But Plato never allows poets in his ideal state; he says they take
people away from reality. A carpenter makes a table but does not create the
form. An artist draws a picture of the table on a thin piece of paper; it is
just an imitation, but the reality is not in the solid table and not on the
paper but found in the form or idea.
When a
dramatist presents anything through his work, he adds exaggeration and
ambiguity; he shows human vices and publicity of such vices leads to immoral
tendencies. Poetry feeds and waters the passions instead of letting them dry,
but a man should be fair, quiet, and patient; this is the manly part, and the
other is delighted while watching the tragic performance, is deemed a part of a
woman. A real man controls his emotions. The tragedy renders a man to deal with
misfortune when it befalls him. The tragedy trains him to become excessively
emotional.
Plato
divides the human soul into three parts.
·
The
first or highest is a rational part that stipulates reasons, calculation, and
curiosity about the nature of the cosmos, appreciates knowledge and intellect, and keeps a man on track.
·
The
second part or lower part encourages anger and passion so that a man never
stops struggling to maintain a consolidated position in society.
·
The
third, last or lowest part of the soul is appetitive and needs pleasure, money, and sex; and merely strengthens and satisfies the lowest area of the soul; and
does not work on the intellectual stature of the soul. This part is just a source of pleasure whose
excessive flow can be dangerous.
Plato provides some examples of misconceptions and distortion of
reality. In his example, he analyses the famous Greek story of Achilles, in which
Homer shows the courage of Achilles. But Homer does not know courage itself,
nor attends any war practically, nor knows how to be courageous in the war, so Homer could teach others to have courage through his writing.
Further, Plato explains that Homer confidently discusses several
things which purely belong to specific professions and fields. He mentions
different medicines and their work, but he is not a physician or doctor of
medicine. Homer defines war strategy but never becomes part of any of it. He
presents the picture of a political environment. He discusses practical arts,
education, etc. Can a man be perfect in many disciplines without practicing?
Plato does not accept that a poet is divinely inspired because his
views have no rationalities. Their views may have vulgarity and sensations. A
poet imitates baser aspects of human life that have more momentary pleasure.
Things are quite different today; this is the time of electronic, print, and social media. The things that come before viewers are far away from reality. Mundane ideas act in posh outfits. The beauty of simplicity is crushed harshly under artificiality. Characters have negative attributions; they have a love affair and an illegitimate relationship in a drama. Their appearances do not match with their class, culture, and religion. Female characters show themselves as moderates; but wear expensive suits, jewelry, and bright makeup throughout the day and night.
Electronic, print and social media have proudly taken the
responsibility of promoting all these kinds of deceits. The Great sources that
support mendaciousness, glamour, commercialism, and illusionism are ads,
dramas, films, talk shows, award shows, morning shows and even news. According
to Plato, all these elements satisfy the lowest part of the human soul.
It is a common practice in modern drama that a dramatist, by
design, maintains too much misunderstanding among characters and do not make a
convenient effort to solve the matter in a given story. Instead, they procrastinate
throughout the series. These fake tactics create curiosity and anxiety among
ordinary viewers who wait for further episodes to see the resolution. A
dramatist uses all these malicious methods without any apparent reason. In a
real-life situation, when a person finds himself in any complex situation, his
first and immediate action is to sincerely clear all the misunderstandings to
save his position and relationship.
It is a frequent story of the modern drama that a character lives
in an economically worse condition; he becomes rich and a greater
decision-maker in the business world despite not knowing business tactics. The
source, brought before viewers, is entirely irrational. Such as, the character
has won the lottery, has got married to a rich person etc. All these approaches
hardly happen in real life. Some fools are affected by these illusions. They
leave positive ways to establish themselves. They start dwelling in their false
imaginations and building castles in the air, and finally, they get distracted
from practical life.
In almost every drama, a love triangle is a common trend in which one girl with two men; one is her husband and the second is her friend or beloved, or one man with two girls; one is his wife, and the second is his beloved or friend. What immoral acts they do! They keep in the dark with each other and fabricate conspiracies to maintain momentum for the next episodes. The characters leave the path of bravery and honesty, never find the courage to accept the reality of the relationship, and violate norms, culture, and religion.
But, practical life is something else. When a man and woman get married, they find an entirely different life situation; they try to understand each other and concentrate on their family affair instead of the love affair that once happened in their school, college, and university life. So these kinds of stories ethically and morally damage the social structure and leave a scar on young intellect.
These dramas are from today’s era floating around in the modern,
sophisticated, technological, and commercial world. In other words, T.V and YouTube
channels are now in maximum numbers. They have to face not only inbound
competition but also outbound. Their main objectives are merely to get a
higher rating, so they present pleasure-oriented programs that touch the lowest
part of the human soul.
There used to be a pleasant time when limited channels competed
with each other; they always kept their standards high regarding languages.
Their dramas had all the qualities; they had a plot with the right start, mid, and end; they had no code-switching, mixing, the element of anxiety, and no
sudden changes in the characters, but causes and effects conveniently
worked. Morality, ethics, and emotion
ran throughout the story. They saved beauty from the mixture of illusion and
artificialities of modernity.
A drama, plot, story, and characters never get old, weak, and lost.
The characters of the masterpiece always remain alive with their names in the
memories. They become symbols and allusions for the next generation’s
literature. If a dramatist can stand with ideas, if a dramatist can stand
against impurity, if a dramatist prefers to provide essentials of life such as
knowledge, morality, reflection, intellect, and theology, he and his drama
always remain alive in hearts and history.
