ginsburgh

In chapters 5-8 of Media Worlds, we read how television, as a form of social media, in several countries is discussed and the role it plays in forming different identities. Depending on the country, television helps shape gender and religion identity as depicted in Egyptian melodramas, national Hindu identity as depicted in a serial broadcast of an Hindi epic; Thai television at a national level that relied on local participation that poses Thai people versus "the other" (mainly foreign others) and satellite television in Belize that created a "modern" identity since it has eliminated time and distance to other societies due to real time broadcasting. For most Americans, we take television for granted and do not necessarily create our identities based on television shows. This book was published in 2002 and since then many other forms of social media (e.g. internet, Facebook, Twitter) have replaced television.
In one of the chapters, Epic Contests Television and Religious Identity in India, Purnima Mankekar writes about the broadcasting, on state-controlled television, of a serial based on a important Hindu epic in 1987. Many of the Hindus who watched the serial commented that it was similar to a religious ritual. The serial taught Hindus to be proud of their heritage rather than ashamed and how to incorporate Hindiusm into everyday life. Yet many non-Hindus found the serial entertaining and some expressed hostility and would not even watch it. One young Muslim widow individualized the serial (similar to the woman in the Egyptian melodrama) since she was betrayed by her husband and bitter that her in-laws did not help her while constantly reprimanding her for her lack of modesty. The serial portrayed Hindu as a cornerstone of Indian culture and to equate Hindi culture with Indian culture. Over the last several decades, there has been an increase in Hindi nationalism and the serial shared some of the same features. Both Hindi nationalism and the serial demonized "the other".
When I was reading the chapter about the Hindu serial it reminded me of the American mini-series, Roots. Roots was televised on ABC in 1977 and was an historical story about slavery. Similar to the Hindi serial, it was watched by millions. Roots allowed African Americans to be proud of their heritage and expanded America's knowledge of history. While the show was well viewed, I am sure that some watched it for entertainment and others would not watch it at all.
As noted by Television, Time and the National Imaginary in Belize by Richard R. Wilk, he writes that watching television is a social activity and that the information viewed is mediated through a social process of debate, discussion and public discourse. He writes that television discourse and debate has changed the existing social divisions and alignment of fraction and that television allows for new interpretations of the past. Both the Hindu serial and Roots created a new interpretation of the past so the Hindus and African Americans feel pride in their heritage. At the same time, the Hindu serial has also changed the existing social division and alignment of fraction and it could be said the change has not always been for the better. Mankekar questions whether the serial and Hindi pride helped create the widespread violence in 1992 where Hindu nationalist stormed the mosque.