Paper Name :- Mass Communication and
Mass Media Studies
- An Introduction.
Topic :- Impact of CINEMA
Name :- Avani N. Dave
Roll No. :- 2
Semester :- 4
Date :- 08/03/14
Submitted to :- Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Sinhji Bhavnagar University
The Cinema and it's Impact :
Science has made spectacular advances. The twentieth
century has many scientific inventions to its credit. The cinema occupies an
important place among them. In the beginning cinema pictures were movies only
i.e. there was only movement but no sound. Such pictures were called silent
motion pictures. The silent motion pictures were shown with the help of
projectors. But with the invention of the photo-electric cell, it became
possible to introduce the sound track in the films. The pictures thereafter
were not only ‘movies’ but ‘talkies’ as well. The talkies became very popular
within a very short time.
Before the advent of the cinema, the drama or stage-acting
was regarded as the most popular source of entertainment. There were
apprehensions that stage-acting would be ousted by the cinema. There is no
doubt about the fact that the drama suffered a setback for some time, but
ultimately these fears have proved untrue. The drama still continues to enjoy
its place of prestige, because the physical presence of human being on the
stage has direct emotional appeal to the spectators. There is, however, no
denying the fact that the cinema has acquired great popularity with the masses.
The cinema is a powerful and effective means of communication. Because of its
audio-visual character it has a great mass appeal. Such a powerful and
effective means of communication can be gainfully utilized in variety of ways.
This most popular source of entertainment for millions of people can be used as
an instrument for creation public awakening. It can help to a great extent in
enlisting public co-operation in the task of nation-building.
In our society there are many practices and
traditions which are based on ignorance and which have withheld the progress of
our society. Rigidity of caste system, untouchability, dowry system and purdah
system has done enormous harm to our society. Cinema films can do a lot to
eradicate these evils. They can be used for promoting national integration,
Prohibition, inter-caste marriages, family planning, eradication of illiteracy,
etc; Such themes can help the transformation of our society. The cinema can be
used as an instrument to help people get rid of obscurantism and also to guide
them along the right path it can help in removing ignorance from our society.
Not only this, several much needed social reforms can be introduced and brought
about with the help of the cinema. The cinema exercises a great influence on
the mind of the people. It can achieve splendid results in the field of
expansion of education. There are certain subjects, such as science and
geography, which can be more effectively taught with the help of talkis.
Lessons on road sense, rules of hygiene and civic sense can be taught to the
students and the ‘public as well in a very effective manner with the help of
cinema pictures. Many successful experiments have been made in various
countries on the utility of films as a means of education. Feature films have
been produced for school and college students and students are being benefitted
by them.
Cinema films have the power to influence the
thinking of the people. They have changed the society and social trends. They
have introduced new fashions in society. They may be described as pace-setters.
They can create a direct impact on our social life. Films can go a long way
towards arousing national consciousness and also in utilizing the energies of
the youth in social reconstruction and nation-building by a skilful adaption of
good moral, social and education themes, and by introduction of popular sentiments, films can, to a great extent, formulate and guide public opinion.
Because of their audio visual appeal cinema films
are the most powerful means of publicity and advertisement. Small publicity
pictures or skits when shown on the screen easily catch the imagination of
spectators. The cinema has so far remained unchanged as the most popular
audio-visual mass medium, but now with the arrival of television and its
impressive pace of advancement, the cinema can no longer afford the luxury of
complacence. It has, therefore, to improve its performance and to maintain a
high standard. In our country cinematography has been developed as an art and
the film industry is an organized industry. It is a foreign exchange earner
industry. Many Indian films have won international awards.
This gift of science has some disadvantages, too. It
is a force and has the power to influence the society. So a film which depicts
scenes of moral degradation or which violates our moral standards does immense
harm to our society. We know many young people have gone astray under the
misleading influence of indecent pictures. Filthy, immoral and crime pictures
very easily catch the imagination of impressionable youth. Such films can be
accused of producing delinquency. The films produced on the western trends or
the films which try to preach x western moral standards are producing a bed
effect on our younger generation. So the producers of films and the film
sensors owe a great responsibility to society. The film producers should try to
resist the temptation to mint money by producing formula pictures; they should
rather produce good pictures of educative and reformative value. A good film is
higher than any education and a bad film is more injurious than poison.
THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE
CINEMA:
1
Recreation is an essential part of life.
2
Cinema of recent birth but has attained
phenomenal popularity.
3
heaters to the people.
4
Its value in cultural and educational
spheres.
5
Social and political importance of Cine
6
It has led to the development of
cosmopolitan outlook and can be used for the growth of international
understanding.
7
Commercial importance.
8
its evil effects.
9
Far reaching effects upon the youth of
the country.
Recreation is as much necessary for healthy growth
for healthy growth as work. Life will be dull and unpleasant if there is no
occasional amusement to cheer it up. Therefore, from the earliest limes
recreation in different forms has been introduced in healthy and civilized
society. Dance, drama, singing, puppet show and various other forms of
entertainment have found favor with the people. Today life of man has grown
complex, full of worries, cares and anxieties. The mechanized Way of life has
bred monotony; therefore his modes of entertainment have also undergone
revolutionary change. The latest and the most popular form of recreation as
Cinema. It’s phenomenal popularity and development is due to its mass appeal
and that it is well within the financial limitation of common man. The people
belonging to different walks of life patronize it and find it equal to their
varied Interests.
The power or the motion pictures as an instrument of
culture and education is immeasurable. We know that a motion picture based on a
classical novel will induce thousands of people to read or reread the book; the
introduction of a classical composition into the picture stimulates the demand
for recording of that composition. Lessons of history, geography and everyday
science life imparted through it. The man of today is batter informed than his
ancestors due to cinema. Thus they give food for thought and imagination to the
common people by showing on the screen grand objects; sublime beauties and
epoch-making events. The great personalities of former times come to life and
their message is communicated to the people The lives of saints and seers set
high ideals before the people. They enlarge our vision and broaden our minds.
FILMS DEPICT Historical, mythological and social
themes bearing on Indian lives, whether of the past or the present make a
special appeal to the people. The Cinema has been found to be the most
effective method exposing social evils such as dowry system, etc. Civic sense
and public morality is engendered through them. The political awareness, fight
for the rights and the general awakening of the masses is largely contributed
by cinema. As a means of propaganda, publicity and advertisement its services
are invaluable and it must be preserved and fostered at all costs.
Cinema has also thrown down the barriers of time and
space. It has made man truly cosmopolitan in outlook. A grand sight in cold
Norway is reproduced vividly to people in hot Africa. A political or social
revolution in one part of the country is shown the world over. Moreover, it can
be used as medium for the enlightenment of other nations about our own culture,
customs, manners and policies. It has often been said that one of the potent
causes of international misunderstanding, hot and cold wars, is that people of
different country do not have the means to understand and appreciate each other
adequately. In this respect cinema can serve the goodwill mission of presenting
the correct image of the country and the people abroad. Thus, Cinema can be
used for establishing mutual international understanding and paving the way for
permanent world peace. However, it cannot be neglected that they are the major
single factor which earn substantial and much needed foreign exchange.
Commercially also Cinema has opened up a lucrative
pro fission. Besides encouraging young men and woman to enter the field of
acting, in has provided employment to millions of people as technicians,
designers, photographers, dressmakers and various allied agencies. The artist
right from the storywriter to a poster designer have found a ready market for
their talent Poet and even literary men who had been looked down upon for ages
have found with Cinema a fresh lease of life and lively hood.
Apart from its various advantages, Cinema is not
free from its evil effects, Film
artistry is, unfortunately, compelled to compromise with people’s popular tast
and appeal to their lower instincts, Too many films dealing with sex problems
and with the ways of the criminals are now shown, These are apt to affect
public morality. The substandard catering of music I and recreation is likely
to injure public taste and outlook and is not ultimately good for the art.
The Cinema has far reaching effect upon the youth of
the country. The films make them prematurely sex conscious and they start
reaching the sense of romantic pictures in their regular life. A sense of
dissatisfaction with life is engendered among them. Vandalism and increasing
acts of rowdyism in the student community are attributed to their indiscriminately
frequenting the Cinema halls. Again the youth imitating all sorts of fashions
from the films lead to the development of expansive tastes and manners. They
grow divorced from grim and dismal realities of life and start living in the
fairyland pictures on the screen. In this respect the role of government is
significantly felt.
Furthering India Cinema has to attained the artistic
and technical perfection, Government aid by way of subsidy, helping manufacture
of raw film and other equipment in the country; admission tax reduction ,
encouragement to talented artist and technician must be forth coming. We must
not forget that with wild rang of depiction and with universality of its
appeal; Cinema has tremendous possibilities in our country. With our abundant
and natural wealth and inexhaustible found of rich literature, our Cinema,
though young and unstable, its growth is inevitable.
Reference:
essays and articles
on January 31, 2011 in Sources of entertainment 1 comment