjs55@yahoo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jernail_Singh_Anand?
Http://universityofethics.org/ethicsacademy.co.in
