Factors of Toxicity and Extreme

Possessiveness in Pakistani Drams: A View

of Toxic Masculinity and Ornamental
Obsessive Panorama

Abstract:
The present study aims to
analyze the discourse and
use of language in Pakistani
dramas that glorifies toxic
and hegemonic masculinity. The
prevalence of toxic masculinity in Pakistani dramas has been studiedin
Fairclough’s three-dimension model as a theoretical lens. Drawing a sample of
current television dramas that people watch in Pakistan, we analyze the use of
language that marks toxic masculinity such as aggression (physical aggression or
expression of anger), a mockery of femineity. We have qualitatively analyzed
three Pakistani dramas “Muquddar”, “Ishqhai”, and “Kaisi Teri Khudgharzi”. Our
analysis shows that the language and actions of the male characters from selected
dramas project toxic masculinity. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of
“Critical Discourse Analysis” provides the theoretical underpinnings to this present
study. This study uses a qualitative research design where researchers have
collected dialogues from three selected Pakistani dramas. The results based on
analysis are congruent with the previous findings and conclude that Pakistani
dramas project toxic masculinity and false representation of love through the
choice of discourse.

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Keywords:Pakistani dramas, Toxic masculinity, hegemonic masculinity,
mockery of female leads, aggression, obsessive.

Introduction:
Toxic and hegemonic masculinity is considered to be an “idealized, culturally
ascendant masculinity”(Aulletle, Wittner and Blakely, 2009:6), an idea of being
male gender that not only suggests the superiority of the male gender but also puts
it up on the pedestal as something to aspire to. Although discourses on toxic
masculinity are generated across many sites such as the homes, families, laws, and
states, they become more prominent when they are transmitted and circulated
through the media. Media is still perpetuating the stereotypes of toxic hegemonic
masculinity that were very much prevalent in earlier times. Researchers have
pointed out the links between media portrayals and notions of patriarchy such as
toxic masculinity. These media portrayals have been found to reinforce the notion
of conventional masculine and feminine roles through the discourses in Pakistani
dramas. As we look at the Pakistani drama culture, we see that they all seem to
have one thing in common: a toxic man who plays the love interest of the female
protagonist. Most of the Pakistani drama discourses and storylines revolve
aroundthe male love interest who exploit and abuse the women they live with. This
representation of toxic masculinity and passive women in Pakistani dramas is a
product of a patriarchal structure that reminds us that men must remain dominant
and aggressive to be acceptable in society’s view. These dramas portray the
aggressive standards of masculinity that tell us that being a man means having to
prove worth by silencing the women in your life. The portrayal of toxic
masculinity in Pakistani dramas through the discourse in turn is strongly associated
with various negative results such as violence, harassment, prejudice, and
discrimination against women in society. The present study aims to analyze the
extent to which the notion of toxic masculinity is propagated through discourse in
popular drama serials aired in Pakistan.

Literature Review:
The concept of toxic masculinity was developed by Dr. Bliss in the 1980s. During
this time, Bliss created the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, a movement that
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sought to liberate men from the ideals of the modern world regarding masculinity.
This movement coined the term toxic masculinity to describe the “toxic”
masculine gender roles, which the movement aimed to liberate men from. Toxic
masculinity is a more specific form of other types of masculinity, such as
hegemonic masculinity. Toxic masculinity emphasizes the avoidance of femininity
and the demonstration of aggression and anger whereas hegemonic masculinity is
based on two ideas: a hierarchy of internal dominance and the domination of
women (Connell, 1987). This type of masculinity is also different from other types
of masculinity because of its detrimental (or “toxic”) effects on men. Toxic
masculinity encapsulates socially destructive characteristics, such as aggression
and the avoidance of femininity, from aspects that are socially constructive like
achieving success or being a loyal friend and family man. (Kupers, 2005).
Annalise Benjamin in the article “Exploring Masculinities in Millennial Hindi
cinema through Kabir Singh and Dream Girl” talks about how Indian cinema
portrays variations among male figures not highlighting an angry young man
anymore but broadcasting the bigger picture. Bollywood usually comes back and
puts sexism as well as misogyny. An example of such a movie is Kabir Singh.
Such movies certainly imprint dangerous precedence in the narrative of gender
equality, domestic violence, and harassment. Kabir Singh only glorifies patriarchal
values and misogyny that we as a community cannot stand for. Kabir Singh is most
certainly not a rebel without a cause. Kabir Singh whose character is played by
Shahid Kapoor is an aggressive, obsessive, and extremist person. He holds no bars
when it comes to expressing himself. Kabir always had a violent streak and never
failed to show it. He was not one for false appearances. His love for the female
lead was open and so was his possessiveness. Kabir is a problematic character who
extremely unapologetically abused Preeti, her father, slapped her, and pulled a
knife on a girl when she refused to sleep with him. His lethal anger issues turn his
cute college romance into unsettled and self-destructive adult life. His psyche and
behavior are dominated by his irrepressible anger and desperate need to be in
charge of the women he is obsessively in love with.
‘Hegemonic masculinity’ is the theory that states that men have power and
dominancy over women. It mainly stresses legitimating the power of consent rather
than any sort of crude physical or political power, which will ensure submission. It
has been used as a justification for a man’s vile behavior as well as the use of
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violence. Hegemonic masculinity is within the social structure, there is a certain
type of masculinity that will be more dominant than other types of masculinities in
a given period, time, or culture. Kabir Singh is a prominent example in this regard
and its business only shows how such stories leave an imprint on the minds of
society.
In another article “Representation of Hegemonic Masculinity in Pakistani TV
Dramas”,Qurat-ul-Ain Malik analyses the famous Pakistani dramas using the
theoretical framework of Hegemonic Masculinity developed by Connell as the
foundation. Connell states that various types of masculinities developed in regular
daily existence, and the sort of masculinity that won as the current "most reputable
method for being a man" in a specific region is "hegemonic" (Connell and
Messerschmidt 2005). Hegemonic masculinity is considered to be an “idealized,
culturally ascendant masculinity” (Aullette, Wittner& Blakely, 2009: 6), an idea of
being male that not only suggests the superiority of the male gender but also puts it
up on a pedestal as something to aspire to. Although the discourses on masculinity
are generated across many sites such as the home, family, laws, state, etc they
become more prominent when they are transmitted and circulated through the
media (Gürkan&Serttaş, 2017). Media portrayals privilege certain viewpoints and
opinions over others and lead to the propagation of the idea that television reality is
the actual social reality. Although gender roles not only in western society but
most of the world have undergone a drastic change from the earlier times when
only men were the heads of the households and women were mainly housewives
yet the media is still at times perpetuating the earlier stereotypes (Ashcraft &
Flores, 2012; Torre, 1990).
She conducted research after an analysis of 39 main male protagonists in 24 of the
most popular plays aired in Pakistan from 1968 to 2017. The unit of analysis was
the behavior and actions of any of the 39 characters in each scene and in all, 2581
scenes featuring these 39 characters were coded. The breakdown of each indicator
of the study revealed that the most common indicator of hegemonic masculinity
was the authority which was present in 68.1% of the scenes, technical competence
was present in 24.4% of the scenes, aggressiveness was present in 16% of the
scenes and subordination of not women was found in only 11.4% of the scenes.
She concluded by saying that the conception of masculinity in a developing
country like Pakistan with a traditionally conservative society reveals some
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interesting facts. Age, education, marital status, class, and place of residence were
found to be significant indicators of masculinity. Secondly, more negative traits of
masculinity such as aggression and subordination of women were not as visible in
TV dramas as compared to more positive traits such as authority and technical
competence which is a hopeful sign. Also, the depiction of masculinity did not
follow a linear path from the more conservative hegemonic depiction to a more
liberal depiction.
The article, “The Representation of Toxic Masculinity on Gillette Advertisement.”,
gives suggestions to the readers, particularly to the further researchers in leading
comparable subjects of linguistics studies. Masculinity also has positive aspects
which are nontoxic. Toxic masculinity is built from those hegemonic masculinity
aspects that encourage the domination of others and are, hence, socially damaging.
The tendency of the unfortunate men related to toxic masculinity in corporate
greed and extreme competition, inexperience and lack of thought or insensitivity of
others, a solid need to control and dominate others, an inadequacy to nurture, a fear
of reliance, an availability to turn to savagery, and the stigmatization and conquest
of female, gay, and man who shows feminine attributes. People with diverse
backgrounds and interests frequently may find that they have the same way of how
they see or think about something surprisingly. The dominant ideologies arise as
‘neutral’, then they are assumed to the unchallenged thing (Wodak, 2008). The
organization that fights for power will try to affect the ideology of society to get
closer to what they want to be. Power is something about the relation of
differences, and especially about the effect of it on social structures. The consistent
unity of language and the other social problems guarantees that language is weaved
in social power in various ways: language records and expresses power, and is
included where there is conflict over and a test to control. Language gives a finely
enunciated vehicle to contrasts in power in progressive social structures.
Most of the toxic male behavior in the advertisement represents misogyny. It can
be seen from how the advertisement put females as the victim of sexual
objectification and patriarchal practice. Then, some practices of violent domination
be represented by showing bullying in school life among boys, it is included
cyberbullying. Additionally, the advertisement shows that harmful practice such as
fighting boys is usually excused by the term “boys will be boys”. Last, toxic
masculinity within the advertisement involves many normalizations, either for
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misogyny or violent domination practices. It implies that all this time toxic
masculinity is being blended and normalized casually in society.
Furthermore, the article “Toxic Masculinity on Television: A Content Analysis of
Preferred Adolescent Programs” by Lindsay Roberts examined the prevalence of
toxic masculinity on adolescent television programs using social cognitive theory.
The social cognitive theory describes the way individuals learn behaviors through
the process of observing others (Bandura, 2001). Depictions of masculinity and
femininity are one way in which the media perpetuate gender-stereotypical beliefs
and behaviors. Such depictions are usually examined under the overarching
concept of gender roles, which has been extensively researched regarding the
media (Aubrey & Harrison, 2004; Gerding&Signorielli, 2014). Gender roles
include the stereotypical traits, behaviors, and attitudes usually ascribed to men
and women. Most depictions of gender roles in the media include portrayals of
men as dominant, aggressive, and unemotional, and women as submissive and
emotional (Baker & Raney, 2007; Scharrer, 2012). Depictions of gender roles also
appear in television shows for adolescents. Despite content analyses not explicitly
exploring toxic masculinity as a concept, there is research that explores (1) male
aggression and (2) feminine and emotional avoidance in men separately (Martin,
2017; Sink &Mastro, 2017). Male aggression is particularly prevalent in the media.
For example, a wealth of content analytic evidence suggests that men are more
often portrayed as behaving aggressively than women (e.g., Barner, 1999; Coyne
& Archer, 2004). He further talks about how media can affect audiences’ attitudes
and behaviors about masculinity and femininity. More specifically, heavier
viewing of gender-traditional movies and television programs is related to the
expression of more traditional beliefs about how men and women are expected to
behave regarding occupations, household chores, and even women’s bodies
(Nathanson, Wilson, McGee & Sebastian, 2002; Ward et al., 2006). The results
indicated that toxic masculinity occurs within 36.8% (n = 869) of scenes on
television shows. Furthermore, gender differences occurred in the enactment of
specific indicators of toxic masculinity. Physical aggression was exhibited more
often by male characters than female characters, but female characters enacted a
suppression of vulnerable emotions more often than male characters.

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Research Questions:
1. How the story, plot, and language used in dramas are manipulating society
in terms of gender roles?
2. How the exploitation of women is being done by Pakistani dramas?
3. Why the glorification of traditional masculinity marked by stoicism,
dominance, and aggression portrayed in Pakistani dramas is harmful?
4. Why obsessive and narcissistic lovers are socially valued by the female
audience despite their male-dominating behaviors?

Methodology:
In this research paper discourse of Pakistani television dramas and telefilms and
consumers’ behavior towards them is analyzed in a qualitative research
methodology paradigm.

Theoretical Framework:
Fairclough’s three-dimensionalmodels of critical discourse analysis mentioned in,
“language and power” published in 1989, have been used as a research
methodology. It is applied to Pakistani television media to elucidate media
discourse constructs and affect social media.
The 3D model of CDA consists of three interrelated processes of analysis closely
linked with threeinterrelated dimensions of discourse [33].
These dimensions are:
1. The object of analysis (including visual, verbal, or visual-verbal texts).
2. Theprocesses and discourse practices by which the object is produced and
received (writing/ speaking/designing and reading/listening/ viewing) by human
subjects.
3. The sociocultural conditions or practices which govern these processes.

Data collection:

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For analysis purposes, researchers have taken the three selected dramas. All three
dramas were aired on famous Pakistani TV channels Ary Digital, and Geo
entertainment. All the dramas are stationed in prime time to receive more
viewership. The dramas are available on YouTube as well. The dramas chosen are
“Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi”, “Ishqhai” and “Muqaddar”. All three dramas revolve
around the story of a male obsessive lover who later on marries the female lead
forcefully. Throughout the drama, female leads are exploited and, in the end, they
fell in love with the male lead. The male leads after practicing their toxic
masculinity are presented as some great heroes with pure hearts. The researchers
have watched these dramas by themselves. The primary data is collected by
extracting the dialogues and scenes to support our stance. The dialogues are further
analyzed individually and then group discussions are done.
The secondary data is collected from different online resources. Four articles
supporting our stance are chosen and analyzed in this research paper. All the
research papers in the literature review revolve around different aspects of toxic
masculinity. This research paper aims to highlight toxic masculinity, false
representation of love,and manipulation of youth through such stories byFair
Clough’s three-dimensional model. Dramas are a part of the media industry so it
falls under the category of ‘power behind discourse’. The five dramas with their
strong dialogues of toxicity are discussed in this research paper.

Analysis:
We would like to substantiate our claim in light of Fairclough's concept of 'Power
behind Discourse'. The first dimension of Fairclough’s Model is “text analysis”. In
our context, this ‘Text’ consist of the storyline, plot, dialogues (linguistic devices),
setting, appearances, images, and audio discourses in the dramas. To answer our
research questions, this analysis will include all these discourses. The very first
tool in such drama is vocabulary. Vocabulary holds the power to manipulate
minds. Linguistically, dramas nowadays consist of formal and informal Urdu
language. The purpose is quite clear to choose a language that is understandable
for everyone. Nowadays, to have worldwide coverage, few dramas do provide
English subtitles on Youtube. The people in power, i.e.,scriptwriters, directors, and
producers in this context manipulate the thoughts of viewers in favor of their
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stance i.e., toxic male glorification
Among all the dramas we have analyzed, the story revolves around the same toxic
male leads exploiting female leads. The first example is ‘Ishqhai’. The story is
about the lead Shahzaib, who falls in love with the female lead Isra. Their families
are in the way of his love life. Shahzaib is a psychopath and he does not care much
about Isra’s consent. Forcefully he marries her and later on, he emerges as the
protagonist of this toxic fairytale. The male lead Shahzaib is seen as a very rich
spoiled child managing his late father’s business. He thinks that he owns
everything he desires. Similar is his alleged love for Isra. The drama ends on a
happy note and Isra is with this man who has destroyed her life in the past.
“Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi” is another drama featuring the lead Shamsher who falls in
love with Mehak. He threatens her family, gets her father arrested, and tortures
them. Later on, he abducts her and marries her at a gunpoint. He restricts her from
meeting her family and constantly threatens her. Later on, the same characters
transform without any redemption and Mehak falls for him. Shamsher’s father is
against this marriage and he tries to kill Mehak. In the climax, Shamsher gets
killed. This not only glorified the character of a toxic man but also made him an
exemplary character who sacrificed for his love which was, by any means, no love.
The female who suffered at the hands of this man is now suffering after his death
as well. The drama crossed billions of views and broke records of viewership
worldwide.
“Muqaddar” enlightens us with another man who is of an elite class and holds
power. He is married and also has a daughter but he falls for another girl who is
much younger than him. He abducts her and marries her; as expected. By the end
of this drama, the female lead falls for and the male lead dies. It is another perfect
story of the glorification of female exploitation.
The telefilm “Ruposh” is another iconic example of promoting and glorifying
toxic, narcissistic males and demeaning females. The telefilm has 193+ Million
views. The whole telefilm revolves around the story of a spoilt elite boy, who
merely takes revenge on a girl, who just gives her a comment that she knows
people of the elite class, not good guys, and acts like he extremely loves her. When
the girl finally falls in love with her. Salaar in front of the whole university insults
her in an extremely humiliating way. Along with emotional abuse, he even
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physically abuses Zooni by pulling her hair in front of the whole university and not
even a single person stops him from doing so because he is a person belonging to a
prestige family, and uses power to abuse females.
However, Salaar eventually falls genuinely in love with Zooni, cries, and begs her
to forgive him. At the end of the story, Salaar gets into an accident. Zooni, a
stereotypical female, runs to Salaar. Another point is that Zooni’s mother
encourages Zooni to leave her wedding and go to Salaar, which is again very
saddening. Rather, than guiding her to do the right thing she encourages her to
choose the wrong path and forget the humiliation that she faced at the hands of
Salaar. Another portrayal of females being emotional and irrational is giving in to
feelings. Unfortunately, we are extremely sad to know what kind of content our
audience are liking and how the minds of 190+ Million people are manipulated in
favor of promoting gender differences with narcissistic, self-obsessive men in the
center and women on the margins.
There is a use of catchy phrases that show the superiority of the male leaders such
as, “Kianahihaiusmeachalagnejesa. (what is there in him that is dislikable?)
Machoman hai, (he is a macho-man)Kisi se dartanahihai (He is not scared of
anyone), koi khaufnahihai (he has no fear), Sab kuchtwhaiuske pas (he has
everything). (Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi).
Urdu Dialogues English Translation
“menehamesha jeet dekhihai, I have always seen victory. How can I
tumheinkesekhodunga” (Ishqhai) lose you?

“main ne ajtak jo chahahai wo paya I have always got whatever I wanted. I

hai…cheezon ko apnehaq main know how to turn things in my favor.
karnaatahaimje” (Muqaddar)

“mesirf yeh jantahoon k me use I only that I love her and I want her.
mohabbatkrtahoon or mujhevhchahie. And when I want anything, I get it by
Or jo bhicheezmjechahiehotihaivh me any means.
ese eehaasilkrtahoon.” (Kaisi Teri
Khudgarzi)

They are always from a privileged class. In contrast, the female leads are referredto
as “bechari” or “normal middle class” in order to show their lack of power.
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Following this, male leads abuse their power in all of their life circumstances. For
instance;
All these dialogues are spoken by the male leads. It shows their highly obsessive
nature. Moreover, there is a huge objectification of females. The dramas present
them as mere nonliving things having no consent at all. Following are a few
examples;
Urdu Dialogues English Translation
“dunyamn jo Whenever I like something in this
cheezmjapasndajatihaiusamnksi ka world, I could not let it be someone
nahihonadta”.” (Muqaddar) else’s.
“jocheezmujhepasandajatihai, vh meri Whenever I like something, that is
hojatihai.” (Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi) already mine.

I can never let you be someone else’s.

“ma tmhykisi aur ka kabhihonydoga.. you are only mine.
… tm sirf meri ho.” (Ishq Hai)

The connotation of “cheez (thing)” is problematic in our context. Moreover, it

shows the possessive and obsessive side when the males refer to their love interests
as “meri, sirf meri (mine and only mine) without asking for their consent. This
delivers a message that women have no rationale and life of their own. The male
lead can decide her fate and mold it according to his desire.
The second layer of Fairclough’s CDA model deals with interpretation. This layer
analyzes how a certain discourse is produced and interpreted by people. To
manipulate people in favor of the ideologies that they are highlighting behind these
discourses, writers, and production institutions use certain discursive practices.
The dramas that we have taken for this research paper also follow certain
production patterns that lead to more people liking them. In all these dramas, all
the male leads are shown as extremely rich, havingvery high social status and they
are shown as very handsome and good looking which in turn inculcates affection
and love in viewers for them.
Another major strategy that these discourses are using to glorify toxic masculinity
is that of redemption. After giving a very difficult time to the female leads,
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marrying them forcefully without their consent and treating them as commodities
they finally redeem. They turn suddenly into selfless, down-to-earth individuals,
and beg the female leads to forgive them. In “Muqaddar”, and “Kesi Teri
Khudgarzi”, the male lead is finally shown to give their life to save their beloved,
thus turning them into sincerely loving, dignified tragic heroes. This in turn
inculcates feelings of sympathy in the viewers for them forgetting all their
demeaning behaviors.
This also highlights the stereotype that women are irrational and emotional. They
are only for love. They are ready to compromise their dignity and self-esteem for
the sake of love. This leads to the normalization of these stereotypes. Male
characters are glorified while females are first treated as commodities by the hands
of male leads and then marginalized by treating them as inferior, emotional, and
irrational.
The third dimension of this model is an explanation. It deals with the societal
organizations, institutions, and cultural norms that are included in text production.
This dimension deals with the analysis of the societal practices that are involved in
this teat production and how in turn these texts legitimize certain ideologies and
manipulate people.
The production houses know what type of content people love and enjoy, like
romance, and they use that content to manipulate people. In this way, they practice
what Fairclough calls ‘power behind discourse’.Thus, these drama writers and
producers are legitimizing the gender biases and male verse female binaries by
placing males in the center and supreme beings and women on the margins.

Findings:
The dramas that we chose for our research revolve around the exploitation of
female leads through the hands of male leads and society. The male leads are
portrayed as egoistic, obsessive, selfish, narcissistic, and vice versa. They are
shown to be people of the elite class who hold power. Our research leads us to an
important findingthatpowerful men use their power to exploit everyone below their
ranks, specifically women in our context. Women are shown as vulnerable and
marginalized who are commodified and objectified by the hands of these powerful
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men.
A noteworthy point here is that rather than portraying these narcissistic characters,
they're glorified through a series of events that eventually transforms them into
cherubic. Women also play an important role in this metamorphosis. Women are
shown to be emotional, irrational, weak creatures whose life and decisions revolve
around the mere notion of love. Throughout the drama, they pass through drastic
circumstances. Women are shown so vulnerable that they cannot take a stand for
themselves. Rather they fall in love and are so kind as to forget and forgive
everything that happened in their life. Their savior is only one person, who is
responsible for everything in the first place, i.e., the male lead.
The auras that these dramas create reflect in the comment and review sections. The
youth can be seen drooling over the supremacy of male leads. Obsessive
exploitation is seen as pure love and a toxic attitude is connoted as the epitome of
masculinity. The episodes of such dramas break records in viewership. In our
context, “Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi” got the highest viewership with 30-60M average
views on Youtube. It shows the mass consumption of such dramas by our society.
One after the other drama turns out to be a success. There are critics who talk about
the highly problematic side of these dramas but many people in our country do not
have knowledge about rights and wrongs. In the veil of love, which is always
alleged in such cases, society is getting an image of doing as per their desire. No
doubt, youth is affected the most by such notions. It paves way for men who have
such obsessive mindsets and they are ready to exploit any female whenever they
desire.

Limitations:
1. This research paper only focuses on the toxic masculinity and love glorified
by the Pakistani media industry. However, there are many other dramas that
do present such characters as evil. They get their punishment and the
suppressors get justice.
2. Society, specifically, youth is manipulated by such stories but nowadays
many young critics are critiquing these dramas and calling for a change.

Conclusion:

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In short, media plays an important role in shaping the minds of people. Pakistani
dramas have a history of typical daily soaps. Among these are stories glorifying
toxic masculinity. Such stories manipulate young minds and trigger them to do
wrong in order to fulfill their desires. In today’s world, there is a need to bring new
stories that can help us grow as individuals and in society.

(The research is conducted by Nabiha, Faiqa, Laiba, Ilsa and Amna)

Bibliographical Citation:
Benjamin, A. Exploring Masculinities in Millennial Hindi cinema through Kabir Singh and
Dream Girl.
Hidayah, I. (2022). The representation of toxic masculinity on Gillette advertisement (Doctoral
dissertation, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim).
Malik, Q. U. A. (2021). Representation of Hegemonic Masculinity in Pakistani TV Dramas.
Journal of Media Studies, 36(1).
Roberts, L. (2019). Toxic Masculinity on Television: A Content Analysis of Preferred
Adolescent Programs (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Arizona).

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