Is Entertainment Media too Extravagant to Lead us to Flamboyant Lifestyle?

Abstract

Modern world is irrevocably represented by the implicit role of media in our lives. Although scholars are enthusiastically and obdurately busy in producing huge variety of literature, its gigantic impact on our collective and individual behavior is yet to be fully known. Present research was conducted to find out the portrayal of the extent and varieties of extravagant content in Pakistani Television Dramas by employing content analysis. Extravagance was operationalized for physical appearances, diet patterns (the amount and variety of food on the dining table), marriage rituals, and ways of celebrations of lead actors in popular Pakistani dramas of the 1990s (between 1991 and 2000) and 2010s (between 2011 and 2019). The findings of the study suggest that popular entertainment media have been invariably promoting consumerism through the extravagant, flamboyant, and sybaritic representation of our living. Conclusively, extravagance has always been portrayed as a norm, rather than an exception in human life.