I Love Lying
-Krishya Nema,
FY BSc. Economics (2024-28)
Estimated Reading Time ~ 6 mins
Maybe time travel IS real and someone keeps setting the damn clock backwards. On one hand, economics tells us to assume that the consumer is rational. On the other hand, our reality has begun to mirror the dystopias we see in movies, TV shows and books. Rationality seems to be a very human aspect, setting us apart from the likes of plants and animals. Alas, humans are not constrained by objectivity or facts, we make our realities, and we manufacture our truths. That is what post-truth shows us.
In his 1891 essay “The Decay of Lying,” Oscar Wilde famously wrote “life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” reshaping the dialogue around perception and reality. Contrary to mainstream opinion, Wilde stated that much of the human experience is shaped around the art we are exposed to, and hence it gives us new ways to explore the same reality. He claimed “Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.” He believed that the arts had witnessed a damaging shift to objectivity, factuality and morality. Oscar Wilde’s idea that art shapes reality lays the foundation for understanding post-truth.
Post-truth is a phenomenon where objective reality, such as facts, takes a backseat to let opinions and feelings drive general consensus. Post-truth does not state that “truth” in-and-of itself ceases to exist but rather implies institutionalised distrust and subjective realities. Post-truth turns everything into a “was the dress blue and black or white and gold?” argument. This gives artists free rein to experiment with morality and veracity, creating plotlines and cinematography that shifts the narrative of the audience.
The term has political origins dating back to 1992 and gained the status of Oxford “Word of the Year” in 2016 due to internet discourse on Brexit and the American election. In a political sense, a post-truth society is one that makes decisions according to their feelings, ignoring the objectivity of facts. A great example of this is the anti-climate change propaganda.
The art we consume directly influences the lives we lead. An exposure to art created in post-truth society, for a post-truth society goes to show that all art truly is political (insert we live in a society). This erosion of trust in the information conveyed to us both in entertainment and in the real world affects documentaries and journalism where creators struggle to portray unbiased narratives while maintaining a connection to the audience.
Furthermore, while “morally grey” characters aren’t a new concept in the realm of storytelling, the notion of post-truth has been used in recent media to blur the lines between traditional roles of “good and evil.” A morally grey character can be alluded to as someone who lies in neither the categories of “right” or “wrong,” for us, the world stops existing in black and white when complex motivations, tragic backstories and aesthetic appeal start justifying heinous acts of violence. As readers and viewers we ignore the objectivity of their actions because we feel that their actions are justifiable given varying contexts. From Frankenstein’s Monster to Megamind to Breaking Bad to Dune, film and television has shown us time and time again that something doesn’t have to be right for it to feel right. In fact, it is not unfair to say that art thrives off of the ambiguity presented by post-truth. This ambiguity is carried out into the real world onto REAL people in real situations.
It is with this, that post-truth narratives become the crux of garnering audience sympathy across various genres of cinema such as War and Action, Crime and Thriller, Superhero, Science Fiction, etc, for political and social gain. A post-truth society uplifts the emotions produced by works of “realistic fiction” and applies them to real-world situations. Combined with the catastrophic work of algorithm-based recommendations, people are often exposed to limited forms of media that recycle misinformation. These personalised echo chambers across various platforms re-enforce harmful narratives. Someone with right-wing political views is more than likely to be continuously recommended right-wing content.
Let us take the example of Kashmir Files directed by Vivek Agnihotri. Kashmir Files was blatantly criticised to be islamophobic and heavily fabricated in terms of facts and figures. It depicted the 1990 exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir inciting a wave of nationalist and radical Sanatan sentiment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed that the film exposed long “suppressed truths” stamping the movie with a certain degree of so-called credibility. The film also received tax breaks across various states. The dramatization of events with a clear distinction between “good and bad people” left viewers with a one-sided narrative that brought about strong emotions from the Sanatan right-wing. Post-truth cinema combined with blatantly false publicity resulted in triggering hate speech and communal conflict.
Kashmir Files is not a stand-alone movie that pushed the boundaries of post-truth. Several films on national and international levels leverage the phenomenon to influence the public, well intentioned or not. Post-truth opens up the door to creative and unique content, blurring the lines between what is real and challenging societal ideas, norms and beliefs produces stimulating content. It is understood that the ethics of post-truth can and must be called into question, how far is too far? Questioning the source, intent, bias and independently fact checking are multiple ways for us to formulate our own opinions based on provided evidence.
Being able to question and analyse the politics of art spurs the very discussion that creators prompt. In a post-truth world, who can we hold accountable, the creator that sets the narrative? Or the consumer that chooses to believe it?