Restructuring the Concept of Romanticism in Pakistani Dramas
Abstract
Not many in our society can distinguish if harassment or violence is being romanticized and normalized in
Pakistani society by the media. This research undertakes the objective of finding out if the Pakistani drama industry
is portraying harassment as love. This research objective is to find out if harassment is being romanticized by
Pakistani dramas. Taking a qualitative approach, conversation analysis was used to gather data. Three top-rating
dramas on 3 leading entertainment channels - ARY Digital, Geo TV, and Hum TV will be closely analyzed. Dramas
chosen for analyses are; Ishqiya from ARY Digital, Ye Dil Mera from Hum TV, and Deewangi from Geo TV. For a
closer analysis, two categories were formed; Technical Harassment by law, and culturally unacceptable actions.
Both verbal and non-verbal harassment has been closely investigated. A detailed analysis of verbal, written,
physical, and visual harassment in each drama serial has been done. To make the analysis transparent, a list of acts
considered harassment in real life but are portrayed romantically in these plays was drawn. After the analysis, it
was found that harassment is being romanticized by the Pakistani drama industry. Most of the time when
harassment was being romanticized, it was framed in a way that people probably didn't even recognize it as
harassment or a crime.
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/*doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.22146/jh.68104*/ doi:
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