CINEMA : ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES---- essay writing

CINEMA : ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Cinema has been a cardinal means of mass communication.  It is a reliable and meaningful means of information and entertainment.  In popularity and appeal, it is far ahead of other available media of mass communication.  Like literature, it is a reflection of society, customs, values, culture and diverse socio-economic propositions and has a great impact on the successive generations of society in multiple ways.  Like other work of arts, cinema is the reflection of the hopes, aspirations, happiness, dejections, frustrations and contradictions of the society in which it is conceived and created.  With the passage of time and changing socio-economic conditions the objectives and values of cinema have undergone dramatic changes, which have on the one side, brought the betterment of the society while on the other hand, given birth to a set of social evils and complicated issues.

   Making of cinema today is based on transmitting good amount of message for society, as it highlights the ills and ingrained socio-economic and cultural problems concentrated in our society.  It is a mirror of society as it displays the plight of women, who are impoverished, underprivileged, oppressed and marginalised and it is quite visible in every comer of the society.  It brings diverse social issues to the fore and gives ideas to the society to either curb or eliminate every menace through it too.  Cinema helps society in general and individual in particular in bringing happiness, peace and tranquillity, prosperity, harmony and creating cordial ambience to live amicably.  Cinema helps people of diverse races, castes, creeds, cultures, communities and religions coming from diverse corners of the world to peacefully coexist by understanding their customs, religions, social behaviours, cultures, values and languages.

    Cinema can be instrumental in curbing menace, like terrorism, naxalism, money laundering, rape, and eve-teasing by appealing to the conscience of various stakeholders of the society such as citizens, government, NGOs, lawyers, and intellectuals, Cinema helps in creating awareness about different problem and ills and their associated ramification and repercussions for the society.  Cinema helps connect one society to other society, one social group to other, one culture to other culture, one religion to other religion one geographical location to other locations.  It is not only effective in entertaining people but it also facilities various ways and means for the people and groups to highlight their issues and problems.

    Films also help in promoting solidarity among people, mutual co-operation, as well as mutual harmony and patriotism. Through films the film makers try to attack the social evils such as child marriage, un-touch ability, discrimination, sexual abuse, corruption and female foeticide.  Today, films are widely being produced not merely to entertain people, but to bring various issues to the notice of society by touching issues of every area ranging from society, education, politics, terrorism, as well as to naxalism and administration.  Cinema can also propagate substantial amount of salubrious message to the society in guiding people and helping them to lead life amicably.  It can teach people about various components of life like social and moral values, ethics, affection, decency, nobility, religious tolerance, austerity, high thinking, regard for the elderly and women, advantages of joint family system etc.,

   Like two sides of a coin, cinema also brings with it certain disadvantages, Cinema earlier was produced with clear intention to highlight the issues and suffering of society but now we experience the diminishing values and obnoxious ramifications on society in general and people in particular.  Nowadays films are made that are full of indecent scenes, violence, sexual abuse, crimes and indecent exposure.  In cinema, obscene scenes are being shot and obscene language and gestures are overtly being used which have polluted and frustrated the minds of not only adults but teenagers and little kids also.  The scenes of violence, crime, sex, communication, un touch-ability and discrimination what cinema produces these days cause abhorrence, anger, frustration and lead to abnormal social behaviour in adults as well as small kids.

With growing consumerism, cinema has been replaced by commercialism and it has lost its value and purpose as well.  To make film a grand success, film-makers are inserting various low-value components like sex, violence, obscene scenes and communalism to ensure success of films at box office.  Majority of the movies that they are producing are stuffed with vulgar scenes, lewd comments, and abusive language. They are completely devoid of any social purpose, message, relevance and significance, Cinema has greatly damaged the social values and undermines social fabric too.  Adolescents are seen copying those indecent and silly acts portrayed in the films and they indulge in rape, eve-teasing, passing lewd comments, teasing girls and outraging their modesty.  Cinema has had a role in deforming the image of society and women in particular.  The films, today, are characterised by the excessive portrayal of women.  Women are used as decorative item to sensationalise and lure more viewership. All this has had to the degradation of their image, identity, status, nobility and persona.

Therefore, deviation of Indian cinema from social responsibilities is a matter of grave concern.  The growing tendency of the film industry to exploit sex, women, violence and vulgar scenes must be firmly contained.  It should primarily be used to educate and inform the people and to disseminate significant and relevant message to the society so that it could be used as  a tool to purge all existing social evils and solidify social fabric.