Mass Media in India

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His unconditional love towards his family, as opposed destroying several other families. In the initial episodes of the season, the audience is familiarized with Pablo being a family man, with each action of his having no personal incentive, but only the welfare of his family. He is seen showing respect and love to his wife, Tata, a playful father towards his children, and an obedient son towards his mother. In the show he is shown to have a special bind with his cousin brother Gustavo, with them making private jokes to each other, to being each others backbone when faced in front of other cartel leaders. His family was well aware of what kind if business he was into, but they believed in him, and for both them, and Pablo home was where the family was. The deep romanticization of the power and violence of Pablo Escobar is highlighted, and seeing this fantasy growing, Gustavo was the first one to warn him. Initially Pablo and Gustavo were just in the business off importing illegal items such as alcohol, cigarettes and house hold appliances. But ever since Mateo Moreno ‘cockroach’, who was a Chilean underground chemist, gave the idea to shift to the cocaine business, and right then Pablo was addicted. A struggle between a safe life with his family, and the addiction to the Medellin cartel is what was Pablo’s biggest enemy. The fear of loss of his family hits Pablo, very hard, when he faces opposition from the Cali cartel and his house is bombed, resulting his daughter to turn deaf in one ear. The tragic, personal loss which struck Pablo’s soul , was when after his negotiated surrender to the Government, Colonel Carillo brutally kills his beloved cousin Gustavo. Throughout these instances, not one tear was shed, but realizations embarked Pablos’ head that there was always going to be an internal and external war.

The willingness to imbibe unity throughout the cartel, but lacking mercy for the wrong doers. The foundation of the Medellin cartel was laid by Pablo, since he believed that anything standing alone was vulnerable and weaker, than a group with the same enemy and the same objectives. The Ochoas and Gacha were a part of this , as Pablo, declared himself as the leader of the cartel. He stated the objectives clearly; which was, to force the government to abolish extradition with the United States. Alongside this objective, they were at war with the M-19, a revolutionary group of Geurilla communists; since Marta Ochoa, was kidnapped by them. Pablo viewed this as a golden opportunity, to mark the beginning of the strategic alliance with his peers. By playing on emotion, he named the group, ‘death to kidnappers’. With Pablo’s rise of power, status and fear, his willingness to instill the same thought, in other’s mind, didn’t take much time. Him mercilessly shooting ‘cockroach’, the M-19, and police, was a message of caution sent to his peers and his enemies, that trespassing Pablo meant death.

Tamar Gendler (2010) analyzes the effect of certain traits of characterization in a fictional series, tend to have a subconscious affect on the minds of the viewers. The evident paradox in Pablo’s character highlight his traits, attitude and behavior, which are strongly identifiable, and by some means we tend to make them justifiable. Famously termed by Chrisitne Hsu (2012),as ‘experience taking’, the favoritism weighs in, by identifying with the character, and subconsciously . She further add to term, by claiming that experience taking is tougher, when a person is reading fiction to themselves in front of a mirror. Since it develops a concept of self through the reflection, and experience taking can successfully develop when they can successfully suppress their own identity, to let fiction takeover. This deeply felt connection is more than just empathy and ‘perspective taking’, because being engrossed with the character’s world, and the desperation to be with them, marks the existence of a truly memorable character. This is what makes Pablo Escobar, the drug lord, murderer and sadistic man, approachable in a form of a family man, business partner and protector.

Pablo wanted to be the president of Columbia, but who knew he would be so stubborn, when told the word ‘no’? Another contrasting trait in his personality is reflected through his patriotism for his country versus his reaction to not being allowed to be a part of the Congress.

Pablo had come from a very poor background and at the age of 28, he had more money than he knew how to count. Being the sympathy he invested a lot of money in building houses for the poor and distributing money on his visits, as he believed in a better Columbia, starting from the grass root levels. By gaining support from the masses, Pablo worked his way up, and ran for Congressman. The minister of Justice, exposed Pablo’s mugshot for illegal trafficking of drugs, and humiliated Pablo in the ministry of justice, by immediately dismissing him. Pablo’s dream of becoming the next president of Columbia was turned to shambles, and he couldn’t deem himself as the ‘bad guy’ in his own eyes. Since the word was out in the open, the law for extradition started being pushed forward, and the Narcos were not going to favor the implementation of the law so easily. Escobar takes action against the prime season for extradition being passed; Rodrigo Bonilla (minister of Justice) by gunning him down in his car, followed by brutally shooting the president at his own rally. Fighting the same war, the next president Cesar Gaviria, who was pro- extradition, was almost killed in a bomb blast on the Avianca flight 203. The threats which were delivered through, mass murdering were not well received by the government, and though instilled with fear, they went on to accept extradition from the US. The people of Columbia were petrified of the terror, but could never really accept it to themselves , that Pablo could have been behind this. Thus, the paradox of his character is significant even in the series, as the public which recognized the patriotic sentiment in him, who also he uplifted. They fail to understand and accept it to themselves that the chaos, and death of their loved ones was from the same hands, which gave them food to eat.

How moral is moral?

In real life good and evil are constructs of the human mind and language, and whether one pin points and act and states it as good or evil, it’s a subjective matter, well so is morality. A lot of this kind of understanding, is to do with one’s upbringing, exposure and reinforcements. But some acts, like murder and rape, cannot be in the grey area, they have an absolute and are evil. Such as the ‘morally ambiguous’ character is given birth to, and in this context, it is Pablo Escobar. As explained by Tsay Vogul (2013),

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