Are You Imitating Television Images?
by Well, you may be. Consciously or unconsciously, life imitates the fine arts – films and television mostly, though not theatre. Why? Because theatre and drama are a little loud for everyday living.
Look at the way we dress, the way we speak, the way we walk, the way we look. These are all image hand-me-downs from TV and Films. Well, mostly. Of late this imitation is becoming something of a perfect ten, so much so that one loses sight of claims to originality. No wonder being original is considered passe these days. Just as it is difficult to pick one’s four year old boy or girl from an assembly of children in school uniform, it is difficult to identify one person from another. Incidentally, individual differences were what made the human personality unique. Alas! adults of all modern countries have begun to resemble TV-characters with uniformed accessories!
The Office Crowd
The universal dress code of any top slot male Manager/Executive, worth his salary, is a suit, tie and boots. Similarly a pantsuit has become the identity tag of a well-heeled female Manager/Executive, particularly those belonging to the Establishment types. Why? –because thats what TV always shows. They all look like ants, trooping out of their skyscraper anthills! In India, between the Suit Packers and the Blue Collar Workers we have the Back Packers. This crowd is always dressed in Jeans and T-Shirts or regular full-sleeved shirts and trousers with brand ties, displaying ID-Cards and backpacks slung behind. Right, they belong to the IT/BPO/KPO stereotypes, displaying equally stereotyped behaviour and mannerisms The rest of the office crowd sport what the ordinary male/female dons, on TV of course! In India this could be regular trouser-shirt outfits for men and sari-blouse, salwar-kameez or jeans-kurti for women. Funny thing is they all speak typical TV-dialogues, carry same type of lunch boxes and even same type of mobile phones! The smart women looking like fashion models catwalk as if the road were some ramp and the males sport weird hair-dos, liquid gel on hair, spiked solid!
The College Crowd
They happen to be mirror reflections of Hollywood and Bollywood (Indian equivalent) Films, strutting around like actors and models. The moment they enter the hallowed portals of the college, they readily abdicate all normal signs of a home-bred personality and continually replicate various Film and TV-characters and caricatures ranging from reel-life Zorros and Forest Gumps to Indiana Jones and Isadora Duncans. They move around as if they are all shooting for flicks, dressed garishly, displaying make-believe mannerisms, trying to attract attention of their peers. It appears all so phoney as they seem focused, trying to outsmart each other, ending up looking like and sounding like each other. At times they behave like they are featured on some Talk Show, hosted by Ellen, Oprah or Jay Leno. Their fingers are always indicating horizontal Vs, double-rabbit ears bobbing up and down and what have you. Funniest of ‘em all is the liitle finger and thumb wave, indicating the Telephone gesture as if they are all on American Idol. Could be.
Conclusion
It is not a pleasant thought that in the 21st Century, human beings have degenerated into look-alike zombies, behaving like robots, aping their favourite TV-characters to the dot. In the Sixties and Seventies we saw Mao Zedong pushing through his custom-made Mao suits– smokey blue workers’ overalls and the Mao Cap, turning out identical Mao clones for the Chinese Communist Party. Well, that was a Political Ideology being put to regimented use. But this? ugh! Its time we discovered our original personality and assisted originality to hold sway as unique human beings in our own right. Better let art imitate life, instead of life imitating arts.
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