The Generation Gap In India

As time goes on a gap is created between the past generations and the current generations. This gap between men in the 1950s and the men now (2009) are similar and different in terms of the roles they play, their attitudes towards society, women and work, and their identities. The root to the generation gap in India is due to the influence of media especially television and movies have caused people to look up to the characters and strives to act like them, which reinforce gender stereotypes and identities. For example, Love Aaj Kal, an Indian movie released in 2009 is a contrast of couples in the 1980s and present day. In the movie one of the actors says, “Aaj ke ladke bauth modern aur independent ho gaye hai. Hum aare zamane mein baath hi kuch aur thi” (Veer Singh). In translation, it means that, “Boys these days are very modern and independent. In our time things were different”(Veer Singh). The following are many different ways to interpret what the actor was trying to say about men then and now in regards to roles, attitudes and their identities.

From observing my grandfathers and hearing stories about them from by parents, I learned that men in general had many roles to fulfill. For example, they had to fulfill their duties as a son, husband, father, and worker and as a member of the society. In the 1950s men were the caretaker, the moneymakers, the head of the house and they were dominant. In other words what they said went there was a sense of superiority. As men, many did not help out around the house other than play with the children, the remainder of the work that dealt with the children and the house was solely up to the women. As sons many men had to take care of the family business after they finished their educat...

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...man”’ (pg. 19). This quote is true for all men American or Indian. Indian men, from what I have seen, feel very frustrated when people tell them what to do because it makes them feel as if they are not smart and childish.

In conclusion, 1950s or present day, men in some aspect are similar, but are different in terms of the way they fulfill their roles, their attitudes about society, women, and work, and their identity. In India, society and family is why men in the 1950s think the way they do because they are brought up around people who believe those things and with the lack of media and television they had no outside influence to go against their parents values. However, now there is so much outside influence of the western world and media, that men can now rebel against their parents values and thinking saying that other people in the world think other wise.