Reviewing Indian Culture And Society Senarios Film Studies Essay

Reviewing Indian Culture And Society Senarios Film Studies Essay Hindu flick has al bureaus been a major point of reference for Indian horticulture and friendship. Not only has it shaped only if also denotative the changing scenarios and contours of Indias cultural and societal sentiments to such(prenominal)(prenominal) an extent that no separate preceding art form could ever achieve. Hindi cinema has functiond the way in which people perceive and deal with various aspects of their own lives.Movies this instant portray live-in relationships, missfriends and boyfriends, pre-marital sex, corruption, people following live and let live insurance in life and family, liberal p atomic number 18nts, colleges ar portrayed the like date parties and professors like friends. Of course one has to admit that it is alone exaggerated and pursy up, sometimes even in epic proportions, but the core idea, the crux, the underlying theme, comes from the family itself. Obviously those sit uations and reflections of life and society atomic number 18 exaggerated and pursy up converting it solely into a motion picture with elements of drama, suspense and clowning so as to pluck spectators.The society and the world that we live in is changing and these repositions are echoed in the cinema. Lets take the example of the humble and untaught mother or ma depicted in the Hindi mental pictures of 60s, by means of the 70s right till the 80. The ma was a fe virile figure, an epitome of leave and hard work, caring and bo in that locationd about nothing but her children. She ruin the midnight oil to stitch clothes to afford two meals a side substantive day and to pay for the heros BA degree, has slowly got replaced with the modern, educated and sometimes even self-governing mom.The heroine who was normally a simple homely girl has direct been replaced by a womilitary personnel who is not only educated and b aging but is also confident about her sexuality. The hero no longer locomote in love with a innocent uneducated gaon-ki-gori. He has now been replaced by a simple boy next door with no palaces to live in, with hu reality capabilities, flaws and aspirations. The result is that the audience digest now considerably relate with the lead characters of the film.But there is a different aspect, a different side to the coin, as well cinema itself can bode or consume about changes in the society. It inspires fashion and crimes when people quiz to mimic what they see in movies, failing to realise that what they see on pervade is an altered or modified version of reality that is make to look glamorous though instruments and technology and that life like cinema is not predictable. But, there are some movies that bring about overconfident changes as well like the recent change in the old policy followed by CBSE as a result the movie cheat Zameen Par (2007). CBSE now gives extra time to dyslexic students for their board exams. Similarly, habitual interest in hockey was renewed after the hit movie Chak De (2007). So it wouldnt be wrong to say that cinema isnt just a source of popular entertainment for families and individuals, but also a vehicle of social change, as it should be.Audiences like to see the familiar on riddle. They like to see what they know, what they are aware of, what they count and it is this reflection on screen that caters to the tastes and sensibilities of the masses. People derive joy, pleasure and amusement when they watch such films and therefrom it is the audience that decides what goes into a film. Next it is the investor. The producer of a film would desire to invest in something that would fetch him some returns on his investment and and then they put their money in films that would make the audience happy and wherefore bring in the greens for the investors. Unless a film caters to the mass audience, it testament not be economically feasible.The representation of women is a good deal us ed as a selling point of the films. Audience likes to watch women on screen in various mental strain and dance routines, in stereotypical images, in various costumes ( as discussed in chapter 2) and the reflection of women on screen change from time to time with changing trends in the continuously evolving society ( as discussed in chapter 3).It is true that the changing ideologies of a society take a crap the baron over what is depicted on screen and how it is depicted but other truth is the fact that the patriarchic undercurrents in our society are subdued the like. Women are still depicted in a way that caters to the manlike gaze. Women are still categorised and this has been achieved by means of song and dance sequences, through various forms of dress and through stereotypical images. All these factors help to mutilate women, turn them into a fetish leaving no room for the real cleaning lady to be depicted on screen.A cursory glitter on the history on Hindi cinema and the changing trends of society and cinema leads one to believe that Bollywood has progressed over time in harm of depiction of women. Globalization and western culture has had a sozzled influence and a huge impact on the content films, the locations where they are irradiation and even the oscilloscopes. But a closer examination of the films reveal that indeed there has been progress, but only in call of technological de evils that are used for special effects, locations as in they are more scenic, the films cede begun to represent N.R.Is, the speech has westernised, the dresses have a modern influence and the absolute aspect of film making and marketing has becoming more technical and corporate like. It has truly become an Industry, a business.Women are still depicted or portrayed in the old moulds of feminity. Heroines are westernised, as is everything virtually them, but this has resulted in turning a woman into a commodity that postulate to be do a spectacle of so th at the film can sell well. The western influence and modernisation has led to more sputter show in order to make the film commercially viable as it is now sold to Indian as well as western audiences.Mythology, religion, notions and ideas about family and tradition, cultural ethos, all of these strongly influence Bollywood and accordingly the representation of women on screen. But one must understand that all these values that dictate the trends of Bollywood are ruled and dominated by the laying claim of patriarchy and therefore women are represented in a manner which is submissive to these values and therefore subject to control by men. The women are shown in subordinate roles, upholding traditional values. They represent the community and are seen as repository of community values. Women authenticate a national/cultural identity. The embody of the woman is the carrier of cultural signs. Symbols of marriage like the mangalsutra, sindoor etc. are fetishized.1Women are represente d as prototypes, one dimensional characters as daughters, wives, daughter-in-law, courtesan, lover, widow. such stereotypes have no personal traits, no substance in terms of character and temperament they only exist in relation to men, to heroes on screen. They are there as foils to the male characters so as to foreground their characteristics. Feminity as it is outlined by the premise of patriarchy is more often than not adhered to in Indian films.However, through an analysis of new rising trends in Bollywood cinema as well as the correspond cinema, it becomes understandably visible that some women break this mould. There are films that portray women in bold and strong characters and sometimes even as individuals but such films are not very successful commercially. And also the answer to the skepticism whether women in Hindi cinema are constructed so as to attract male gaze the Great Compromiser yes because even in those films, the heroines who played the bold, strong and ind ividual characters were good looking and attractive, they were used in various song and dance sequences and were objectified through the use of costumes and other cinematic tools.There have been attempts to emancipate women from the constraining stereotypical moulds through representation of strong women characters in powerful roles in mainstream cinema but they have been only partially successful because those films were made but they werent very successful. The art movies or parallel cinema as they call it, emerging in the 1970s, avoided objectifying women, and focussed on showcasing the prevalent oppression and exploitation of women in our society. But the overriding themes, ideologies and concepts of religion, culture and tradition have a very strong foothold when it comes to Hindi cinema and they entrap representation of women in fixed moulds of stereotypes strengthened by patriarchy. Events seldom catapult women characters of Indian cinema to a white-hot spotlight. They are du mped into the quagmires of tension-packed fireworks of the home-prison or the ambitious exploitations of healers and killers, lovers and betrayers. The women are shown as having no spheres of their own, no nonsymbiotic identity, no living space. They go rectify in collective computer storage as organic imperfections, ramshackle, rickety, unhinged creations, mere fictional constructs of the fragile cut across with care male ego.2Hindi films with excellent photography, picturesque locations, designer costumes and gorgeous heroines enthral and influence audiences in a manner which slowly and steadily transforms the way they think and perceive the world nearly them. The youth that forms a large chunk of the audience start aping what is shown in screen in terms of costumes, language, style and above all the norms and ideologies highlighted by the films.These ideologies prescribe that national bliss and societal recognition is achievable only through conformation to the pre-estab lished hierarchies. One of the dictates of such ideologies is that women should be submissive and subordinate to the males in family and in society in general. Films often show heroes pursuing the heroines not with poetry, as the idea of chivalry preaches, but with songs and sequences that manhandle the heroine, pestering her with antics like play with her dupatta, pulling and pinching her cheeks, blocking her path, coming too close for comfort and sometimes even kissing her without her permission. The girl initially tries to enchant away from this wight but in the end gives in to him and accepts his love. The marvel of marvels happens when she succumbs to such degrading antics and is win over by his charm. Is it every wonder that eve teasing is rampant in this country when films show women giving in to such mortify and crude gestures used by the male in the film in order to court her?In case a girl is ravaged in a film, the girl is compelled to bond the perpetuator of such a savage and detestable act. The girl isnt even asked if she wants to spend the rest of her life with the man responsible for violating her physically and psychologically in such a dreadful manner and robbing her of her freedom. The woman becomes the property of the man who ruined her life. If she refuses to adopt her raper she is immediately alienated from the society and is deemed undeserving of anyones sympathy and support for she refused to marry the man who violated her and then was willing to provide for her as his wife. The perpetuator, the execrable here becomes noble and self-righteous for in the act of agreeing to marry the woman he raped hes redeemed himself. The victim, if she refuses to marry him, becomes ungrateful, perverted and promiscuous for she refused a mans offer of marriage, a man who as per the norm, could have shrugged off all responsibility towards her.Most Hindi films portray love stories between a abundant boy and a poor girl or vice versa. The pred ictable and often repeated story line being that they meet, flag in love, encounter opposition from their respective families, communities and society and finally they get married after innumerable trials and tribulations. The rich boy who wants to marry down the stairs his station is considered noble, heroic, sacrificing and generous while a rich girl who wants to marry the poor boy is often portrayed as fashionable, independent, spoilt, pampered and bratty who desperately needs to be tamed and domesticated so as to bring her in line with what the society expects. In other words she needs to wear Indian dresses with bindi and bangles, should be able cook and serve to the family and finally should see her husband as her sole reason for existence. This she is transformed into by the poor boy who as reward gets the woman as a trophy in the end. The whole idea defies logic. Why would a rich and pampered girl want to marry a poor boy for there are enough good men in the world with th e alike(p) moneyed background? The underlying patriarchal assumption being that any man is good enough to marry a girl, rich or poor doesnt matter.A woman, in a film, who puts her aspirations, ambitions and career before family is considered unkind and also at time unwomanly but if a man does the same he becomes noble and virtuous. If a woman does it she is to be condemned for her master key goals come in the way of serving the family and her husband but if a man does it he is doing so to provide for his family which is commendable. The double standards of the society and lie of the patriarchal ideologies promoted by films are more than evident but such films are accepted by the audiences and they go on to become hits. The same ideology and story is repeated film after film transforming the ideology into a norm that soon becomes a trend followed by the people. Wielding the photographic camera is probably a more onerous responsibility than wielding the pen, as the opthalmic med ium is several times more powerful than the written one. convey to this the sway that tinsel towns charismatic heartthrobs have over the masses and the note of filmmakers as arbiters of taste and public opinion becomes that much more accountable.3The ideology of patriarchy works through the concept of female morality raimentting territorial limits for the whole idea of feminine identity and exposing the hypocrisy of male attitude that ultimately seeks patriarchal domination of women. A females body remains central to the societys as well as her realization of self. Patriarchy, that asserts itself through marriage, criminal conversation and rape, works through the female body. On the other hand a female who tries to resist patriarchy uses her body to express her freedom, desire and sexuality. tendinous woman characters and their impact is eclipsed by the manner in which she is depicted as stereotypes trapping a woman in roles that submit to the dictatorial conventions of our soci ety in the process inhibiting the qualities of a woman as an individual at peace with herself and comfortable in the world of her personal aspirations and interests. This is because a girl child in the formative years of growing up is learn through the process of socialization where her freedom and liberty is cut down drastically. At a very young age she learns to submit to the whims and fancies of the patriarchal society. She gives in to the tyrannies of our society and forgets all about her own emotional, social and fiscal needs along with her individual aspirations.Women in our society are perceived and therefore represented as inferior beings. The realities of the patriarchal society and the standards set by it make the woman under confident and make her believe that the only form of security she can achieve is through esteem to the society that terrorizes her to begin with. This ideology perpetuated by the masculine world around her makes a woman consent to the unreasonable e motional, social and financial demands made upon her, all in the name of peace, happiness, order and security.