The need to recognise propaganda in pop culture

Back when I was in high school, I found myself surprised and shaken after reading Elif Batuman's memoir, The Possessed. The memoir, written in the form of an essay collection, borrowed its title from Fydor Dostovyosky's classic of the same name. It recounts Batuman's journey as a graduate student, pursuing her PhD in Russian literature at Stanford University.

While reading the book, I found myself astounded by the rich tradition of Russian literature, which depicts human complexity maybe in its finest form. The more I read, the more I realised that my pre-existing notion of Russia as an autocratic dictatorship was developed through my predominant consumption of Hollywood. Russia and its history, just like any other country, cannot be captured in a binary depiction of good and evil. Rather, it requires adequate nuance in its portrayal, and the country of Pushkin and Dostoevsky cannot get a proper representation in the shadow of the governance of Vladimir Putin and Soviet-style communism.

This issue of overt biases toward specific cultures and alignment with the existing power structure's agenda is not limited to Hollywood. Rather, it can fundamentally be found in every culture.

Fatima Bhutto, in her book about the growing popularity of Asian pop culture titled The New Kings of the World, pointed out that since the 2014 general election of India, which brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi into power, Bollywood collectively shifted towards adopting a right-wing hyper-nationalist narrative, resulting in films that otherise the Indian-Muslim population. Although, not in equal proportion, the Bangladeshi cultural industry too has largely, if not completely, failed its minority community by hardly representing them in the cultural scenario. It would be difficult to find films or series that did an authentic portrayal of minority communities, be it ethnic or religious.

Popular culture is a product of its time, representing the politics and ideas of a specific era. Often, films and television that challenged existing power structures have faced crackdowns from autocratic governments. During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, people who challenged power through art were silenced, which includes Zahir Raihan. Raihan, an acclaimed film director who supported the Bengali nationalist movement against the Pakistani authoritarian government, ended up disappearing and never being found.

When brutal suppression is unlikely given the democratic outlook of the country, ruling parties maintain their grip on popular story-telling sources to spread their narratives in a more sophisticated fashion. For example, the CIA has actively funded Hollywood films to portray the organisation in a positive light, justifying torture in its military operations abroad. This includes the Oscar-winning 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty, where torture has been justified as a necessary evil despite its factual inaccuracy.

Needless to say, the dominant power structure has always made it difficult to narrate the tale of the oppressed. Elites across the globe have tried with all their might to keep the popular mediums of storytelling to fit their narrative. It would not be wrong to say that they do often succeed due to superior resources. However, we need to question who is producing the narrative and what purpose it serves.

In the age of rapid technological advancement where the battle of narrative is intense, it is important for us to make ourselves digitally literate and to question what we see and recognise its ideological orientation. It is not wrong to adopt and promote a specific ideology. However, doing that at the cost of truth is vile. As a result, we need to question and corroborate what we see. By the mere act of identifying the rhetoric behind what we consume, we may effectively end up recognising when we are trying to be dictated against our interest and when we are being fed propaganda.

Fariha Lamisa is a struggling student who is currently majoring in English at East West University. Consider sending your well-meaning advice and consolation to her through email: flamisa2020@gmail.com