Yesterday, when I was having a conversation with my friend, she told me that the “Cancel” culture has come a long way from Popatlal cancelling events to everyone cancelling one another in these times. We laughed at this joke. And later, I realised how popular cancel culture has become in today’s world.
Every inconvenience has an answer in the form of cancellation.
For those who aren’t aware of this phenomenon, cancel culture refers to the massive withdrawal of authorization from public figures or renowned figures who have said or done things that aren’t socially accepted today. This practice of “cancelling” or mass shaming often emerges on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Cancel culture is not confined to cancelling unacceptable opinions, it has come to cancelling an individual too.
When we talk about cancelling an individual, I believe what we’re talking about is the act of expelling them from a role of prestige because of their opinions, a remark that they make, or notions that they stand for.
We have witnessed many cases of this kind of cancellation.
When Sushant Singh Rajput died, the phenomenon of cancelling people took a hike.
The concept of Nepotism was refreshed and cancelling of the “Nepotism Products” was at its peak.
Be it about cancelling Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Rhea Chakraborty, Karan Johar, Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, and many others. They were being criticised for almost everything they have done in the past just because they were celebrities or because they were star kids.
If we talk about the recent example of cancellation, we know how the movie “Pathan” was criticised for certain aspects of it and people demanded a boycott of it. The colour of the bikini became an issue of concern, which resulted in a big debate over it. The colour saffron hurt the religious sentiments of some people. It created a tussle between the supporters and the opponents. Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone were condemned by the moral police. Social media was swamped with this topic. Eventually, the movie became a box-office hit.
You can always see a hashtag cancelling something or the other on social media.
Any movie which doesn’t stand to certain standards is criticised. A person who speaks things that may offend the other is also criticised. I remember how Karan Johar was criticised for deliberately casting the children of movie stars and encouraging nepotism. And the advertisement by Tanishq faced backlash over the characters in it.
So the question comes, is ‘cancel culture’ taking away freedom of choice?
The effects of this practice of cancelling might not be completely avoidable in the long run. Whereas it is sometimes essential to cancel things that are totally unacceptable to everyone, it is also important to resist cancellation of the things which shouldn’t be criticised as such.
It reminded me of the time when people were criticising women who came up with their stories of facing harassment.
An important issue like the #Metoo movement was overshadowed by this Trend of cancelling everything. So the cancel culture works like a catalyst for debates and denials in some cases.
One thing which can be seen is that cancel culture does impact the lives of the people who are subjected to this practice. They lose their jobs, position, and the power to put their opinion as well. Even when they make sense, no one gives them the validation for it.
In a nutshell, the impact of cancel culture is felt severely by the victims who often face difficulties like losing jobs, dropping out of college, suffering from illness, etc.
We often notice that the negatives of the cancel culture are quite evident in today’s society. Backlashing of someone or the other is always trending on Twitter and can have a harsh impact on different aspects of one’s life.
But does it mean that the freedom of speech is losing its grip and prominence?
In some sense, yes. Although the cancel culture can be used to develop different opinions, it can also be used as a weapon to put a stop to opinions that don’t match one’s interest.
A conflict of opinion is sometimes the conclusion to such acts.
People generally don’t comprehend the intensity of the chaos they create, but the effect of it is felt by the people on the receiving end.
Surprisingly, sometimes, the cancel culture has the opposite effect. The things people nullify catch the gazes of people more prominently, and they become the talk of the town. Maybe this is the reason for the popularity of cancel culture. It results in the growing popularity of that particular movie/ person or issue.
This happened in the case of Movie Pathan. Some people were eager to see what has been criticised for so long and they went to see the movie.
Nonetheless, there are movies like Sadak, which faced backlash and became a flop at the box office.
And then comes the cases when there are supporters and haters both, for example when the son of Shahrukh Khan, Aryan Khan was being criticised over suspicion of drug abuse.
According to Wikipedia, the concept of cancel culture began in late 2010s and early 2020s and explicitly came up during #metoo movement. “Calling things out” was sometimes for serious issues and sometimes for jest.
But in today’s times, cancelling culture can either make you or break you. Public figures are prone to this phenomenon, they are targeted often. Some handle the situation gracefully and some bow down in defeat.
The debate over this issue is never-ending. What we need to ponder upon is how the growth of cancel culture can be considered as the deterioration of one’s freedom to say or do anything. At the same time, we need to pay attention to the adverse effects of cancellation as well.
Laaiba
Laaiba, is a writing enthusiast, studying Literature. She loves to indulge herself in creating stories and writing poems. She is an old soul, believing in hard work to achieve something better each day.