The Faithful Hound

Friday, October 13, 2006

Here we are now, entertain us

It would not be an original observation on my part to note the extent to which entertainment moulds us. We are what we watch, read and listen to. But what I will point out is that the rapidly changing nature of entertainment in India is producing rapidly changing generations of young Indians who can barely relate to the bunch that walked the streets a few years before them.
The US has seen changes in its movies, music, literature and popular culture in general over the decades, but the changes have been gradual and have allowed the generations to be well spaced and nicely transitioned. The "greatest generation" of the forties and fifties, the flower children of the sixties and seventies and the gen-xers of the 80's and 90's were far enough apart in age to justify a generational shift. In India, on the other hand, we have people around 30 who can barely keep up with the folks around 25 who, in turn, raise their eyebrows at the 20 year old crowd.
It's not surprising I suppose. People my age, the first bracket (I freely admit), grew up back in semi-socialist India. Our limited exposure to Western television comprised of Star Trek on Sunday mornings, the annual Grammy awards, some outdated BBC crap and scratchy pirated videotapes from the library (do they still exist?) down the street. Our regional television comprised of Buniyaad, Chitrahaar and Krishi Darshan. Children's books were not really much of an option, considering that most were 1940's style adventure stories that we could not relate to beyond a point (Forget all the ginger ale and scones for tea, the smugglers I knew sold nice cheap watches and were not the sort to be thwarted by four children and a dog). As for music, sure we all had re-re-recorded audio tapes in shoe boxes under our beds, but the music was just a background for our regular lives. We never cared who the singer was dating or what he was wearing. Given all that, organized entertainment was never a substitute for real life. It was simply a brief diversion before we went back to the business of throwing golf balls at lizards and playing tennis-ball-cricket in the garage.
Now move along five years or so and everything changed. Cable TV came in and shifted a number of dynamics. Girls sat at home in the evenings to watch The Bold and the Beautiful and Santa Barbara with their mothers, while the boys couldn't stop talking about Baywatch. The whole perception of sexuality was turned on its head. MTV created legions of black T-shirted, ripped jeaned college boys who headbanged in synch to Metallica and Judas Priest. The channel's VJs quickly became cultural icons, replacing our staid old mustachioed Bollywood stars. Everyone wanted to dress like Danny McGill and Sophia.
You know how they say that we all play certain roles in life. We find characteristics in other people that we like and then do our best to absorb them into our own personalities. Cable television gave us access to characters that we had never experienced before. Kids who used to try to behave like their older cousins now patterned their lives on American soap stars. I'm not claiming that my generation was not affected by Western media. I admit watching 'The Gunfighter' some 50 times when I was 12 and crying each time Jimmy Ringo got shot by that filthy punk. I dressed up like a cowboy for a year or so after that. But, even in my infantile head, I drew the line between entertainment and real life. I did not legitimately expect to ever actually become a cowboy, or Spiderman or Johnny Sokko (of Giant Robot fame).
Another five years went by and the information revolution pretty much exploded over our heads. If cable TV gave Indian society a glimpse through a window, the Internet threw us headfirst out of it and into the great big world outside. Pretty soon there was no difference between the scale or scope of social interaction available to a 15 year old in Paris, Chennai, Dhaka or Omaha. They were all spouting the same cliched expressions of the day, speaking the same IM-based language and dressing in the same celebrity-inspired clothing.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sound like my grandfather here. I love the concept of a global culture and do not think much of people who cling to the past. My only concern is with the speed at which things are changing in a country that is unused to rapid change. The difference between those with access to information and those without has never been more acute. If I can barely keep up with my 20 year old cousins, I wonder what a rickshaw driver would think of them.
The West, and the US more so than others, is moving towards a social dynamic where everything revolves around entertainment. You expect to be constantly entertained by your politicians, your news anchors, your friends and your coworkers and they expect the same from you. Rational discussion, personal introspection and unbiased information are being replaced by meaningless catchphrases, blind consumerism and blatant spin. It would be a shame if a whole generation of young Indians went the same way.


...and speaking of Star Trek (and to prove I'm still with it), you HAVE to watch this. Turn the volume on.



..and finally this tag from Szerelem.
The ten most played songs on my iPod (..and not the ten songs I wish were most played on my iPod) are:
1) 18 and Life - Skid Row
2) Wings of the Storm - White Snake
3) Trust - Megadeth
4) Poison - Alice Cooper
5) Bad Apples - Guns 'n Roses
6) Love Hurts - Nazareth
7) Wherever I May Roam - Metallica
8) Paranoid - Black Sabbath
9) Out in the Cold - Judas Priest
10)Mama I'm Coming Home - Ozzy Osbourne

In my defense, they're all on my running playlist.
If you've read this far, then you're tagged.

22 Comments:

  • At 3:37 PM, Blogger wildflower seed said…

    Johnny Soko and his *Flying* Robot. Every Monday. :)

    Nice piece. Incisive. The title applies to blogging as well.

     
  • At 11:43 PM, Blogger Salil said…

    Nice post, and I do agree with a lot of what you've written. When coming back from north Chicago this evening on the train, I noticed about a dozen youngsters [high school or college students] on the train attired in enough jewellery, tattoos and various other horribly ostentatious accessories to fit in with most MTV music videos. Chin studs, eyebrow piercings, big gold chains and dog collars and such. Name it, and it probably was there.

    What's disturbing is that a couple of them looked around my age. It's hard to not be pessimistic or cynical about society (particularly here) when one sees that all around.

    [PS: Shall have to respond to that tag. I should point out that I've been playing a couple of those to death recently (Wherever I May Roam and Paranoid), and been hearing a fair bit of Judas Priest as well recently.]

     
  • At 12:03 AM, Blogger Tabula Rasa said…

    that playlist points up your generational moorings, does it not? :-D

    thanks for reminding me of "DJ Danny McGill". we didn't have star for a long time so the only thing i knew about mtv (or was it [v]?) was that, from the tv listings.

     
  • At 5:30 AM, Blogger Szerelem said…

    Totally agree with what you've said. I feel a generational disconnect with the incoming freshmen and they are only, what, 4 yours younger than me!!

     
  • At 10:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What is Krishi Darshan? *gulp* How OLD am I really. :(

     
  • At 11:00 AM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @WS: Thanks and I agree with the relevance to blogging. "Giant Robot, ARRACK!"

    @Salil: Hey, a fellow metal head. 'Paranoid', I have discovered, is a great track to run to. It keeps perefect synch with your pace.

    @TR: Come on, give the guy some credit. He was a VJ, not just some run of the mill DJ.
    As for the playlist, yes, I guess I am exposed. There goes the suave and sophisticated facade I have been trying to maintain.
    'So Dororthy pulled back the curtain, and there was a little bald man in a black AC.DC T-shirt looking back at her.'

    @szerelem: Thanks. It is scary, isn't it?

    @ph: Krishi Darshan was a remarkable program from back in the '80s that offered delightful insights on the best fertilizer you could use for your bajra crop.

     
  • At 3:28 PM, Blogger Tabula Rasa said…

    mt:
    thanks for the hilarious image :-D
    i stand my ground, though. the newspapers always called him "DJ Danny McGill". i believe this was before the term VJ had been coined. (you mean you don't remember that?!)

    ph:
    come on! krishi darshan !! the one thing on tv that was *even better* than phool khile hain gulshan gulshan?!

     
  • At 4:35 PM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @TR: Ah, when you reach my age laddy buck, your memory becomes a figment of your imagination. (That turned out more profound than I intended)

     
  • At 5:14 PM, Blogger Tabula Rasa said…

    ok so which of us is imagining things? :-D

     
  • At 6:22 PM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    That someone would be me.

     
  • At 7:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Phew, I feel better already! No wonder I didn't know. *said with huge relief while pointedly ignoring TR.

     
  • At 4:19 AM, Blogger kundalini said…

    super post.

    "throwing golf balls at lizards"
    bet you didnt try shooting them with an air rifle loaded with dried eucalyptus cones (in place of pellets)? i did.

    (coupled with my last post, am really not sounding fit to be a mother, am i?) :)

     
  • At 3:12 PM, Blogger km said…

    EVERYONE loves Giant Robot :))

    That said, my generation in India was the first to get hooked to video games (1st-gen Nintendo, video arcades, PacMan et al), TV, VCR and of course, that fiendish portable music device known as the Walkman. All western inventions, of course.

    So is it all gloom and doom?

    I know most commenters here are incredibly smart, well-exposed to Indian and international cultures, literature, science, music, cinema and despite their fondness for awful puns, I think they are all people with whom I could actually enjoy a decent conversation.

    Which is more than what I can say for people who did not grow up in "my mould" in the 1980s.

     
  • At 10:25 AM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @ph: Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan!

    @kundalini: Didn't try that, but I did use peppercorns when I ran out of air rifle pellets. I also learned (the hard way) never to throw golf balls indoors. I'm sure my mum considered putting me up for adoption too at that point, so don't beat yourself up.

    @km: I admit that I spent a lot of time with my walkman and my (cousin's) Nintendo when I was growing up, but I don't think it affected my personality to the extent that modern media does. Pacman was a diversion, not a role model after all.
    Also, if you're upto meeting other "incredibly smart" people of your generation, give us a heads up next time you drive up north. TR will be in the vicinity in Dec, Feel like making a road trip then?

     
  • At 7:34 AM, Blogger ozymandiaz said…

    Dig that playlist, though I am a bit old school. I don’t have an i-pod or any other mp3 players. Just cds. I have all of the ones you’ve listed though.
    Great video, too. Thanks.
    As for the rest…instant gratification sells.
    On a different note, you had previously sent me several poems (to my chagrin, lost in an e-mail accident). I was not able to use them at the time but presently there is a Ringing of the Bards that would be a perfect fit for said poems. It is being hosted by myself and the other poets at Wet Poems, a somewhat risqué poetry consortium. I plead with you to send them to me again.
    Thanks.

     
  • At 10:18 AM, Blogger Tabula Rasa said…

    mt, km:
    i guess it's true what they say about sarcasm not communicating well online :-D (dec 15ish to 27, then jan 9 to 16ish are the tentative dates, but istr scout's also planning an nyc recce around then?)

     
  • At 4:46 PM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @Ozy: Thanks! I have emailed you a fresh copy.
    Anyone else reading this: Please visit Ozy's website and send him your best dirty limericks.

    @TR: Looks like Scout's out, so let's try and persuade KM to make the trip while you're down, unless you're planning to visit him on the way to the Apple.

     
  • At 5:03 PM, Blogger km said…

    Honorable Dudes,

    I'm back in the USA on Dec 10th. Hell will be breaking loose at work and home and what not for a few weeks. So I'm thinking a Jan meetup is more practical than December. (Just a thought. If there's enough egg-nog, heck, I'd skate across the Atlantic.)

    And no, "incredibly smart" was not meant sarcastically. OK, Maybe a little : D

     
  • At 12:46 AM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @km: Works for me. First round of eggnog on me.

     
  • At 7:11 AM, Blogger sattva said…

    wonderfully written, mt. really enjoyed it.

    i recall watching superwoman and then diving into my bed pretending i was she, complete with dupatta tied around my neck for a flowing robe. and, my bro and i imitated boney m dance steps, whatever they were.

    and worst of all, a friend and i, hardcore fans of the famous five, started our own secret "Terrific Two", complete with badge, password, snacks and mid-day meetings in secret places. INSANE ;)

     
  • At 11:36 AM, Blogger MockTurtle said…

    @ Sattva. I had just about managed to forget all about BoneyM and Abba. Thanks for bringing it all back.

     
  • At 11:15 AM, Blogger Revealed said…

    When I went to my first basketball game I was stunned when all of a sudden there was like this background score playing! It was like watching Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, with SRK and Kajol playing basket ball and the music building up to a crescendo! Never been so surprised in my life!! And as for the news channels, they arent even news channels. They're like huge big daily soap ops! Gimme India any day. Even if I'm hearing news about how another thieving politician used up all my tax money on his daughter's wedding, at least I'm not hearing about how someone's neighbour's dog bit them in the backside

     

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