TV shows and their effects.

Ehmud Sarwar

The show Queens Gambit aired on Netflix on November 23rd this year quickly rose to become a major success soon hitting the Netflix top 10 charts. With large scale critical acclimation as well as a sizeable viewership, the show seemed to be another major Netflix success.

The premise of the show itself is quite simple. It follows the story of the young chess prodigy Beth Harmon and her journey across the chess world of the 1960s.

Whether the show piques your fascination or not is entirely another matter. Regardless of one's interests, it is fascinating to see how the show has impacted social groups around the world and how its ramifications are much deeper than one would expect.

Statistics from multiple sources show that as soon as the show aired, there was an influx in chess related posts across the internet. Inquiries for chess sets were up by approximately 250 per cent on eBay while the number of active players on 'chess.com' increased by almost 5x. Google searches regarding chess related queries also hit an all-time high in nine years. The show has effectively changed how an entire generation views chess.

There is something to be learned here though. As the data clearly shows, TV shows (just like any other form of media) can be an important tool for manipulating and changing public opinions regarding topics on a large scale. They can be used as forms of education to spread awareness, and as a medium to start debate over otherwise controversial and hard to discuss subjects.

Arguably, this lack of awareness and the lack of debate regarding certain very important issues is the primary ailment affecting Pakistan and her people. Even in 2020, Pakistan remains to be a country dominated by bigotry and misogyny. There are cases where women don't have guaranteed human rights and any attempt at standing against this norm is crushed by large scale social backlash.

TV shows (and cinema in general) very clearly have a remarkable effect over the people who watch them. It is apparent via the analytics that they make a significant difference in opinions and thought. They have the capacity to change how people think about an entire subject. In such a...