It Could Have Been good…

I was introduced to Dhar Mann videos rather reluctantly, via them showing up everywhere I scrolled.

YouTube, Facebook... All I wanted to do was scroll through some videos while exercising, and bam! Every other clip was one of those infernal, badly-acted Morality videos that made it very easy to understand why Morality Plays were only ever popular when people didn't have a choice in their entertainment.

The acting is over-exaggerated and melodramatic, and every other shot is a close-up so extreme that I wonder how many Worker's Compensation claims for camera-inflicted concussions have been paid out. The writing is cringy and simplistic, and so formulaic that I'm surprised it doesn't come in a can. The storylines are predictable and repetitive, and half of the time, the pay-off or punchline isn't even satisfying.

I know that the videos are supposedly aimed at kids, but if so, it's a bad message to send.

Where is the so-called Morality of school bullies recieving no consequences for their abuse after they have a sudden change of heart? Why is the protagonist supposed to suddenly forgive their bully?

When an adult faces sexist, classist or racially-motivated harm, why are they expected to simply let Karma deal with it, instead of telling the apologetic police officer "Yes, I would like to proceed with allegations of hate crimes and harassment"?

And why is ever victim either a billionaire or related to someone incredibly important?

I think my biggest issue is the same as when I enjoy watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000 absolutely shred a movie.

I can see where the movie could have been good, if not for bad direction, bad acting, bad scriptwriting, oversimplification, or a combination of the above. That's what makes me hate it; because I can see the lost or wasted potential. It's the same with Dhar Mann videos.

The one about the girl who got fired from 3 jobs in 2 months for spending all her working hours on social media? Might have been an actual Morality if she'd learned from the experience, instead of becoming a big-shot Influencer making thousands of dollars a week.

The one about the boy who stalks his crush, and her boyfriend is treated like a bad person for calling it out as stalking, and the crush dumps him for the stalker? In what world is that a positive message to send to young children?

I feel like the videos would be better if they stopped assuming the viewers were idiots who needed everything spelled out for them in small words, and the bad guys got their comeuppance without anyone being a secret CEO, or Celebrity, or Billionaire Investor.

Just... have Karen's boss fire her because loudly and publicly abusing others is a bad look for the company, not because the person she abused threatened to pull out of a big deal.
Have literally no-one agree with the racist asshat going on about "those people", and he shuts down because he has no back up.
Heck, have the entitled spoiled brat admit they were wrong and be allowed to move home under conditions, instead of them secretly being somehow right/better informed than their parents!

Bluey and Sesame Street are both shows aimed at actual pre-schoolers, and I still think that they did a better job of teaching kids values and how to deal with complicated situations and emotions in a way that didn't feel like talking down to the audience.

I will admit, Dhar Mann Studios makes a lot more sense when you look up the director.

Born to immigrant parents who worked their way up from founding a cab company to real estate moguls, who he says

"Rather than give me their time, they gave me money to do things."

-New York Times interview

His early career was a string of failed start-ups, lawsuits and criminal charges for fraud. He then moved onto making social media content, where walking stereotypes actually get views.

And, yeah, it's easy to see how someone with that kind of background probably doesn't have a lot of experience with actual everyday problems, or things that knowing the right person or having the right money doesn't solve.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh just because I can't stand the media, or perhaps media needs to raise it's expectation of the audience's baseline level of understanding.

I leave it to you, the audience, to judge.