The Cultures Around Us(?)

Do you remember Shinchan? Kochikame? Pokemon series? Doraemon? Ninja Hattori? What if I told you cross cultural SHOWS and not ONLY cartoons were broadcasted 10-15 years back?

Being a 90s child, the only exposure I had of cross cultural shows were all thanks to the television channels Doordarshan and Pogo. 

Doordarshan

Pogo

Doordarshan was the first   broadcasting channel in India   established in 1959. The   channel broadcasted a variety   of shows and serials from other   countries/culture were only   available on Doordarshan. 

The channel telecasted a Chinese (or  Japanese, I don’t remember) show with a peculiar concept - it explored the daily struggles of a female blind cook, who was amazing, of course. She was exactly like the MasterChef USA winner, Christine Ha. Watching her on the show brought back memories of that old Chinese show, tbh.

On Pogo, among a few others, there was a Chinese show consisting teenagers competing with yoyos which had magical characters in them. Back then, after the show, yoyos were THE trend. We really thought we'd get dragons out of them once we master that one particular trick. The show’s name is BLAZING TEENS. IT’S CALLED BLAZING TEENS. GO CHECK IT OUT!!

 

Blazing Teens Theme Song in Hindi

I believe some of the cartoons just poked fun, which is a given because it's a cartoon, but shows such as Takeshi's Castle did not do much good too.

After Doordarshan, an assortment of channels such as Zee TV, Star Network channels formed, broadcasting Indian ‘desi’ shows. Blazing Teens and other shows died down and only cartoon remained. And with this, died down the exposure of people to Asian TV shows and the different cultures.

In the past 3.5 years that I have travelled, I never saw or heard anybody watching Asian shows or music videos or talking about the Korean culture and music per se. If people did watch them, (mainstream TV channels only telecasted desi shows) they were quite non vocal about it. Even when PSY’s Gangnam Style became the ultimate bop in 2012, not many people knew or even cared that it was a Korean song. The lack of cultural shows was also because of the lack of internet and digital video viewing services.

In 2014, Zee Network started Zindagi, a channel broadcasting Pakistani shows which garnered huge response as they
a) Didn’t run as long as 7 years
b) Had no clichéd saas-bahu drama
c) No incarnations
d) Portrayed realistic people and problems (not a bahu turning into a fly or a naagin);
Turkey shows were also telecasted on it. In short, Zindagi worked because it offered fresh and new content to the viewers all over India.  Among others, you might remember these serials: 

Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Humsafar, Aunn Zara, Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam, Dur-e-shahwaar, Thakan, Badi Aapa.

The channel now has shifted gears and changed into an only digital channel streaming international shows. This change feels like a drawback. Not many people have access to an online digital streaming site as compared to a TV and the people who do, can do so on other trusted websites.

The fact that people cannot comprehend and respect other cultures has a lot to do with them never being exposed to it. It’s the same as us thinking of aliens as ‘aliens’ but for them, we are ‘aliens’. People reasoning that their normal is the only normal (+ idolizing Hollywood stars) and changes in simple physical features such as color, eyelids, lips, are nothing but dull-witted thickheads. These thoughts are more rampant in some Indian citizens not considering North-East citizens as a part of ‘India’. The North-Eastern parts have a deep history which many people are ignorant of. I have come across many, many racist comments hurled at people both in real life and online, who look different from them even in the slightest. 

Here's one example of today:

The reply is from an Indian guy

If you're on Twitter, report @Kanatunga. The account is extremely racist.

However, things seem to be changing. Slowly, but surely. Thanks to the Internet, millennial and Gen Z. In the past few months, I met a girl in the train who was watching What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, a girl in the bus who clicked a photograph of me watching a Run BTS! Episode, and another woman in the bus watching a Korean show which I do not know the name of. KPop took off at a high speed after Gangnam Style and there was no stopping of Hallyu (Korean wave). With KPop, came the huge consumption of a range of KDramas (Korean Dramas), CDramas (Chinese Dramas) and variety shows. It was only a matter of time in 2016, when one of the leading music channels, VH1 introduced a segment titled KPopp’d and 9XO soon followed.

Today, the channels are trying and bringing KPop in people’s houses, catering to the speedily growing KPop fans and providing them a connection through music. Even some newspapers have spared their precious space for articles related to KPop. With this, the whole equation of cultural differences, accepting them, respecting them, loving (and sadly, hating) them is slowly changing. Day by day. Everyday. 

We can only hope for better days to come. :)

All photos sourced from Google Images.