AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Okay, I'm sorry, I just need to rant about this. Bollywood (and the Indian industry in general) have had questionable roles considering women. They were always either the arm candy or the damsel in distress or barely contributed to the entire plot.
In recent years tho, there have been attempts to break away from the stereotypical view of women and portray them as actual human beings who are smart and independent. From my perspective, some have succeeded, like Queen, Dear Zindagi and Bahubali. (Seriously tho, watch Queen. It's on Netflix too. You'll be pleasantly surprised and also love the fuck out of Rani. In fact, all three of them are on Netflix and you should check em out.)
BUT THE SERIALS GOOD FUCKING LORD
I don't get how every single Tamil serials has to have the one bitchy girl who just won't listen. And its not even limited to the Tamil language, its pretty much the majority of Indian TV entertainment.
And half the time, it's usually the one who's extremely fashionable in a modern sense, wears western clothing, happens to have a backbone, and also works as some executive in a company. (It doesn't have to be all four it's usually one or the other)
I stg it's like you're not allowed to have a mind of your own apart from your family or even your husband
Like I know once you're married you have to compromise but good god Susan, is the daughter-in-law not allowed to have a personality???? SHE'S AN ADULT FOR FUCK'S SAKE AND SHES ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITH YOU
And they usually do the most ridiculous things like try to break up an engagement because they want to get married to that guy like
And what's even worse is that the bitchy girl with a considerable backbone is often subdued or 'brought back to control' by the family or the male. Like I don't know what's worse, the girl who has some legitimate arguments being called the bad guy and essentially made to look like the dumbest person on the planet or the male being the reason why they turn into a good person.
And half of the "good guys" are all symbolized by their traditional clothing, pure looking saris, ect.
Like what a show is usually saying is "this is what you could be like if you don't dress humble and be pure" like fuck off Susan
Also my problem with the female protagonists: THEY ARE SUCH DOORMATS IM NOT EVEN KIDDING
Like there's this huge deal on making the protagonist as pure and womanly as possible and in the process, they make her into the weakest person on the fucking planet. And half the time, the main protagonist is the village girl who is not accustomed to the city life. Speaking of which, can we please for the love of every single God in every culture, stop with this fucking cliché? It's annoying, depowering, and insulting every time the girl washes a fucking laptop and basically destroys it in the process. And yes, this is a scene that has actually happened in serials. Multiple times.
And when the protagonist is weak and at her lowest, she is expected to pick herself up and help others. I'm sorry, did you do anything to help the girl? No? THEN WHY DO YOU FEEL OBLIGATED THAT YOUR DAUGHTER-IN-LAW HAS TO HELP YOU AFTER YOU ESSENTIALLY TREAT HER LIKE SHIT??????
WRITERS ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOUR OWN LOGIC RIGHT NOW
LET THE MAIN WOMAN BE REASONABLY SELFISH FOR ONCE
Yeah, like I get that they're all family and shit, but like can we just...not perpetuate toxic behavior? Can the woman have like a reasonable perspective on why she doesn't wanna help the in-laws that treated her like shit WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE THE BAD GUY IN THE SITUATION???
Edit (5-5-2023): I recently saw a show called Bharathi Kanamma (I think that's how it spelled, idk and I don't care about the show enough to look it up) and honestly I was surprised that the female protagonist was allowed to have some amount of a fucking backbone. Last time I saw an episode of the serial, the main leads were divorced and also fucking hated each other, but the mother-in-law (ML's mother) was still trying to pushed the two back together and absolutely did not approve of her son's new fiancée(?), the main villainess of the series. With what I saw of the serial through the trailers, it's pretty much a slow-burn version of "The Parent Trap", only the kids are not twins (I don't think so at least), and they don't find out that they're sisters until the near end of the series and their parents don't tell them until then either. It's bloody insane for what it is.
You can still be a badass while still being feminine honestly what's so hard about that for the writers to figure out???? Like even the actresses in India are like "we want roles that are different and challenging, I want to be a role model for my kids and others." Many famous ones are starting to be picky about their roles and while the newer actresses are going to have to jump at every chance they get for now, they will eventually have the power to demand new material as well.
On a bit of a lighter note, Indian serials are rather hilarious tho
Like if someone's talking, there's a full on speech/monologue equivalent to that of a Shakespeare play and no one would bat an eyelid and question why as the camera won't stay still
Dude, Desperate Housewives was better than this and that show is guilty trash (yes I've actually watched it. It's not that bad actually. Well, it's not as bad as the serials in India.)
And okay, but why is the BGM is so fucking unoriginal in Tamil serials and TV shows
Like I'm dead serious at least three serials I've seen my aunt and grandma watch use at least the same fucking tracks. I don't care if those three serials are from the same studio, you do not use the same fucking music.
Also, some of these serials straight up use BGM from famous movies known around the world. HOW LAZY ARE YOU
LIKE THESE ARE WELL KNOWN MOVIES WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO FOOL
At least once, I've heard music from How To Train Your Dragon, Titanic and Narnia from at least one serial, a singing competition where they announced the finalists, and a cooking show. Like I'm pretty sure, these tracks are all copyrighted. Hell, they sometimes even use the music from their own movies. Like I don't care if it's during an interview or something, like you're promoting the film and it's music. But come on, using it during serials? That's what an YouTube video does. Or even, what a writer does when they're writing their own story and need a soundtrack to go along with it. (AHAHAHA) Like you have musicians and composers of your own, right? Bloody use them.
PLEASE BE ORIGINAL FOR GOD'S SAKE. It doesn't have to even be good, I just want originality, something that says you at least tried. I'm tired of my country having animation that a fifth grader can do, intentionally dumbing things down for kids in animation, trying to make women progressive and then making them the bad guy and having essentially nothing original on TV for kids and/or adults to watch. We can do fucking better than this.
And the animation doesn't even have to be good, it just has to have a good story and characters that the kids can relate to and not be intentionally stupid and lazy for kids. I'm not talking about the shows with the obvious religious undertones and honestly, that's another whole bag that I don't want to open right now. I'm talking about a story where the evil villain effectively affects the protagonist in some way and the protagonist actively learns a lesson from the problem and carries it with him into future episodes. The Powerpuff Girls handled this to a tee for fucks sake, and the creator was a fully grown man. If Craig McCracken can do it, why can you?
Ugh. I know I sound like a petty Americanized child but think about it: in India, majority of the "good content" is aimed more at adults than kids and a lot more effort is thrown into those projects than the ones for the kids. AND THEN YOU WONDER WHY THE PARENTS SAY THAT THEY SHOULDN'T WATCH THE CARTOONS THAT THE STUDIOS SHAT OUT.
You know, perhaps if there was effort put into the cartoons and the writing, maybe, just maybe, the parents won't have a problem with their kids watching them to begin with. Nick India, Disney Channel India and POGO, I'm looking at you.
*sighs* I'm done. I'm just so...done.
Ugh I just really wanted to get it out there. I haven't done a rant like this in a long while now that I think about it. Oh well. Comment, like, vote, all that shiz. Sayonara till the next one! :D