Hiralious

What if the condition of black servants under white masters was still dramatised ? And in that dramatisation, due consideration was given to the tyrannical white master as well ? His perspective was presented and made the center of the story , audience was made to reflect on his character , with the help of background music and other gimmicks that go into movie / drama making. The slave was tortured and other inhumane things were inflicted on him. The finishing note of the story was that they learned to Co-exist, due in part to slave's exemplary obedience which softened the heart of the master.

Nothing would look wrong to the one who is sitting to be entertained . After all, a happy ending was made possible. People learnt their lessons.
But Would the audience not get the impression that co existence was possible at the cost of one's freedom and thats an acceptable end? Would that not be akin to normalisation ,even near acceptance of the white master's behavior ? Would that not place the burden of action, of patience , of preserverance on the shoulders of the victim who is usually in no position to defend himself as reality goes?

Let's say the slave in this situation , took a different step and rebelled against the master. Let's say that he won his freedom and chose to move on, lets say he even forgave the former master. Is this not a fundamentally different message and the one that sounds more morally right ? Here a person tells the other person that no, you have no right to trespass on my freedom and my rights. Here a person reminds the other person who is abusing his power that no , this is not your place. You cannot abuse me. I cannot be expected to put up with your abuse in hope of softening your heart. Your privilege is not a given that I should accept and work around.

Apply this to the situation of Pakistani dramas . On every channel and in every drama , there is a vindictive mother in law , there is the threat of other wife , husband mistreating his wife for giving birth to girls , in fact there is a drama on air at the moment , in which the husband blames his wife for his abnormal child and everyone mistreats her. Her turmoil is given legitimacy with sad songs , weeping and tragic background music. In all of these dramas , without fail , the victim , the woman in question , does nothing but weep and wait for things to be better , which do eventually and someone's heart softens and that is called a happy ending. My insides scream at the injustice between the lines.

Where is the woman who stands up and leaves her husband if he has an affair , where is a woman who stands up to her vindictive mother in law , where is the woman who slaps a man if he dares beat her 'for giving birth to daughters' , where is the woman who files for a divorce because her husband is shit enough to mistreat her for an abnormal child whom they both gave birth to. Leave all that , Where is a single freaking working woman who is presented in a good light ?

I don't think I need to elaborate anymore which message such terrible commercial dramas impart to the audience. A popular defence is that 'they depict reality '. No, depicting reality alone is not the job of a drama. Documentaries depict 'reality ' or perspectives. A drama always has an undertone , a theme , a message and usually in its more primitive stage , relies on a binary concept of right and wrong. Pakistani dramas choose to give 'the realities of society ' durability by creating the stories in their light and then putting the burden of action or inaction on the victims shoulder.

When things go wrong , it is not for a woman to weep and wait for salvation while she is tortured , abused physically and mentally , even thrown out of the house. She needs to adopt a different course of action.
A drama , a story has a formative power. Pakistani dramas and movies tend to perpetrate their misogynistic tones without shame even today. They are the reason why Pakistanis today still pray for the daughters naseeeb (their fate after marriage ) instead of making them functional and independent parts of the society who wouldn't have to depend on sabar and naseeb if any wrong is done to them.