Recognizing the Politics of Visual Imagery through Transplanted Traditions in Indian Television Soap Operas

KAIFIA ANCER LASKAR
Tripura University, India

Abstract
Television is known to be a powerful provoker and circulator of meanings. The attempt in this article is to read the discursive elements of female soap opera protagonists and find out if they are idealised partly as religious devotees in their whole existence. Wars of production and re-enforcement of meanings are often waged in media space. Therefore an analysis of ‘character reading’ of the soap operas broadcast in the Hindi networks will help focus analytical attention on different forms of hegemonic power that constitute the text. The objective of this article is to delve into the textual and semiotic codifications used in the characterisation of the protagonists of the select soap operas under study. These codes will help in describing the phenomenon of creating religious devotees in soap operas.

Keywords: Soap opera devotees, discursive practices, dominant discourse, mediated devotion

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Dr. Kaifia Ancer Laskar teaches communication in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Tripura University, Agaratala.