It is said that if you view acts of violence/ aggression and the likes, it in turn reduces our responsiveness to them thereby making them appear normal to us. Seeing a pattern of behaviour over and over again, we tend to subconsciously accept it. Talking to my sister who resides in Karachi, I often hear her say “Yeh toh yahan roz ki baat hai…” as if a bombing was as commonplace as fireworks at a wedding. People have a lukewarm response at most when narrating the latest target killing, tact of terrorism, etc. Similarly, we the audience are being routinely exposed to drama after drama that are passing on violence and abuse as if they were promoting some new blend of chai. Has abuse become something we now readily accept as a part of life? Is putting up with violence the prerequisite for a girl getting married? How many such concepts are quickly creeping into our dramas making them the new normal?
Browse through any random drama and you’d come across some common themes- dusri shadi, women putting up with abuse because their husband lost their cool, talaaq, jadu and jahalat. We are repeatedly seeing women being mistreated, ridiculed, humiliated, raped and yet it is simply a part of the storyline and in the end, the women pretend like nothing was ever wrong- a few quick tears and all is well with the world. I often wonder where the writers who pen these storylines seek inspiration for their creativity? Is our society embedded in such vices and are we being ignorant of shrugging them off or is this slowly becoming something we are ready to accept as a part of the society we live in?
What good can come of out showing a man who takes another wife and then justifying his reasons for it? Is there nothing a woman can say or do to ensure her man will remain faithful to her for the years she gives to her marriage? Why is it that every time there’s an argument between a husband and wife the wife is either slapped into submission or shown the door with a divorce? Have we seriously become so numb that we watch all of this unfolding on our televisions without so much as flinching? Soon there will be a time when every girl getting married assumes her husband is entitled to abusing her as he pleases and she will become accepting of this treatment. Are we creating a breed of domesticated, unthinking women who have little purpose in life except putting up with whatever they are subject to? I am seriously frustrated with the line-up of dramas that deal with some or all of these issues and never actually make a point. Can we please just put an end to all this rubbish?
Yours in watching,
Kanwal Murtaza
