Telugu prime time: violence abounds

BY ANITA NAGULAPALLI and PADMAJA SHAW| IN Regional Media | 19/07/2013
During the 30-minute package of programmes in Telugu commercial TV, the 8 or 9 minutes of advertising are the only feel good part.
ANITA NAGULAPALLI collaborated with PADMAJA SHAW for the study. PIX: A scene from the show Pasupu Kumkuma aired on Zee Telugu.
The CII-PwCReport, Indian Media and Entertainment Outlook 2012, estimates the Indian television industry at 340 billion INR, out of which 116 billion INR come from advertising and 224 INR come from subscription revenue. A turf war has broken out between TAM, the advertising industry and the television channels over the last several months, first on the ratings issue, later on the tax liability of channels and advertisers, and now on the periodicity of reporting ratings.
 
Consumers’ interest is one question that is not being debated in this war for ad revenue. How seriously have ad agencies taken the weekly ratings so far? And how seriously have the channels taken their social responsibility, whether ratings are reported weekly or monthly. Does public interest matter at all in this commercial turf war? What are the issues really to be debated about the role of the channels and advertising industry in the cultural life of the people?
 
Anita Nagulapalli of CMS Media Lab in collaboration with Padmaja Shaw of the Department of Communication and Journalism, Osmania University, undertook an intensive study of Telugu daily serials to analyse the violence depicted in them. A secondary objective of the study was also to see the kind of advertising support such programming is receiving.
 
The study analysed 144 episodes, 36 each from ETV, ZEE Telugu, Gemini, MAA shown in three primetime time slots 7.30 – 8.00 PM, 8.00 – 8.30 PM and 8.30 – 9.00 PM during August, September and October of 2012.
 
The study measured in minutes the violent content in evening prime-time soaps telecast on the four major general entertainment channels in Telugu: ETV, Zee Telugu, Gemini and Maa. The serials telecast in the three selected time slots were: ETV – Manasu Mamatha, Chandramukhi, Bharyamani; Zee Telugu – Pasupu Kumkuma, Muddubidda, Radha Kalyanam; Maa – Anna Chellellu, Missamma, Kanchana Ganga; Gemini – Maa Naanna, Padamati Gaali, Ala Modalaindi (7.30 to 8, where Maa Naanna was removed and Padamati Gaali began. Padamati Gaali was moved to 8.00 slot and was replaced at 7.30 by Ala Modalindi), Agnipoolu, Mogalirekulu.
 
The unit of analysis was a ‘violent event’. Each event was measured in time from the beginning of a sequence to its end, generally constituting character continuity, location continuity, idea continuity or all of them. Violence was further divided into actual violence, verbal violence, implied violence and graphical exaggeration. All instances of murder, physical assault, rape, kidnap and other such instances where deliberate physical harm of the victim is shown, were categorised under actual violence. In verbal violence, conspiracy to commit violent acts, conspiracy to murder, discussion of plans to physically assault, ‘telling on people’, abuse, conspiracy (intent to harm other than the intent to cause physical harm), discussing murder, negative verbal behaviour like taunting have been included. Implied violence included body language, gestures and facial expressions. In graphical exaggeration, production techniques like visual effects, sound/music, display and use of weapons, and exaggerated makeup of characters have been included.
 
The content was examined to see who is shown as victims and who as perpetrators. The depiction of protagonists was fairly simplistic and polarised in most of the serials, allowing for categorisation of characters into positive and negative roles.
 
The analysis also looked at the number, duration, origin and extent of advertising on the serials. The episodes were recorded and analyzed using the criteria described above. The following are the findings.
 
Violence in its various forms
 
Out of 144 episodes studied, there were 282 violent events or acts. Of the four channels showing daily serials on prime time, ETV with 34% has shown the highest number (96) of violent events. The second highest of 24% (68) was shown on Maa TV, with Zee showing 22% (64) and Gemini showing 19.4% (54) each.
 
Number of violent events found in a sample size of 36 episodes each on four entertainment channels
S. No
Channel
No. of Episodes
No. of Violence Events/Acts
%
1
ETV
36
96
34.0%
2
Zee Telugu
36
64
22.6%
3
Gemini
36
54
19.4%
4
Maa
36
68
24.0%
Total
144
282
 
 
The violent content when calculated as part of overall running time including the advertisement time shows ETV at 41.9%, Zee at 38.7%, Maa at 31.7% and Gemini at 19.6%. However, when the same is calculated excluding the advertisement time, the percentage of violent content on ETV shoots up to 57.6%, Zee to 55.6%, to 44.9% on Maa and to 24.8% on Gemini.
 
Episodes running time and violence running time with ads
 
S.No
Channel
No. of Episodes
Running time with ads in minutes
Total violent events time in minutes
%
1
ETV
36
1055.44
442.48
41.9
2
Zee Telugu
36
1074.45
416.57
38.7
3
Gemini
36
1019.37
200.47
19.6
4
Maa
36
1048.13
332.42
31.7
Total
144
4198.19
1393.14
33.1
 
Episodes running time without ads and violence running time 
S.No
Channel
No. of Episodes
Running time without ads in minutes
Total violent events time in minutes
%
1
ETV
36
768.10
442.48
57.6
2
Zee Telugu
36
748.50
416.57
55.6
3
Gemini
36
806.13
200.47
24.8
4
Maa
36
739.09
332.42
44.9
Total
144
3062.22
1393.14
45.4
 
Within the overall 282 events of violence, there have been 1289 instances of various kinds of violence. While the actual acts of violence like murder were shown only 8%, verbal violence (19.5%), implied violence (30.2%) and graphical depiction (42.1%) were pervasive in the serials. In actual violence, physical abuse appears to be the most common form shown.
 
ETV has shown the most percentage (40.3%) of actual violence, followed by Zee Telugu (22.1%), Maa (21.1%) and Gemini (16.3%).ETV also leads in verbal violence with 40.4%, followed by Maa (21.4%), Zee Telugu (21%) and Gemini (17%).In implied violence category also ETV leads with 34.8%, followed by Zee Telugu (26.9%), Maa (21.5%) and Gemini (16.6%). In graphical exaggeration category too ETV leads with 37%, followed by Maa (25.9%), Zee Telugu (23.9%) and Gemini (13%).
 
Discussion: Violence in its various forms
 
Out of a total of 282 violent events, Gemini has the least number of violent events (19.4%) as well as least amount of violent running time (24.8%). Gemini also has the fewest instances of actual, verbal and implied violence and uses least amount of graphical exaggeration techniques.
 
The three major channels, ETV, Zee Telugu and Maa have a pervasive presence of violent content in their soaps each of them spending more than 44%, and some exceeding 50%, of the running time of such content. 
 
While depiction of actual violence may be less, there is a pervasive presence of verbal violence, implied violence and graphical exaggeration that enhances the depth and spread of violent instances. The dialogues frequently refer to the desire to kill, maim, hang and quarter. Use of intemperate dialogues is widespread. There is a sense of extreme intolerance to differences and a penchant for resorting to violence as a primary response to conflict and not as a last resort.
 
Sub-categories of violence 
Actual Violence
Verbal Violence
Implied Violence
Graphical Exaggeration
Murder
7
Plotting of violence
73
Body Language
154
Visual Effects
161
Physical Abuse
69
Conspiring Murder
54
Facial Expressions
236
Sounds/Music
279
Rape
1
Talking about hitting
5
 
 
Makeup
55
Kidnap
7
Tattling on People
1
 
 
Display/Use of weapons
47
Bombing
1
Abusing
73
 
 
Other (Blood shown)
1
Self infliction of any violence
1
Conspiring in general to cause harm
31
 
 
 
 
Other (attempt to murder, deliberately causing accidents, etc.)
18
Discussing murder and other actual violence
7
 
 
 
 
 
 
Taunting
8
 
 
 
 
Total
1289
104 (8%)
Total
252 (19.5%)
Total
390 (30.2%)
Total
543 (42.1%)
 
The perpetrators and the victims
The study also examined victims and perpetrators of violence. It is interesting to note that out of 282 instances of violence, as many as 138 (48.9%) are committed by female characters. Only 31.9% are committed by male characters. Positive male characters are perpetrators 42.5% of the times, while positive female characters are perpetrators 39% of the times. Female negative characters are perpetrators 53.3% of the times, while male negative characters are perpetrators only 27% of the times.
 
Out of the 282 instances of violence, females are victims 34% of the times, while males are victims 23% of the times. There are also several instances of violence where no particular victim is shown but the general intent to harm, destroy or undermine are discussed or plotted. Among 133 positive characters who are shown as victims, positive female characters are shown 74 (55.6%) times, while positive male characters are shown 50 (37.6%) times. Out of the 44 negative characters shown as victims, 22 (50%) are female and 16 (36%) are male.
 
Perpetrators
Perpetrator
Gender
No. of times
Character Portrayal
Positive
Negative
Male
90
37
53
Female
138
34
104
Other
54
16
38
Total
282
87 (30.8%)
195 (69.1%)
 
            Victims
Victim
Gender
No. of times
Character Portrayal
Positive
Negative
Male
66
50
16
Female
96
74
22
No Victim
105 (37.2%)
-
-
Other
15
9
6
Total
282
133 (47.1%)
44 (15.6%)
 
When power status of perpetrators and victims was analysed, it was found that dominant characters committed violence 57 (20.2%) times out of 282 instances, while characters of indeterminate status committed 106 (37.5%) times, equals committed 70 (24.8%) times. Characters of subordinate status were perpetrators 36 (12.7%) times while they were victims 40 (14.1%) times. Characters of equal and indeterminate status were victims 38 (13.4%) times and 69 (24.4%) times, respectively. As mentioned earlier, there were 105 (37.2%) instances where there is no direct victim shown but a violent ambience was shown.
 
Discussion: The perpetrators and the victims
 
Significantly, the data shows that it is women who predominate as both victims and perpetrators of violence, while men are fewer compared to women even among negative characters. It is also significant that men are also shown as victims of violence. Women playing both positive and negative roles are shown as both perpetrators and victims. Violence as a mode of interaction is normalised and women are shown using this mode persistently.
 
As can be seen from the data, women are at the centre of conflicts, often clashing with other women. In episode after episode, the serials show graphic and pathological negativity. There is also no decipherable pattern of violent behaviour. Both dominant and subordinate characters and the characters with indeterminate relationship to the protagonists (for example, hired goons, henchmen, persons unknown to the characters etc.) also indulge in violence. The social status of dominance and subordination is bypassed constantly and people with equal and indeterminate status relationship to the protagonists appear to be perpetrating violence more frequently.
 
Violence is an integral part of drama, but in the serials shown by the Telugu channels, violent content has an overwhelming presence. In an effort perhaps to create novelty the nature of violence is also increasingly perverse.
 
In Pasupu Kumkuma (453) shown on Zee Telugu, the episode begins with conflict and continues to the end on a negative, exaggerated conflict mode for the next 18 to 19 minutes. The episode shows rivalry between two young women, one of whose face is smeared with ink. The father of the young woman arrives and asks her to wash her face. The young women declare that unless she sees the dead body of her rival, she will not wash her face. Her father agrees, saying: “If you put a lakh of rupees in an envelope, her dead body will be home-delivered in a box”. It is an example of serious crime like murder being depicted as easy, desirable and devoid of social consequences, by a father figure.
 
In a randomly picked episode of Manasu Mamatha (543) on ETV, there is a prolonged attempted rape scene of 7.30 minutes that culminates in the positive female character stabbing the negative male character. Another 14 minutes of the serial goes on to show physical assault with wooden clubs and bare handed combat between a positive male character who enters the scene and the henchmen of the negative character. The conflict is interspersed with threats of killing and revenge. Almost the entire viewing time of the episode is steeped in violence and fear.
 
In Anna Chellellu, a serial on Maa channel, the lead character of the brother is disguised as a female household help, a la Tootsie. In episode 250, around 11 minutes into the serial there is a conflict event between two female characters. One of them, a resident of an opulent house, dressed in western clothes is portrayed as negative, while the visitor dressed in traditional sari is portrayed as positive. The negative female character has henchmen, invents perverse schemes to torment the female visitor and repeatedly threatens her.
 
The general ecology of the serials is inhabited by socially unexplained desire for revenge and a sociopathic hatred that is unredeemed by any possibility of reflection or change. There are no sane voices or voices of wisdom. The dominant emotions are fear and hatred. The violence-free parts of the serials seem to be just mere interludes before another cycle of violence is unleashed.
 
This world of violence is untouched by the larger society or its norms. One rarely hears saner voices presenting positive side of life, neither does one see the law and order machinery at work even in cases of murder and grievous injury. The characters, both negative/positive, subordinate/dominant act lawlessly. Impunity is pervasive. There is no accountability, atonement or lawful punishment. After several episodes of impunity, the ‘positive’ characters are shown taking the law into their own hands and providing vigilante justice. There is a general disregard for human values and human dignity.
 
Channel wise instances of actual violence
 
Actual Violence
ETV
Zee Telugu
Gemini
Maa
Murder
2
0
1
4
Physical Abuse
28
16
14
11
Rape
0
0
0
1
Bombing
0
0
0
1
Kidnap
4
2
1
0
Self Infliction of any violence
0
1
0
0
Other (attempt to murder, deliberately causing accidents, etc.)
8
4
1
5
Total
104
42 (40.3%)
23 (22.1%)
17(16.3%)
22 (21.1%)
 
Wise instances of verbal violence
Verbal Violence
ETV
Zee Telugu
Gemini
Maa
Plotting of violence
31
17
11
14
Conspiring Murder
25
11
4
14
Talking about hitting
3
1
1
0
Tattling on People
1
0
0
0
Abusing
21