Paromita Vohra: The daily soap news

We are a country addicted to soap operas and the daily soap is arguably the most influential narrative form of this century for IndiaThe daily soap has the potential to be highly novelistic lovingly and racily exploring many aspects of personal life But combined with a rapacious business approach which reaps profits from the economies of scale without investing in talent or development the soap relies instead on the cyclical production of sensation Our soap operas often begin with large themes but swiftly eschew narrative meatiness for a format which converts minutiae into high drama through the surface treatment of musical and editing effectsA Delhi Police officer leading a JNU student away from the Patiala House court after violence broke out there on February 15 PicAFPSoap operas rely on a cyclical narrative There will be only one primary track at a time rather than a few interwoven ones This track or incident will be spun and spun via trivia and reactiveness with repeated dialogue and shotsOver time television news too has taken on this fiction format The falsely manufactured antinational slogans on a forensically discredited video by a news channel is only the latest of many examples which raise fundamental questions about this narrative approach in the newsTo understand we need only turn to Arnab Goswami the foremost exponent of this form whose incessant loudness and repetitive questioning are the news equivalent of swish pans and drumming soundtracks designed to raise adrenalin levels to a frenzy generate anger and outrage to be directed to social media to be measured for successIs Arnab Goswami telling the truth when he says the nation wants to know He is actually Because the nation or rather its different sections often wants to know only that which confirms our belief our particular perceived truthThe news has long laid claim to a higher purpose through the supposed quality of objectivity mdash which implies detachment almost of an ascetic removed from the illusory world of sensation We know though that objectivity is an elusive quality in a world of multiple subjectivities The most truthful we can be is to acknowledge and substantiate our subjectivities to prevent them from being prejudiceThe task of the news is a bit different ndash which is to be factual To verify narratives given to us the public by the administrations for their factuality their material realities so we may join the facts to arrive at some truth While blurring the distinction between factuality and objectivity the news mostly produces the cycles of soap opera narratives generating sensation with repetitive blurry blusterThe standard acceptance of poor video and audio quality is a physical rendition of this blurriness approximate reality masquerading as raw reality It is partnered by a journalistic practice in which it is ok to not check facts to make mistakes and prod subjects to produce sensation Vague images and loud noises sound and fury ndash this creates a new cultural currency of generic outrage To feel like part of the national conversation it becomes urgent to find something to outrage over whether from the left or rightOur mainstream political conversation with its dramatic oratory in Parliament and sexist casteist tweeting also mirror this Most importantly the national narrative is flattened into a single main track as in soaps with Pavlovian social media posting from all ideologies But a complex diverse society needs many parallel tracks to be presented so we can arrive at the ideal of mutlifaceted truths instead of being swept up in this cycle of blurry blusterParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at wwwparodevipicturescom