*Do media have an effect on present society? **Is it the other way around? Is it both ways? If so is there some kind of lead? Do media affect our moralities? If so is there a catalyst? Is western influence in media a catalyst?
The FOLLOWING is the sequence of questions that I came up with. I tried to address them objectively and came up with **MY**answers for the questions. You derive your own answers. If you want to justify your answer using exceptions please do? you would reach some kind of different conclusion yourself.
**What I think is happening is a slow shift in levels of acceptability and I am trying to find out why. Also if the rate of change is increasing. Basically I asked these questions since I felt that the’generation gap’ is very small these days. When I was a kid, it used to be 20 years. Right now I think it is somewhat like 6 years.
*
(Or it could have ALWAYS been 13 years and I am 7 years behind my time).
*So here goes. *
*1.** When a serial/movie screen play writer writes something, does he concentrate on the present society or does he think up something that is usually different? What makes people watch? Banality or Uniqueness?
*2. **Does the author usually get inspired by a single happening or society in general?
*3.** Does the single happening portray the?Uniqueness? mentioned in the first question?
*4.** Do you think there is intent in the author to try and sell his newly created?society? By selling society I mean, for example, does he almost always justify the?hero?s actions?
(Clarification. That need not be his/her ONLY intent)
*5. **Do normal people get influenced by movies and/or serials?
(Clarification: Do you think people would like to be like the for eg? the lead character? For example do policemen want to dress/behave like Nana Patekar in ATC)?
*6. **What is the effect of such serials on people if there is,
a. A slight deviation from present society or yourself?
b. A large deviation from the present society or yourself?
Are they the same?
*7. **Do you tend to get more influenced by movies/serials that project a **?slight?** difference from society or yourself? Like an otherwise normal character doing something slightly different?
*8. **Do you perceive yourself to be a very **normal person? *
*9. **Do you think that people get more influenced by pleasurable activities depicted the than by non-pleasurable activities?
(by pleasurable I meant regular worldly pleasures, drinking, driving a car, eating, having sex(with or without legal partner).
*10. **Do people get influenced more by **generally normal** people whose actions sometimes do not conform to **?generally normal society?
See I have to classify the word normal with the word?general? mainly because normalcy is once again very subjective. I had to give a layer of abstraction to the word.
*11. **Do you again answer the above question with a sentence that has the word **?perspective? **or a synonym?
*(If YES, there is no point in you reading further). *
*12.** Do you see sense in any of the following questions? And are you able to relate these to the present context?
*12 a)**Does **evil** mean?not conforming to regular society and hence destructive to **?generally normal? **environment?
For eg. Something as trivial as live-in relationships could be evil to a few people. They might perceive it to be evil because it alters their moralities.
*12 b). **Do you classify the above statement with a sentence that has the word?context? even after I have qualified some of the nouns used?
*If so there is no point in you reading further. *
*12 c).** **Do you want to by and large keep society and acceptability limits the same way for your children as you see it? *
*12 d).** Do you have your own set of **?personal laws?** that are similar to what your parents believed in? If they are different, how different are they?
*12 e).** How comfortable are you in doing something your parents will not approve of?
*12 f). **How comfortable are you with it if your son/daughter does something that you don?t approve of?(?Perspective? and its synonyms are allowed to answer the questions)
*BACK TO MOVIES/SERIALS*
*13. **Do you think generally there are more pleasurable activities in some movies that are *?evil?* as defined above?
*14. **Does all this mean that if you are a normal person you tend to get more influenced by the evil activities depicted in the serial/movie?(by questions 1, 2, 8, 10,
*SLIGHT CHANGE IN TRACK*
*15. **Do you think that the world changes faster because there is an increase in communication?
*16. **Do you think that the television is *by and large* is an effective mass medium?
*17. **Do you think Indian levels of acceptability are very dissimilar to Western levels of acceptability?
*18. **Do you hence conclude due to favourable answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 that some western serials shown in television and inspired Indian serials/movies, have to be censored/ banned/ warned?
*19. **Do you think that since education is a far better way of giving perspective to society, the above mentioned points are moot and should be vehemently disregarded without at-least a thought?
*20. **Or do you think **we would have it easier to educate** the susceptible if it were not for *irresponsible serials/movies that promote seemingly normal characters promote slightly unnatural actions that could be the cause of?evil? in society?
*21.** Can you conclude that media has been ever so slightly changing society by constantly **?pushing the limits? **enforced in normal society?(due to favourable answers to questions 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17?
*22. **Or do you vehemently say that media just mirrors/shadows/fringes on society and has no effect on the course of change?
*23. **Do you think that the normal urban/rural Indian WANTS to relate himself to the western characters?
*24. **Do you think that the influence of Western Media could affect the moral balance in India?(By answering questions 20 and 23 favourably)