Mediated Vs Ordinary

Have you ever looked inside a crystal ball and seen a world within a world? There is a world within world everywhere today or so it seems.There are boundaries being drawn , distinctins being made and exclusivity being gained as we move towards a more "equitable" world .But are we really, is the question.

I have recently read Dr Nick Couldry's "Media Rituals". The book focuses on the role of media as it becomes the epicentre of society and also talks about clear distinctiveness between people , places and things in the mediated world vs non mediated/ordinary world.

Recently, I was watching two movies and it struck me hard. It struck me hard that what Nick was talking about is pretty evident in real. Just a case in point - two movies one from Bollywood and other one from Hollywood using media as an essential element in the storyline.

Rang de Basanti : Cut to climax. What do the rebels do to be heard? They go to the radio station and get on the mic - reach out to millions of people and the end almost positively implies the beginning of a revolution. The beginning of the revolution is mediated. If we delve a little deeper there are other things too that clearly bring about how important and pivotal media is in this movie.

# Su - the female protagonist is a documentary film maker.
# The Bhagat Singh episode also clearly indicates how media ( newspapers ) almost a century ago, would help revolutionaries create the bang if they did something big at a place of important known people.
# There is also the RJ friend who comes in handy at the end of the movie.
# Television is the source of information (Madhavan's death) and later of the social take on the whole episode ( discussions on ndtv so on and forth )

Thats the media perspective on RDB.



Notting Hill: This movie is based on the premise of the difference between the mediated world and non mediated world. The entire movie revolves around it and media is the source of conflict in the movie. Well never before did I see the movie in that light. But some sequences that are hilarious and also bring out the difference starkly include:
# Hugh Grants sisters bday dinner
# The Horses and Hounds episode
# Climax - the proposal at the press conference.



Two of my favorite movies clearly talking of the difference in media and ordinary world and yet doing it so naturally that it may not strike many people.

The objective of saying all this is to understand that media's preojection of world is being taken as real , that media is increasingly becoming the center for determining the importance of any/every thing around us. But who is to ensure that media's projection of the world is real or not? The only way of ensuring the same is to make sure that media gets democratised.

Think about it!
Salaam Namaste