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| Wednesday, 25 August 2004 |
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A case for pro-development teledramas by E. M. G. Edirisinghe In the 1940s, although the original objective of soap-opera (teledrama) was sales promotion among the American housewives, it no longer subscribes to that narrow strip of viewership. While staying basically true to the soap-opera format which seeks to entertain the audience with interruptions for commercials and unexpected turns in the story-line to keep the viewer interest alive, soap-opera has enlarged its canvas and widened its scope within the last two to three decades.
Millions of new television viewers joining the fold every year, form a huge potential audience for development communication, a fact which the Third World countries have so far either failed to realise or are slow to come to grips with its social importance. For the Third World countries, teledrama the television's principle communication wing, is mainly for entertainment. Living under continual economic pressure, mental stress and social insecurity, the Third World countries or at least the majority of them are always lured by entertainment content in television. Therefore, the Third World will take a longer time to realise its usefulness and the effectiveness as a medium of development communication attainable within the current social context.
However, the broadcast messages on development could be actually anti-development, such as advertisements and entertainment programs which encourage consumerism and create frustration among the poor and the disadvantaged majority. So pro-development teledramas remain an untapped source of strong communicative medium in the Third World where open dialogue and informative discussions on agriculture, family planning, health, nutrition, children's education etc are still at experimental stage. Hum Log Into this midst of Third World communication void, came in Hum Log (We People) broadcast over the Indian national television. Hum Log, a television serial commenced its appearance in the mid-1980s, convinced the Third World countries about the importance of teledrama in pushing through development programmes.
It told the success with which pro-development teledramas could be launched for propagating a pro-development message, and entice a wider viewership as well. In the United States, a pro-development soap-opera means a melodramatic serial that is broadcast in order to both entertain and convey subtly and educational theme to promote some aspect of social, economic or cultural development. Development on the other hand means a process to bring about social, spiritual and material advancement of the people. The conception of a pro-development soap-opera originated in 1974 in Televisa, the commercial television network of Mexico. The pro-development soap-opera in Mexico promoted knowledge and changed the values of the viewing audience regarding adult literacy, family planning, sex education and women's welfare. The first pro-development soap-opera to come on Televisa was Ven Conmigo (Come with Me) which was made to promote adult education and literacy which proved to be a tremendous success. It saw admissions in adult education classes increased by 63 per cent over a period of a few months. In 1985, television in Jamaica broadcast Naseberry Street, a soap-opera promoting family planning. Similarly, in Israel a television serial titled Neighbours was produced with a view to promote good relations between the Arabs and the Jews. Values In the United States, with a few exceptions, mass media has separated entertainment from a educational programming. Promotion of socially desirable values and provision of a vehicle for social learning along with representation of emotions appear to be the essential features of an effective pro-development soap-opera in the United States. On rare occasions, the United States television networks design programmes to raise public consciousness about some topic to educate the audience on social issues. For example, Roots and The New Generations are two soap-operas which depicted the Black people's struggle for freedom from slavery and for equality with whites. They did indeed increase audience awareness of racial and ethnic issues, and the need to address their mind on problems arising therefrom such as racial bias. As the American soap-operas were initially based on value analysis as in Mexican society, its adaption to Indian soil should have been pre-conditioned by a similar study and analysis of Indian values dealing with matrimony, family planning and domestic harmony. So Hum Log a very popular soap-opera broadcast over Indian television was based on family planning as its core issue because India was already facing problems of poverty and overpopulation. It is important to recognize that soap-operas serve to affirm the primacy of the family not by presenting an ideal family but by portraying a family in constant turmoil, and appealing to the viewer to be understanding and tolerant of the many evils which go on within that family. The best Sri Lankan examples to illustrate these characteristics are found in such popular teledramas as Ne Deyo, Du Daruwo, Niranandaya, Kadawara, Yasoravaya, Giraya, Eka Ge Kurullo, Ramya Suramya etc. No tradition Sri Lankan experience in its 25 years of existence, shows that there is neither tradition nor particular audience response for pro-development teledrama which would effectively and enthusiastically drive a message home to the general viewership. Since teledrama in Sri Lanka is the first of its kind in South Asia, the family, its hybridity, common domestic quarrels and family goals until today form the core of Sri Lankan teledrama. Still it is strongly believed that teledrama is basically family entertainment at which the entire family irrespective of age differences and the family status together enjoy with comments and remarks cast at the artists at random. Hence the shift of emphasis for the use of teledrama as a vehicle to promote education, health, children's welfare, tourism, agriculture etc., was never popular with the viewers and was never taken seriously either by the sponsors or by the institutions. However, most of them believed in the interruptions in the form of commercials in between the scenes instead of weaving the message into the story-line. However, from the very beginning of television in Sri Lanka teledrama was almost synonymous with television for which most of the viewers turn to as clearly seen even from the present system of ratings published in the papers. The rest of the items run very much low in the ratings in almost every television channel. In fact, many Sri Lankan viewers are of the opinion that teledramas is an alternative, if not a substitute, for cinema, though somewhat it is now on the wane. Cultural norms It never assumed the narrow limited role of the American soap-opera even in its formative years in the early eighties. For instance, Dimuthu Muthu and Rata Giya Aththo portrayed the life of Sri Lankans in the context of their then existing craze to live or to earn abroad. While most of the teledramas were woven round rural traditions, marriage, love, social and cultural norms of the lower middle class and the working class, they hardly concentrate on pro-development themes as core issues to be taken to the viewership. The first serial to call serious enough to be pro-development is Vasantha Obesekera's Induru Dora (1993) a story based on an AIDS patient. It had a good impact on the spectators as a work of art, but there are no statistics to show how it had helped the AIDS prevention programmes itself, in the country. Similarly, Manawa Warana (1996), Yuga Vilakku (1998) and Maruwela (1994) were a few attempts at portrayal of the ethnic conflict in the light of ever escalating war in the North-East. For pro-development teledramas to take firm root among the Sri Lankan viewers and attract big business for generous sponsorship for promotion of health, educational and social welfare programmes may take a few more years as the Sri Lankan television viewers treat television as a smaller screen version to view Sinhala or Hindi movies. They did not compromise with interrupting commercials or pro-development themes woven into the main story. They resent pontification or visible interruptions to deliver a message or a sermon on development programmes, however constructive or instructive they may be. On the other hand, some countries in the Third World have achieved tremendous progress in the area of pro-development soap-opera. For instance, Zinduka (1991) which means Wake Up a popular Tanzanian soap-opera on family planning had been instrumental in advancing the knowledge, attitudes and practices on family planning. With this soap-opera on air, modern methods of family planning in Tanzania increased from 5.9% to 11.3%. New themes Phenomenal success of teledramas in Venezula, Mexico and Brazil which weave the development message into the very fabric of their serials as mentioned earlier, had inspired several other Third World countries to follow suit. Thus subjects like AIDS, water-born diseases, immunisation, least wasteful use of natural resources had become the themes mostly sought after and given maximum soap-opera treatment. Pakistan too, is one country with a successful tradition of broadcasting teledramas. Many of them have a social message in the story-line usually concerning the status of woman in Islamic society or corruption in public or private life. Even in Sri Lanka where cultural conflicts are assuming somewhat an irritating proposition a teledrama like Ramya Suramya (2003) makes an effort to bring about a reconciliation among conflicting cultural contacts. Generally, the soap-opera format is well suited for dissemination of the concept of sustainable social and material development because of its multiple story-line can cover a multiplicity of issues affecting health, education and family life, more particularly because there is an already existing positive response from the viewers for teledramas at any home in the country today. So, in the meantime, before the evils or destructive aspects of television move in substantial scale to destroy it, it is time that the Third World countries resolve the subtle use of the medium of teledrama to transmit pro-development themes and take on social issues. Incidentally, a well documented survey conducted in the United States has revealed that little girls or teenaged girls watching television regularly attain puberty earlier than those who are not addicted to the magic-box. **** Back **** |
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