Volume 4: 2022
Author:
Safa Imran
Abstract:
Is there a commonality in the screen texts that appear to challenge the Pakistani state and the media regulatory institute Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)? This paper presents a critical analysis of selected screen texts that were either banned or issued threats of censorship, spanning across a variety of mediums. The web documentary Among the Believers, (dir. Hemal Trivedi and Mohammad Ali Naqvi, 2015) drama serial Udaari/Flight (dir. Mohammed Ehteshamuddin, 2016) and the Gala Biscuit advertisement (dir. Asad- ul-Haq, 2020) are all discussed in order to identify patterns in themes or depictions that provoke censorship from the regulatory body. The paper posits that censorship is a means through which PEMRA, which is an arm of the state, strives to uphold the ideological norms and values that the state holds to be a fundamental part of the national construct of identity. The paper will also explore what exactly is the construction of identity that the state is vested in creating, and also protecting from any media portrayals that pose challenges to it. Moreover, ideas are additionally drawn upon from seminal texts by Ayaz Naseem that explore constructs of citizenship and nationality in the educational curriculum under the theoretical frameworks of nationalism, religion and gender, and these are applied to the screen texts under consideration in order to determine how these screen texts challenge normative constructs. Lastly, this paper also reflects upon the possibility of this state control of media loosening with the advent of the digital age which has allowed for media content to be widely available over the internet.
Keywords
Media Censorship, Identiy, Pakistan State,PEMRA, Anxiety Regulation
