Impact of Radio and TV on Society and Culture!
Media consumption captivates long hours each day in the lives of a typical Indian in the urban areas. Radio and television play a vital role in the lifestyle of the people. At the basic level, they inform people about various things in various ways and through a variety of programmes.
At the other end, they serve the purpose of allowing people to reassert themselves and have their voices heard. Television, in particular, has reigned supreme over the other mediums of mass communication, especially in urban India. But radio is also an effective medium through which millions of people are able to become unified on the basis that they are common recipients of a particular message.
In a country with a high rate of illiteracy, radio and television inform and educate even as they entertain. They reach out to a huge portion of the population.
The progress of technology has made mass media more accessible to people. The mass media, especially the electronic media, is quicker in making its impact on the people and the impact is also longer lasting. Television is a powerful medium for appealing to mass audiences—it reaches people regardless of age, sex, income, or educational level. In addition, television offers sight and sound, and it makes dramatic and life-like representations of people and products.
Over the years, radio and TV have evolved in variety and content. Even so, the kind of entertainment offered is mainly cultural—film music played round the clock along with some tidbits of the film and TV entertainment industry in India. Where TV is concerned, it was Doordarshan alone the entertained us till the 1990s and the era of liberalisation. The programmes on Doordarshan had a good mix, as the government-owned channel had to fulfill its responsibility of entertaining even while educating the nation.
Krishi Darshan, programmes showcasing the art and cultural heritage of India as well as contemporary events in the field, cartoon programmes for children and women, and youth-centred programmes were mingled with film-based programmes that spelt pure entertainment—Chitrahaar, regional and Hindi films on weekends, interviews with film stars, etc. But with the proliferation of private channels after the advent of cable and satellite TV, the focus on films and pure entertainment is intense.
Cable TV and satellite TV have heralded an effusion of serials, mainly popular soaps, like the saas-bahu serials and others based on family sagas and legends with a lot of drama to attract popular interest. There have also been some educational-cum-entertainment programmes like the Kaun Banega Crorepati quiz show that has been hugely popular. But the emphasis of TV in particular has been on entertainment: adventure, gossip, emotion-packed drama, with a high glamour quotient.
Music- and dance-based programmes like the ‘Indian Idol’ (based on the ‘American Idol’ show), ‘Zee Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, ‘Dance Masti’ have been designed to showcase talent of performers, especially children and the youngsters, even while entertaining. They have become hugely popular over the years and have had a tremendous impact on moulding popular taste in art and culture. The bent towards filmi music and dance has been obvious; as a result, popular culture that has been evolving over the years reflects a great deal of ‘filmi’ aspects today.
In terms of programming, television shows are either influenced by American shows, or are Indian imitations of them. One of the most prominent examples of this is the phenomenon of MTV and youth culture in urban India. A major impact of television and films has been the ‘standardisation of culture’—a kind of homogenisation that strives to minimise cultural diversity. At one level, this is evident in the country as a whole as a result of the exposure to Western, especially American programmes on television or their adaptations on local programming.
Westernised lifestyles, customs, dress, mannerisms and speech styles are voyeuristically consumed and absorbed/imitated by viewers. Indeed, one’s level of modernity is often determined by the extent to which one imitates Western ways and follows Western ‘ideals’.
It is not just in adaptations of programme ideas of reality shows that the influence of the West is evident, whether it is ‘Indian Idol’ (based on ‘American Idol’), or ‘Big Boss’ (based on ‘Big Brother’), or the various programmes—’Khatron ke Khiladi’, ‘MTV Roadies’, etc. – based on adventure and action attempting to showcase ‘fearlessness’ and daredevilry; the sense of imitation permeates the performance as a whole, with the participants adapting Western dresses and manner of speaking, gestures, and way of reacting to situations.
‘Big Boss’, indeed, provides an opportunity to celebrate promiscuity and a ‘crass culture’ that seems out of place and has little resemblance to what is actually seen in the Indian cultural context; so, can it really be called a ‘reality’ show? The soaps, on the other hand, have a general tendency to project the Westernised person – especially if it is female – as a social misfit in the Indian context.
Such personalities are shown in stark contrast to the traditionally dressed and behaved, so much so that a value judgement is sought to be made in the way the plot develops: the Westernised characters are shown to be morally degraded and hence suffering in the end. In Indian society, too, we see this dichotomy. Even as one set of people – especially the young – adopt Western customs, another tries to oppose the adoption of such customs.
Another kind of standardisation that we are witnessing is the gradual permeation of the ‘North Indian’ cultural traditions to all regions of India. This may be due to the
dominance of Bollywood films and the Hindi serials telecast nationwide by private channels. It is also, probably, due to the dominance of the northern region in the news telecasts.
Dress fashions, lifestyles, customs and festivals of the North dominate in the films (in which there is the addition of glamour) as well as the news telecasts, so much so that this regional lifestyle gets projected as ‘typically Indian’ or ‘national’. As a result, viewers in other regions have been much influenced by this ‘northern’ trend publicised in the media.
The influence is evident in the increasing adoption of North Indian styles of dressing and celebration of festivals in southern parts of India. Even the regional cinema of the South shows their actors sporting northern dresses and following northern customs.
Thus we see most women dressed in salwar/churidar and kurta/kameez if not in jeans and T-shirt, and these dresses have practically pushed out the traditional South Indian modes of dress. The sindoor that adorns the hair parting of women to indicate their married status is a recent import from the North to the South, and must owe almost entirely to the influence of television. There is also the unfortunate way in which regional languages tend to be spoken with an alien accent that tends to play down the typical regional essence of the language.
It appears that regional cultures and ways of life within India – that show such a rich variety are being compromised in favour of a ‘homogenised’ cultural trend dominated by North Indian modes. Similarly, the ‘Indian’ culture is being eroded into uniformity under the influence of Western incursions.
And this is happening, to a large extent, because of the kind of projection made on television and films, in which one kind of culture dominates, and is shown, either directly or by subtle implication, as more ‘fashionable’, superior to others, and as necessary for success and acceptance in the ‘mainstream’.
If the trend continues, what is ‘Indian’ may need to be redefined. At the same time, the biggest losers would be our traditional customs and values that have so far stood the test of time and from which each one of us derives a special social and cultural identity.
It is worthwhile to note the increasing impact of radio and TV advertising, particularly the latter, on society and evolution of culture today.