Daily Soaps: Creating bubbles that are far from reality …

Ever since the onset of daily soaps on television in India, this industry has been growing bigger everyday. We have experienced this revolution ourselves, in the past few years. These daily soaps have been a huge source of entertainment for many, and especially the homemakers of our country at large. And why not, I believe being a homemaker is a round the clock job and requires most of the time to be spent at home, managing the day to day lives of the entire family. These daily soaps provide a way of watching the stories that are related to society as a whole.

The concepts behind most of these shows are often related to normal households and its issues or the social issues in the society. While I think that it is important that we talk about the problems in our society, to create awareness among people, yet there is another face to these daily soaps. While trying to bring out the reality of our society and culture, these daily soaps often make the protagonist of the story an ideal character. This person is the highlight of the show, and it is this character, around which the story revolves.

This person they create is someone who is often ideal in every sense. For reference, let’s call this person “X”. So, X could be a daughter or a wife or a daughter-in-law or a son or a son-in-law or a husband or a father or a mother or anyone else. X never lies, X never hurts anyone, X never does anything incorrect, X is selfless, X can do anything to keep others happy, X is full of sacrifices, X is almost close to perfect. Is that how you or I are? Is that how others in our lives are? I don’t think so.

Everyone aspires to be ideal but let’s face the reality, is it really possible? Real lives do not run on scripts. Real lives run on our own actions. These shows that portray idealism are not doing anything wrong but probably the way they affect us subconsciously is what is creating problems. We may feel once we switch off the TV or change the channel, we forget about those characters, but actually we don’t. Over a period of time, when we regularly watch these shows, we begin to internalize them in our real lives. We begin to relate and compare ourselves and other in our lives with these characters. It is then that the real issues arise.

I mean come on, think about it, do you really think it would be right to expect a woman who sleeps late at night after finishing all the chores to get up early in the morning at 5, get ready with perfectly lined eyes and perform prayer? Well maybe it is true for some but definitely not everyone at large. What these things do is, they build up false expectations in the minds of the viewers. They create an image of a world which in all honesty is a work of fiction. The core issue behind is all maybe be real but the entire characterization and drama created to push that issue is simply too much to handle.

So the next time you watch these shows, watch and forget, try not to internalize them. Do not build your expectations around those characters. Daily soaps are meant to entertain you, so get entertained and forget them. I myself do not like to watch daily shows but those who do, well, just think about what I said the next time you watch them, you might see my perspective.

Have a great evening : )