The last decade can be characterized as one of activism and revolution. From the Arab Spring to the #MeToo movement, it pushed for accountability, equality and inclusivity. Tumultuous to say the least; divisive yet breaking new frontiers each year. The last decade saw proverbial glass ceilings shattered, Twitter take-downs, Instagram feuds, the rise of social media apps such as Dubsmash and TikTok and we witnessed every single second of it, in real time, online. As the saying goes, “did it even happen if it wasn’t on the ‘Gram?”
A meme poignantly pointed out the abbreviation brb (be right back) is barely used any longer because we live online now. And that has truly changed everything. It isn’t just the ease or convenience of having a cellphone or a laptop any longer; it’s become a necessity for a majority of the world. Shopping, food delivery, businesses, news, entertainment, connectivity – it’s all on the World Wide Web. We have entered the post technological revolution era.
Technology has also changed our relationship with stories. And stories are the building blocks of community life. Language and stories are what helped us bond together as early humans, what allowed different tribes to band together over shared beliefs and stories are our best link to the past, to our ancestors and history as well as to the future. They help us understand fundamental human truths; think Shakespeare and how his Kings have relived many multicultural and ideological adaptions, while holding up a mirror to society simultaneously. They’re also one of the greatest forms of entertainment.
Stories are how we understand and process the changes happening around us at what now feels like hyperlapse speed. And stories exist more and more now in video format. Open YouTube and click on any video and keep going. You’re guaranteed to go down a rabbit hole befitting Alice and her psychedelic journey. It’s allowed people to create and upload their own videos and stories, becoming virtual reality stars and real-life millionaires overnight.
Given the inclusivity and democratic nature of the web, the global narrative has undergone a swift shift. Movies and scripts that represent multiplicity of narratives, which push to reveal modern issues and anxieties, that include women and the ethnically marginalized, have been sprinting forward as front runners. Just take a look at the success of Black Panther, Get Out, Wonder Woman, Call Me By Your Name, The Favourite, The Handmaid’s Tale, Big Little Lies, Game of Thrones, Spotlight and Moonlight, just to name a few.
It’s been the decade that gave us Netflix (us, as in the greater global world) and as we’re entering deeper into tech territory, the new direction entertainment and media are taking with the Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu and countless other regional and local streaming services, is evident. They follow a ‘something for everyone’ format where they’ve consolidated all kinds of entertainment to be viewed per audience convenience.
Pakistan too has tried to keep pace. Our cinema, in sore need of revival has definitely picked up again but it seems that a dearth of good stories or rather, good writing still plagues us. Don’t get us wrong, there has been some great cinema being produced; Cake, Laal Kabootar, Zinda Bhaag, Moor, Khuda Kay Liye and Bol…these are all movies to be immensely proud of but they’re far and few in between.
Our dramas also suffer a similar fate. Yes, we have some really good dramas that have highlighted societal issues but we’ve barely looked outside family, relationships and social constraints. Where’s the humor, the horror, the mystery and the sci-fi? The global conversations are moving forward with shows like Living with Yourself that takes on our very human fear of cloning while our TV shows still haven’t moved past women suffering or being wed, usually both in the same breathe.
We have some fantastic actors who can represent us on a global scale, yet after watching them essay the same roles over and over again, we wonder, aren’t they tired of playing the same people too? Mahira Khan recently shared a quiz, “Which Mahira Khan bride are you?” on her website and while we loved taking it, it just seemed to drive the point home. We can’t help but wonder, where’s the versatility? Where’s the Pakistani equivalent of Charlize Theron’s Monster Ball? Wouldn’t it make you want to go out and buy a ticket if Humayun Saeed was playing a charming, narcissistic sociopath ala Christian Bale in American Pyscho? The modern Pakistani men and women have modern concerns yet our stories are unfortunately still stuck in 90s.
It is of course also important to note that we’ve been talking entirely about adult content so far. These films and shows cater to an adult demographic whereas the under 15 population of Pakistan is at 43.40 per cent (courtesy PBS) and growing. Where are the shows that cater to the kids and the young adults? They most certainly don’t see themselves represented on TV and there’s certainly no regular content that is generated for them. The urban teenager is much better acquainted with Netflix than traditional programming and even the rural youth relies on YouTube and social media for information and entertainment.
Just take a look at the popularity of TikTok among teenagers and you’ll understand. While the millennials might struggle to wrap their heads around the app and how to work it, TikTok has over a billion downloads worldwide with teenagers and those in rural areas with the most followed and active accounts. It’s been called the most democratic social media platform because unlike Instagram or Twitter or YouTube, you don’t need money, fancy settings and proper lighting or a killer fashion sense to be popular; TikTok is all about content – funny, whacky, tacky but individualistic, real and raw.
And while Pakistan has its own set of TikTok stars who’ve managed to be embroiled in a political scandal, we have a serious dearth of self-produced content and digital media houses producing web series or short movies. MangoBaaz was one of the first digital platforms to introduce BuzzFeed styled videos, paving the way for others, though we’d say this was more a case of the baton just being lit rather than passed on.
A Karachi based media collective, Teeli, is perhaps the one platform that has regularly and consistently put out video content for the local youth. Their sketches are short, filled with colloquial humor and smartly packaged. This young platform seems to have cracked the code of dishing out societal reforms through irony, with several of their dystopian comedies being instant viral hits.
Singer/actors Haroon Shahid and Asim Azhar have also paired up with Syra Shehroz for a musical mini-series, Mere Yaar Mere Dost, featuring an original soundtrack. The series is meant to chronical college/university life and may just be one of the only big budget productions focused on young adults in Pakistan. It stands out because simply put, there are no other contenders it can be compared to unless you want to go way back in time and dig out Purani Jeans or Alpha Bravo Charlie (which ISPR has brought back from the dead in Ehd-e-Wafa).
Perhaps the only Pakistani web content we’re really looking forward to this year is Asim Abbasi’s Churails. The director of Cake, happy to continue pushing boundaries, is set to showcase another non-conforming series that takes on the patriarchy and misogyny embedded in our culture through four intrepid women and their stories. We’re excited to see the series because it promises something new – a script that isn’t afraid of taking on established institutions (yes, patriarchy is one) and giving voice to women who take on the world, rather than cower from it.
What we’re talking about here aren’t options or alternative facts; they’re accurate numbers backed by data, analytics and money. We aren’t moving towards a new world any longer, we’re living in it. It’s a world where we happily share our credit card details online and hire strangers to drive us from one location to another. Our world has been transformed by technology and is constantly moving forward at break neck pace. We need to find our voice, or rather, we need newer voices, different voices, and telling better stories if we’re to make sense, let alone keep up with the online world.
