Research Paper

On
‘Influence of the Television shows and films on the society’

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for Award of Degree of

M.A (J&MC)

Submitted By: Supervised By:

Sparsh Maan Ms. Shrinkhala Upadhyaya

Tapish Yadav Assistant Professor

Alankrita Tiwari

Amity Institute of English Studies and Research

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

India
Table of Contents

S. No Topic Page No.

1. Abstract
2. Introduction and Hypotheses
3. Methodology
4. Review of the literature
5. Results and Data Interpretation
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. References
Abstract
The research paper Influence of Television shows and films on the society studies and

explores the impact of television and films in the daily life of people. There are various

functions performed by Media (here, television and film particularly). How the audience

takes the messages is what the research is all about. The research was done by questionnaire

survey method in which 291 respondents participated. The research papers wishes to

highlight the different ways in which films contribute to an individual’s daily life and to the

society as a whole by impacting their opinion, lifestyle, attitudes and thinking patterns. It also

explores how films and television shows help us in defining our identity, propagating certain

values and cultures and shaping a person’s idea about life in general. Based on the findings of

the survey, we can clearly state the different ways in which the television shows and films are

directly or indirectly impacting us. The research studies both positive and negative attributes

of the impact on people. Television and film watching is not only a very significant activity

among people, it also brings changes to the viewer’s life in many ways- positive and

negative. This research is an attempt to understand the different influences of the shows and

films.
Introduction
The research titled “Influence of the Television shows and films on the society” aims to

explore and answer as to how interested are people in watching Indian television shows and

films and which are the ways in which these television shows and films affect its viewers.

Finding out the time spent by people on watching these shows and films will help us know

how this engagement affects or impacts people in different ways. With a mere touch of a

button we are served numerous channels which offer us number of T.V shows and films too.

We do not think twice before booking tickets for a movie either because it has our favourite

actors or because the movie is trending. The influence of the T.V shows and films have been

major. This impact/influence can be both positive and negative. We are positively affected by

these shows and films when we learn about new cultures and people. Films also come up

with beautiful messages to inspire the audience. So, they are both informative and didactic.

However, the influence is negative when they encourage bad behaviour and values, also

when they divert from reality and portray life’s experiences which are very different in real

life. Whichever the case, the TV and films are a major influence on a person’s life. The level

of exposure to these shows and films also reflects the impact, which is why knowing the time

spent watching the same becomes relatively important. Media is an inseparable part of a

man’s world.

Television shows and films have always been a strong medium of voicing out or showcasing

a society’s culture as well as the nature and psychographics of its audience. This research

aims to explore as to what drives people to watch particular films and shows and what do

they derive from them.

This topic has been chosen because today television and films have been a very strong

guiding and moulding force of the audience’s opinions. According to the many researches

which have been conducted in the recent times television as a popular and wide reaching
broadcast medium has become a part of the everyday routine and therefore it has a strong

influence on most of the viewer’s life’s and habits- count it positive or negative. Kids, youth

and even adults these days follow and idealise certain Indian television and film characters

and also seem to take up their principles. Different age groups watch different kinds of films

and T.V programmes ranging from knowledge based, daily soaps, entertainment to reality

shows. The idea of the research also stems from the Hypodermic Needle theory or Magic

Bullet Theory which states that the media fires bullets of information to a passive audience

which seems to be shot by it, meaning that they are influenced and affected by whatever is

given to them in various forms. The intended message is injected into the audience’s

consciousness. However, this research paper does not aim to prove/disprove that the audience

is passive or active. The main aim of the research paper is to only study the importance and

influence of television shows and films in the lives of people.

Objectives:

a) To know an estimated time spent on watching television and films.

b) To find out the reasons why people are drawn towards the television and films.

c) To know the different ways in which the television and films impact people.

Research Questions:

a) How interested are people in watching in television shows and films?

b) What are the different types of films and television shows that people majorly like to

watch.

c) What is the motivation behind the selection of these television shows and films? What

is the driving force behind the number of hours spent watching them?
 d) In what ways have the television shows and films made changes to a person’s lifestyle

and thinking patterns?

e) Can we call this impact of television shows and films on people a good or a bad one?

Hypothesis

The following hypotheses are capable of being tested and verified and either be taken

or rejected after the completion of research.

a. Certain characteristics or qualities of people’s favourite characters of T.V

shows and films tend to be idealized

b. The genre/type of T.V show being watched reflects a particular motivation or

driving force and also a person’s psychographics.

c. People tend to be inspired by the T.V shows and films and imitate the
protagonists’ values or lifestyle.

d. Media (in this case, Television and films) affect people in ways which can be
positive and/or negative.

Operational Definitions:-

a) In this research, the popular genres/types of television shows and films that we will
specifically consider are:-
 Action
 Drama
 Comedy
 Horror
 Sci-fi
 Crime/Suspense Thriller
 b) Psychographics, in this research refers to methodology which studies the thinking
patterns and mentalities which are upheld by people. These include personal opinions,
mindset, attitude, interests and personality, traditional and cultural approaches.

c) Protagonists- Protagonist, keeping in mind the research is a lead actor or actress

around which a particular T.V show/film revolves.

d) Impact- This research will consider the following impact or influence which the T.V
shows and films have on people:-

 Emotional impact
 Inspiration to imitate the film/TV actors
 Changes the way a person thinks about something

METHODOLOGY

A convenience sample of different age groups will be used to test the hypotheses. The study
will be a mixed research which will use both forms of research- Quantitative research
followed by Qualitative research.

Quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data
or data that can be transformed into usable statistics while qualitative research is
exploratory research which is used to gain understanding of underlying reasons, opinions
and motivations. It’s subjective.

Here our research process will adopt a descriptive questionaire survey research design in
groups( subjects grouped on the basis of age) followed by a focus group discussion.

After this the usable questionaire will be obtained and data will be quantified to obtain
analyse and interpret. For qualitative research analysis, after the focus group discussions,
the data will be collected from each group that has been expressed by the groups and then
summarised into a list of statements. The redundant, repeated opinions and unrelated
contents will be excluded. The final result will be representative of all aspects of research
subjects’ views which means a wide variety of statements will be there to make all
subjective viewpoints detectable and will not be devoted to a particular viewpoint.

The methods of survey has been employed because broadly there’s a limited closed
number of generes present on television for example soap operas, news shows, reality
shows etc and therefore the respondents have to regard the the subject of survey through
this window of specific genres. While we realise inorder to measure people’s views,
opinions and their psychography with respect to programme genres we need focused group
discussions where people of same age group can sit and discuss collectively this subjective
aspect flexibly.

The disadvantage of using questionaire survey is that it will not measure what the
respondent feel but only measure the quantifiable preference of TV programme genresand
along with that making wrong questions can lead to inaccurate data and as researchers our
bias might also reflect in the questions framed. While focus group discussions are beyond
these limitations but there can be disagreements and irrelevant discussion which distract
from main focus and they can become hard to control and manage.

A Review of the literature

The purpose of this study is to throw light on the reasons for the increased attention towards

the specific T.V programme or film. T.V and film in the recent years has been casting a lot of

influence on its viewers in not one way but many. People, sitting glued on their sofa sets for

hours at stretch in front of the idiot box make sure they don’t miss their favourite

programmes. Many researchers have also found that people tend to take up many values and

habits as portrayed in the protagonist which is enough to consider Television and film as a

product which casts major influences on people who consume it. Even after the coming up of

popular online mediums like Hotstar and Netflix, people haven’t withdrawn themselves off

their T.V sets or cinema halls. There have been many similar research works done and the

following section mentions few relevant studies done in India.

I. In 1988, Yadava and Reddy conducted a research trying to seek similar answers by

using an in-depth interview method. They observed two kinds of behaviour in

families who watch television together. The first observation was about the families

who had increased interaction and understanding among themselves while they watch

the T.V and/films. The second were those who seem to understand better the

characters on the T.V sets and cinema halls.

 II. Singh et. al. in 1992 conducted a research in which he wanted to study the different

effects of watching T.V and films on the youth of the Doon Valley. By using the

questionnaire method and taking samples of 50 males and 50 females of two colleges

in Dehdradun, he found out that children on an average spend 21 hours in a week on

Television and films and those who spend fewer hours have better academic

achievements. Also, parents who monitor their children’s Television and Film

viewing habits also tend to score better.

III. Aggarwal in 1993 conducted a research in Shimla as to how the television and film

affect the social life of the people. The study conducted through the questionnaire

method revealed that more than three fourth of the people watched T.V and films

according to what suited their convenience. Adolescents and youngsters took out

special time to watch what they liked. Also, the study revealed that 60% adolescents

and 46.15% children liked watching T.V shows and films late in the night.

IV. In 2001, Chauhan in his book studied the impact of television and films shaping a

youth’s thinking patterns, lifestyle, attitudes, social and political beliefs, etc. Through

the study found out that the children had changes in their sleeping timings and most of

them enjoyed viewing advertisements, and wanted to spend more time on watch

entertainment programmes or films rather than any other kind of films/shows. Also,

these children believed that the portrayal of women in many T.V shows and movies

need to change.
 V. Vijayalaksmi, P in 2005 conducted a research in which he studied the impact of

foreign TV channels and films on the Indian youth. 39 students each were randomly

chosen from 12 different colleges in Hyderabad. According to the findings of the

questionnaire method, 76.6% of the college students preferred watching foreign

shows and films.

Results and Data Interpretation

Discussion
According to the results as discussed above, we can say that television and film is a very

important part of an individual’s life today as most of the respondents who took the survey

watch these shows and films several times in a week. It is therefore safe to say that Television

and film have become very important sources of getting people entertained.

Comedy(31.7%)ranks the highest in the most watched and liked genre followed by

Action(22.3%) and then Drama (15.7%). With the aforementioned genres as the most

preferred ones, it can be said that people mostly watch these television shows and films to

derive some entertainment/thrill from them. Also, 45.6% of the total respondents feel that the

television shows and films have a fairly big contribution to our way of life. We are very

inspired by much of what we see on the television and the cinema screens and take back a lot

of things to our real life as well. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that television and films

contribute significantly to what we hold as individuals- For e.g. Television and films help us

know a lot about cultures and societies we are not much aware about. Often times it also

changes our opinion on certain things. This research aimed at studying the impact of

television shows and films of people- be it negative or positive. It is very clear through the

results that television and films shape a lot of things in our life and thus they contribute to our

ways of life.

There are very few people according to this research who do not watch television and films at

all, who believe that these shows and films do not have impact us or contribute to our lives in

any way. Majority of us watch them, like them and also go back contemplate and discuss

these things with our friends and family. Now, what drives us back to these shows and films

are many factors. And according to the results, 38.8% of the respondents seem to be inspired

by the meaning or the message of the film. The music of the film is also an important aspect

which impacts 22.8% of the respondents according to the results. Media is an important
medium to not only get information through to people but also portray cultures, opinions, and

everything which exists in a societal setup. Half of what we know about our surroundings is

through the media. Television shows and films also to a great extent get meaning across to

people who interpret and often apply them in their lives in a variety of ways.

According to 55% of the respondents, the television and film has helped in changing their

opinion about certain things to some extent, also 46% believe that films have an informative

and educational value and we learn from them. 47.1% respondents believe that we get a lot of

insights about other cultures in Indian films that we see. Therefore, films and shows are huge

reflections of not one society but of others’ as well.

On one hand where there are so many positive ways in which we get influenced by the

television shows and films, the research also covers ways which impact us in a negative way.

People tend to sensitize with their favourite movie or television characters and that happens

because we either like who and how they are or because we want to be like them. 43.7% of

the respondents admitted to subconsciously trying to copy or imitate their favourite actors.

This imitation does not always turn out to be good, for instance 43.2% of the total

respondents agree that films and television shows have a huge role in encouraging fantasies

about an unachievable lifestyle. Often, what we are shown on the screens is not close to the

real life experiences that people actually go through. There are many movies and shows

which focus only on the rich or upper middle class strata of the society, leaving out the

problems, struggles and dilemma of their day to day life. 31.7% people believe that

television and films play a major role in reinforcing negative stereotypes about certain people

or places. Therefore, when we learn a lot about other cultures, this is not always a true

reflection of the truth. Often, films and shows portray certain people or communities in a

negative or stereotyped light. About 44% respondents believe that television shows and films

impact individuals by showing rude/negative or bad behaviour and values.

According to the above data, we can surely say that television shows and films are not only

mere sources of entertainment for people but they also act as change makers as they affect the

viewers in not one way but many as clearly evident from the above results. However, this

change and impact can be both positive and negative and claiming only one wouldn’t be very

right as the results have shown both. Therefore, television shows and films are a very part of

our lives and influence us in many different positive and negative ways.

Conclusion