Join us on Orkut| Heart Breaking News | Abhik on July 1, 2008 |
Old Child labor in a New Bottle?
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Such were the words of the reality show anchor, the show on which a 16 year old girl, Shinjini Sengupta was allegedly humiliated by the judges. The fear of failure and humiliation was something the girl could not take and went into a state of shock and subsequent paralysis.
Still in the same state as she was, doctors are desperately trying to figure out what is medically wrong with her. You know what’s wrong with her?
She made the mistake of being born into a family that without thinking of the consequences, shoved their child into what they thought was the path to “fame and fortune”. Oh they could see it all, their daughter a reality show winner, would probably go on to become an actress or a famous dancer.
She made the mistake of participating in a reality show, where participants are not made to go through a healthy competition, but rather humiliation has become a marketing gimmick, popularized by Simon Cowell of the American Idol fame and more recently by our own Anu Malik in the Indian Idol.
I remember as a kid, whenever I used to participate in a competition and if I lost, the lesson was: “You lost, but don’t worry, at least you tried”. The lesson has now changed o one of scrutiny and fierce judgement. One of the judges of the competition allegedly said:
Oh how noble. She’s a 16 year old kid for Christ’s sake. I suppose the days of mentoring are over and kids need to be rebuked on live TV for a better TRP (sic!)
And finally the mistake that Shinjini did was to be born in a society where our talents are considered to be merely skills that need to be cashed in. Not restricting themselves to adults, TV producers are now going after kids. In the highly unregulated entertainment industry that we have, does a minor have enough know-how to survive? Does she understand that the rebuke she got was not directed against her, but to invoke emotions of the millions of viewers watching, who would feel sorry for her and in some weird manner would be hooked to watching the show? Can’t we wait till a child turns 18 and starts understanding these things?
Is this not Old Child labor in New bottle?
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8 Responses to “Old Child labor in a New Bottle?”
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Very true. Is there any rules or regulations which can put some restrictions on age limit in reality shows. I think people will not agree this thing as we are exposing some new Talents. But TV serials(not all ) know how to convert all these things i.e. pain in that family into money. They will make a good issue but not in favor of right thing always. Or now they can put some interview like thing for checking
participants mental situation.
We see the same sort of attitude with the reality shows in the Western world (i.e., they will do anything for ratings). The difference is that the producers and judges are held accountable to a large extent. They have counsellors and psychologists to help the participants cope. And, for the most part, though they can be insulting they try to at least put in some sort of constructive criticism. In India, the insults seem to be purely for the sake of ratings and judge’s egos and nothing else. I heard somewhere that Anu Malik likes to take the insult route on some show. Really? The guy couldn’t compose a nursery rhyme on his own, most of his songs are nicked from others. I’m sure participants would be glad to have constructive criticism from true talents who know what they’re talking about, and if they want to make it colorful, then fine. But its the useless gleeful insults hurled by smug judeges that can be very harmful to shaky teenagers.
When the judge says “Our job was to judge to help the participants improve”, I am surprised. Is this the way to improve performance ? The judge may advice the participant in person, after the shotting is over.
Though there is no rule about the age limit of participants,BUT ALL PARENTS CAN DECIDE NOT TO SEND THEIR CHILD FOR SUCH LIVE SHOWS.
Well i think that people who are brave enough to face the conciquences should participate.
Priyam, point is people who are adults can decide whether they’re brave or not. It’s like going to war. Am I brave enough? Even being an adult I don’t know, because I haven’t been to one. But at least, being an adult I can make that decision. A child should not have to take that decision. This kid is 16 years old. I’ve seen younger kids participate in these shows.
Hmmm….Since abhik has put some light on the rock, we now know consequences, the question that hits us right back is “How in terms of discussion, can we(angryindians) bring a change?”
While discussion is not enough and action needs to be taken, discussion does lead to realization, which is the first step.
The problem in our country is that we stop at realization, the issue does not stay in our mind for long and leads to a stage or realization weariness where discussions like this are considered “too serious”. Well that’s the intention, these are serious issues.
One direct benefit that I hope will be done if readers of this article decide not to let their kids dragged into the mud of reality shows. Even if one person takes action and refuses to send his kid, I will be a happier person.
Any suggestions People? I for one, have decided to educate kids within the institution i’m associated with…let’s take one discussion at a time and put it into realisation, for which let’s suggest
“Everyone cant help everyone, but everyone of us can help someone”. So let’s move our tussies and get going.