BRIC Team reports: Throughout the recent election season in Tamil Nadu, there was an unmissable air of restlessness and frenzy among youth voters. Most youth — the largest share of the vote bank that led to actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) winning over 100 seats — seem to have looked at the elections as one that would lead to “a change.”Tamil Nadu, of course, has seen its share of youth revolution in politics. The very Dravidian government that Mr.
Vijay defeated was built by a student political movement more than six decades ago. But unlike the 1960s, this new “change” wasn’t built up through protests against an oppressive force; it largely transpired on social media, in the minds of youth, amid a pandemic of political indifference.A narrative of changeDuring the election campaign, two statements largely captured the opposing viewpoints netizens had about Mr. Vijay’s TVK; one was that “Vijay doesn’t understand that politics isn’t cinema” and two, “we need Vijay because we need a change.” There’s more to these statements than what meets the eye.
Background
The question is not whether politics is cinema but about how politics needs to become cinema, which Mr. The youth don’t necessarily crave for a change — what they crave for is a narrative; some purpose that empowers them with direction.Sociologically speaking, life in 2026 cannot get any more routine for a youth of the State. They work a nine-to-five job, and endlessly scroll through various social media platforms.
Key facts
- Throughout the recent election season in Tamil Nadu, there was an unmissable air of restlessness and frenzy among youth voters.
- Vijay defeated was built by a student political movement more than six decades ago.
- The question is not whether politics is cinema but about how politics needs to become cinema, which Mr.
- They work a nine-to-five job, and endlessly scroll through various social media platforms.
- Beyond personal goals, life hardly allows one a purpose, let alone a larger-than-life vision for a revolution.
What this means
Beyond personal goals, life hardly allows one a purpose, let alone a larger-than-life vision for a revolution. Cinema offers an augmented reality where purpose is celebrated. This is why we live in a time when escapist cinema is so frenzied, and political news consumption has declined.Throughout the election season, a large chunk of TVK followers were repeatedly criticised as “tharkuri,” meaning ‘imbecile’, for their alleged lack of political insight or their inability to articulate why they wanted to vote for Mr.
“Anna [older brother] will do us good,” they said. They never bothered, as was evident from the many videos that went viral. However, it would be unfair to blame these youths, as what we are seeing is political indifference and political illiteracy that came from the State’s inability to educate the youth in their language.
