As a famous saying goes, “Cinema is the mirror of society.” It considers that the cinema reflects the realities of the society, whether its dogmas and issues or its aesthetics and strengths. Moreover, if we dig deep into the reasoning behind the invention of the cinema, it can be said that it was to show society its true face and send it a message of morality and ethics. Even we can say that it reflects the society in one more way; if we look at the kind of cinema a society likes, we can easily judge the way it thinks. So, here in this article, we will delve into the intricacies of the relationship between the society and the cinema. But our analogy here would be the inverse of what we just discussed; we would not put our emphasis upon how good or bad the way cinema is mirroring society is, but we would be analyzing the impact or the influence cinema is creating in society by whatever it is reflecting.
As we already discussed the idea behind the origin of the cinema, from that it is very obvious that it has some serious impact on the way people behave, think, and act. The cinema has the power to shape people’s mindset towards any matter in society, as people often try to replicate or relate to whatever they see on screen. When they see a dashing personality coming out of their car with a cigarette in one hand and a revolver in the other with grand background music, they imagine themselves in that role in real life, and when they realize that they probably lack that aura that the hero in the movie had, they go to extremes and cross the limits in seeking that aura. Now, this might sound very childish or something that might be reality for a teenager, which is true to some extent in the above case, but this is the most visible case. There are many small behavioural changes we go through subconsciously which are not even visible, and we end up behaving through them in our daily life. Your subconscious mind collects hundreds of minor changes from every movie or series you watch, and ultimately you become what you see.
In today’s time, now it’s not even about movies (which are considered the true form of cinema); we continuously consume content through multiple sources like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc., which have the same impact as we discussed above, or we can even say that they impact more than that as they are at our fingertips. One more aspect of the cinema that is usually referred to is that the motive of cinema is always to provide entertainment to its audience by whatever means it is using, and that’s why we see the disclaimer at the start of any movie stating that it is for entertainment purposes only. We can partially agree to the argument, but it is not the only face of the coin, and we can’t avoid the invisible impact that it puts on society. Anything can be shown for entertainment purposes, but it should always adhere to the limits, and also it should be conscious of its responsibility towards society.
Here comes the role of the censor board, even though the contemporary progressive society is often against stricter censorship regulations, but still, the role of it can’t be diminished. The censor board has to follow a living regulation that can’t be evaded and not be limited to the letters of the regulation but judge any content on its merit and impact on society. As anything that is broadcasted on a large scale in society, it automatically becomes a highly inflammable object that can very easily create chaos in society by polarizing two groups or perhaps incite any sensitive topic. However, as necessary as the censoring of unsociable content is, equally necessary is the unrestricted exercise of free speech and expression. There has always been a tussle between free speech and censorship and also the debate of the reasonability of any restriction put by the state over the circulation of any content, but still, contemporary society needs to find a balance between the two, as in today’s highly digitalized age, the free-flowing nature of content, whether on the six-inch screen or on the cinema screen, is indeed very hot to handle.
— Saurabh Srivastava