Abstract
Caste affiliated surnames are very common in India. In fact, they convey a lot of caste stereotypes about the bearer. This is a subtle way of practicing caste based identities and related discriminations. The current study is a content analysis of the surnames of leading fictional characters in Hindi TV serials and movies to see if TV and cinema propagate caste stereotypes through surnames of their fictional characters. The result shows excessive use of upper caste affiliated surnames used both in TV serials and cinema while surnames affiliated to lower castes have negligible presence in these programmes.
Highlights
Caste affiliated surnames are very common in India
RESULT AND DISCUSSION: Out of 135 leading characters selected from 45 TV serials, 111 characters (82%) carried a surname belonging to upper caste/general category, 6 characters (5%) carried a surname belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC), 6 characters (4%) carried a surname belonging to Muslim and 12 characters (9%) carried no surnames
From 64 movies of 2014, 98 leading characters (51%) carried surname belonging to General/Upper caste, 2 characters (1%) carried surname belonging to Other Backward Classes(OBC), 21 characters (11%) carried surname belonging to Muslims and 71 characters (37%) did not carried any surname
Summary
AND DISCUSSION: Out of 135 leading characters selected from 45 TV serials, 111 characters (82%) carried a surname belonging to upper caste/general category, 6 characters (5%) carried a surname belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC), 6 characters (4%) carried a surname belonging to Muslim and 12 characters (9%) carried no surnames. In India, where caste affiliated surnames are used for social transactions, television serials and Hindi movies , even if they are fictional in nature, showing leading characters with upper castes surnames have the potential to propagate caste stereotypes. A recent study, conducted by UC Burkley and published in Developmental Science, looks at attitudes in India to Caste system suggests that “children and adults who were more influenced by caste were more likely to believe that their own natural aptitude, academic success, and personality traits were fixed or set in stone.”(Srinivasan,2015) These attitudes need to be broken and Television and Cinema can play an effective role in breaking these attitudes and caste stereotypes.
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