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KANNADA SOAP OPERA’S FEMALE ROLES IMPACT
ON WOMEN VIEWERS OF KARNATAKA
Rajeshwari R
Asst Professor, Dept of Electronic Media
,Bangalore University.
Abstract :
Today media is restructuring the world in terms lifestyle, attitude, and knowledge etc. Media is more important
than at any other time and it plays vital role in the process of development. The communication media accelerates the
process of development by involving, persuading and transforming people. Media also promotes consumer tastes and
values, often unknown to Indian culture and traditions. Indian mass media includes newspaper, radio, television, internet,
cinema, magazines etc.
Of all the popular means of media, television has the greatest mass appeal and acceptance. Television is one of the
important instruments of social change in Indian society.
Keywords: Women Viewers , attitude, and knowledge,internet
KANNADA SOAP OPERA’S FEMALE ROLES IMPACT ON WOMEN VIEWERS ............
INTRODUCTION:
Its transmission in India started on September 15th 1959. Till 1990 this audio visual media remained with state
control (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), with the monopolistic public broadcasters- Akashvani and
Doordarshan. The advent of satellite television totally altered the Indian media scene, as foreign and indigenous private
television channels began to beam programs into homes across the country. By late 2003, over 100 channels in different
languages were added to Indian television scene, with some also reaching audiences in other South Asian countries and
even other parts of the world. Cable and satellite television have grown extensively throughout the world.
Media plays a very important role in shaping the personality of people. It has been observed that citizens
become more sensible and capable to shoulder their responsibility towards the nation and the society because of the
media. We get our role models by hearing about the appreciation of their great deeds from the media itself.
The impact of visual media as a very powerful vehicle for communicating ideas and images is known to be tremendous.
Television creates a world which seems very real and viewers are unable to differentiate between the contrived world
and the real one.
According to the documents of the United Nations Organization, women constitute almost half of the total
population of the world. But their social, economic and political status is lower than that of men in all the member
countries – be it the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China or India. Of course, women
do enjoy better position in some societies than in others. The content of communication at any given time reflects the
pattern of values of the society. The ways subjects dealing with women are treated indicate to get a great extent the
prevailing attitude of that society towards its women (M.V. Ramanamma, 2005)
In most discussion of the media in India, the focus is on middle – and upper class, urban sections of the
population. There is little information about media reach and consumption in the rural areas and among the socially and
economically disadvantaged, urban or rural. This can be attributed at least partly to the fact that the two annual all- India
audience surveys that generate media- related data cater primarily to the needs of commercial users of the media. The
fragmented information that does exist provides only glimpses of the significant class and location specific differences
in media access and participation (Joseph A 2014).
A deep look into the relationship between women and the media of today reveals a dichotomy. On the one
hand, there is the traditional approach, replete with stereotypes where women are depicted in the most traditional and
conservative light. On the other hand, there is the liberal approach, which attempts to break out of the stereotypical
mode and portray women in the light of their socio economic role as important contributors to the polity, economy, and
society of the nation. The most damaging is the perpetuation of the sex role stereotypes by the media depicting women
in domestic roles- cooking, working, and cleaning. Women are hardly ever shown in more productive roles. On the
other hand, men are shown as decision makers, authorities and successful professionals. Thus an important
development in society, the emergence of women on the work front has been marginalized (Uma Singh 2001).
In recent years it has been observed that the media has emerged in a big way as the major Role of Media on
Indecent Representation of Women exploiter of woman, with changing times new ways of expression social power
have been fashioned which target the weaker components of society. The most vulnerable target is women (Tanuja
Panda).
Though women have significantly in every aspect of life, the long list of in human treatment given seems never
ending. The Government, judiciary and social action groups are taking positive action to provide women true dignity in
economic, social and personal areas. The pattern of value in any society is reflected in the contents of mass
communications. The way subjects dealing with women are treated indicated to a great extent the prevailing attitude of
the society towards women. In this regard, the ongoing communication revolution has opened up new possibilities of
accelerating the process of upliftment of women. But if it remains unguided and uncontrolled this revolution will
decelerate the process and it will have adverse effects on the lives of women (Arpitha Sharma).
LITERATURE REVIEW
With the advent of satellite television in 1991, the idiot box of 1980’s turned into whole new magical world,
comprising of innumerable and a wide variety of satellite channels. However, like all other developments lead to certain
unexpected changes, television too transformed its viewing as a fragmented exercise. While earlier the entire family
was sitting together to watch programs like Hum Log, Buniyaad in the 1980s; the new genre of programming
specifically deals with a particular target audience. Afternoon soaps like Shanti, Swabhiman of the early 1990s have
moved to the prime slot, in the form of long running K- serials that began around 2001 and different other programs
catering to different segments – housewives, youth, corporate sector, businessmen and children (Anand M., 2006).
Historically, women have been more susceptible to stereotyping and marginalization than men. The history of
a woman's 'usefulness' basically began with being a sexual plaything, a mother, and a caretaker. Advertisements have
women selling everything from food to cars. We continue to see that women are the focus of most advertisements and
the biggest selling point for the product being sold (Salome R. S., 2009).
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KANNADA SOAP OPERA’S FEMALE ROLES IMPACT ON WOMEN VIEWERS ............
Television has become both a boon and a bane of our contemporary society. Its influence is unparallel by any
other form of entertainment. Television plays on the psychology of the viewers and literally mesmerizes them. When
women’s images exhibit traits of strength such as courage, determination, intelligence, self-respect and honesty, the
viewers perceptions can be exploited for positive results. But the various serials shown in television have done nothing
significant to improve Indian women’s image infect, she is depicted either as a Sati-Savitri, totally subordinated to her
husband, even if he has all the views in him or as women of easy virtues. Women have been shown as a typically
harassed class, thrown out of their own houses if not willing to succumb to the dictates of their husband and soon. Even
if the husband ill-treats her and sends her out, towards the end of the serial, she will prostrate before him, begging his
pardon.
When people perceived stereotypical traits of masculine and femine nature on a powerful medium like
television it indicated that television does highlight gender stereotypes and thereby helps to perpetuate them. Negative
stereotypes have been identified the most important asset of women is physical beauty. Women’s place is in the house,
their energies and intellect must be directed to finding the right man and in “keeping” him. Women are women’s worst
enemies. The working women are the undesirable exception who must be brought into the marriage fold and made to
conform to social norms (Arpitha Sharma).
Contemporary TV serials and soaps projecting women more as models of expensive costume-jewellery or
jardousi sarees. Moreover, the stereotypes used- that of a wronged wife, a domineering mother-in-law, bitter
relationships between sisters-in-law ,though bear resemblance with a certain reality of society fails to do justice with the
changing and shifting patterns of identity within household. They fail to circumscribe all the career options that are now
being taken up by Indian women, new modes of lifestyle being adopted and remain entrenched in certain deep-rooted
notions that are hard to be erased away.
During the good-old days of Doordarshan, there had been several programs like Udaan that dealt with issues
concerning a woman’s struggle, her dreams of becoming an IPS Officer. This was probably the first Indian television
show on women empowerment. Inspired by the real-life story of Kavita Choudhary's (the director of this series) elder
sister Kanchan Choudhary who after several hardships went on to become the first female Director General of Police, it
inspired its viewers and instilled in its female audience a desire for emancipation –beyond the claustrophobic nets of
society. However, with the advent of cable and satellite television and a major upheaval following it, things rapidly
changed and serials stopped short of projecting those that could prove beneficial for uplifting these maimed section of
the society.
The new millennium saw the phenomenal success of the soaps involving family dramas (Kasauti Zindagi Kay
, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thhi to name a few) championed by none other than Ekta Kapoor. True it is that her
Balaji Productions indeed revolutionized Indian serials which now shifted the camera lens from outside to the dark
nitty-gritties within a family household. This narrowing down of the targeted domain brought to surface several hidden
truths, opened up several new arenas that society needed to concentrate upon. But the phenomenal success of these
serials never obliterated the fact that they targeted a certain, specific, economically privileged section of society where
the main source of familial income was either inherited property or that amassed by business activities. This particular
focus on such women who were married off to rich households often belonging to elite class themselves further
alienated these serials from a larger reality- reality that changed over the decade.
No matter how modern the women characters were in these serials with respect to their attire and access to
technology, the mode of presentation of these women with junk jewels and designer sarees failed to bring within its
territory the struggling middle class. Throughout the decade such typifications and vilification continued with
ornamentally decked up women lit up the screen and sensuously dressed vamps exercised her heinous tricks (Y L R
Moorthi, Subhadip Roy, Anita Pansari, 2014).
Since 1980’s one of the entertainment format on mass media, serials have undergone drastic transformation.
The serials of 1980’s like Rajni, Kalyani have portrayed strong woman image which inspired middle class women and
challenged the mainstream ideology. Recent soaps like- Kasauti Zindagi Ki, Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani
Ghar Ghar Ki, Kahin Kissi Roz, Kavyanjali, Har Ghar Kuch Kahta Hai, Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyaan, Meri Doli Tere
Angna; Thodi Khushi Thode Gam and Khwaish,have presented woman in a domestic sphere. Indian viewers are
spending more time on watching news than reading news. Due to competition news
channels are sensationalizing the news to grab the highest TRP (Anand M., 2006).
Serials are depicting women and young females involved in conspiracy, premarital, extra-marital, post
material illicit affairs, wearing costly, heavy golden, and diamond jewellary, perpetuating their religious
fundamentalism, spending time is family feuds, suicidal love affairs, mega parties, palatial houses, luxary cars, sleek
mobiles, elegant, make ups, little care about anything else than the individual matters, and at all not even a word about
the outside world (Sanjeev S.K., 2005).
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Social learning encompasses both imitation and identification to explain how people learn through
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observation of others in their environment.
Social learning is an efficient form of stimulus-response learning, contemporary social cognitive theory
argues that observers can acquire symbolic representations of the behavior, and these ‘pictures’ provide them with
information on which to base their own subsequent behavior. Media characters (models) can influence behavior simply
by being depicted on the screen. The audience member need not be reinforced or rewarded for exhibiting the modeled
behavior.
This social cognition through the use of media representations operates in one or all of three ways.
1.Observational learning: consumers of representations can acquire new patterns of behavior by simply watching these
representations.
2.Inhibitory effects: seeing a model in a representation punished for exhibiting a certain behavior decreases the
likelihood that the observers will make that response.
3. Disinhibitory effects: A media representation that depicts reward for a threatening or prohibited behavior is often
sufficient to increase the likelihood that the consumer of the representation will make that response.
Various reinforcement is central to social cognition through the mass media. Although observational learning
can occur in the absence of any reinforcement, carious or real, whether observers actually engage in that learned
behavior is a function of the reinforcement contingencies they associate with it.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory argues that the experience of dissonance (or incompatible beliefs and actions) is
aversive and people are highly motivated to avoid it. In their efforts to avoid feelings of dissonance, people will avoid
hearing views that oppose their own, change their beliefs to match their actions, and seek reassurance after making a
difficult decision.
According to the social expectation theory of mass media—what is often presented on the media is perceived
by the consumers of media messages as “social prescriptions of the society”.
OBJECTIVES
It is observed that in television women always represented in a wrong way. As it is visual media it concentrates
on woman’s physical beauty or portrays women as homemaker or inferior to man. In this background researcher would
like to know depiction, perception and implications of female roles by analyzing Kannada serials. The specific
objectives are:
•To find how Kannada serials are depicting women
•To find what kind of female roles appeal to them
•To evaluate viewers perception about female roles in Kannada serials
•To know the impact of female roles of Kannada serials
RESEARCH METHOD
Based on the objectives the survey research method is selected to collect necessary data to find out the
answers. The survey is conducted through structured questionnaire and the questionnaire is distributed among the
viewers of Kannada serials. 100 respondents are taken for the study.
The study conducted in Karnataka. Accidental sampling method is used to collect the data.
DATA ANALYSIS
The statistical analysis of data is done based on the information collected by the viewers of Kannada serials.
Respondents have varied background like students, housewives and professionals. The respondents qualified for the
research based on the television viewing habit with respect to Kannada serials.
On an average respondent watch television for 2 to 5 hours a day. Most of the respondents are regular viewers
of serials.
Top 10 serials watched by the regular viewers are Agnisaakshi, Lakshmi Baramma, Akka, Aragini, Milana,
Puttagowri Maduve, Ashwini Nakshatra, Yashodhe, Jote Joteyali, Shreerastu Shubhamastu respectively.
All these serials have a common theme like family, marriage, love, hatred, enmity, jealous etc. and 84% of the
respondents opined that all these serials are female oriented because always story run around female characters, male
characters support the female role to continue the story. 16% respondents said serials are male oriented, sometimes male
role also have some importance in those serials.
RESPONDENTS’ FAVORITE ROLES IN SERIALS
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Majority of the respondents are of the opinion that they would like to watch heroine role. 18% of them
responded that they like to watch hero role, 16% opined that they wish to watch negative roles of the serials and 2% said
their favorites are other supportive roles.
POWERFUL CHARACTER IN SERIALS
When respondents were asked about powerful character in their favorite soap opera, 70% of them said Positive
or heroine role is more powerful in terms of solving problems of the family, faces every kind of difficulties and 30% said
negative or villain character is very powerful as that role will be having good family background, rich and takes daring
decisions.
Depiction of positive female role in Kannada serials
30% of the respondents opined that positive female roles portrayed as intelligent, 14% are of the opinion that
those roles represented as decision maker, 12% said they shown as sacrificer, 8% gave their opinion as they always
exposed with good outfits and 18% responded those are good homemakers. The same portion of the respondents said
those characters portrayed with all of the above persona.
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KANNADA SOAP OPERA’S FEMALE ROLES IMPACT ON WOMEN VIEWERS ............
Depiction of negative female role in Kannada serials
30% of the respondents said negative roles will be involving in conspiracy against positive roles. 6% of them
opined that they are shown as powerful because they don’t bother anything in the society. 32% responded they always
exposed with over makeup with heavy jewels. And same amount of respondents said negative roles portrayed with
mixture of all these traits.
Audience perception of positive roles
The question is how they are viewing positive roles of Kannada serials, majority of the repondents (50%) said
those roles are model to be good human being, 20% of them percieved them as inspiration for life to do good things. 18%
felt that those role are necessary for society as they always enlighten women what to do to become a good homemaker.
12% of them observed these roles with all of the above thoughts.
Viewers perception of negative roles
When respondents were asked how they are percieving the negative roles in their favorite serials 51% of them
said they receive those roles as mistakes will be punished in the end. 18% repondend thought they are inpiration to get
their righ, 11% felt those roles are inpiration for conspiracy and 20% are of the opinion that these roles are not necessary.
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DISCUSSION
As respondents revealed woman shown on television serials in her extreme activities like either as most cruel
or softest person, and most of the time far from reality. Majority of the respondents also opined that the education level
of the positive role in Kannada serials is always below SSLC, even though she is qualified with higher education level
she always busy in household activities like taking care of her family, husband, children etc. As opposite to this negative
character will be with higher education, good financial background but she always will be involving in conspiracy or
some other bad activity. None of these characters portrays women struggle or empowerment. Not even they are not
reflection of the society.
To know the impact of these depicted and perceived roles on viewers, question asked whether they want to
follow the characteristics of those roles majority (58%) of the respondents said no, as they are far from the reality. They
also responded, these serials did not have any impact on their lifestyle or everyday life.
But remaining said they want follow as they can learn some good practice. They felt that if they follow these
roles they can learn good dressing sense, behavior and discover new ways to take care of their family. Some respondents
also sensed that serials have changed their attitude as they are helping their relatives when they need.
CONCLUSION
The research revealed that representation of women Kannada soap operas are far from the reality. As
respondents observed that, women roles in Kannada serials are portrayed as soft, poor, sacrifices, good daughter, wife,
daughter-in-law, sister, mother etc. And these women never fight for rights like education, profession or her right as
wife. When she starts questions she will be shown in bad light or as negative role. Serials usually telecasted in prime
time, when housewives are busy in their house chores. But next day between 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. all channels retelecast these serials to reach their target group. Viewers felt they need more serials which concentrate on women
empowerment and inspire them to achieve something in life. As some respondents said serials based on women
achievers like Kalpana chawla, Kiran Bedi, P.T. Usha can motivate women audience. The present depiction of women
on Kannada serials once again directing them to inferiority, stick into four walls, takes care of their family, concentrate
on saree and jewels, etc. So Kannada serials are depicting women in the wrong way.
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