Bollywood, the primary component of Indian cinema, is a force to be reckoned with. By producing about 800 movies a year and selling about 100 million movie tickets each week, Hindi cinema has established itself as India’s principal movie manufacturer and typically follows a specific framework that audiences have come to love (Kolanad). Bollywood films are patently over-the-top, featuring countless song-and-dance routines and a story line that usually revolves around forbidden love. Like any strong influence from mass media, though, the messages these Bollywood films sends to its viewers shape their opinions on everyday life, even if those movies aren’t representative of what they encounter in their day-to-day lives. In a culture where arranged marriage, a caste system, and even dowry still prevail, it seems unusual that so much of what Bollywood has become is about romantic love and destiny. With this in mind, how might Bollywood films affect relationships in India and women’s roles within them? Although Bollywood has been around for the past century, kissing has only been allowed in films since the late 1980’s (Kolanad). Everything before that, and even a significant amount after, relied heavily on suggestion (Monti). In the 1994 film Raja Babu, the male and female main character share a dance sequence in “Sarkai Lo Khatiya” completely comprised of pelvic thrusting and different sexual positions, all with their pajamas on. Although this example is a bit extreme, a majority
What were Edwin S. Porter's significant contributions to the development of early narrative film? In what sense did Porter build upon the innovations of contemporaneous filmmakers, and for what purposes?
Diversity in films is important because representation matters. Viewers are drawn to shows with ethnically diverse lead cast members. Mostly all viewers love to watch shows that reflect and relate to their own experiences. Reddigari, a freelance writer, also expresses the question of why we lack diversity in films. “Hollywood has been producing inspiring films intended to capture the beauty, joy and sorrow in everyday life. As much as we love our favorite movies, we can’t help but notice that many of them fail to capture the life experiences of all moviegoers, leaving the voices of millions of Americans from diverse backgrounds underrepresented” (This Tumblr Shows the Startling Lack of Diversity in Film). Diversity in films is an important topic in society because it represents equality and people of color to look up to.
Rarely has a film impacted an audience and held the test of time as the film Gone with the Wind. I have always been curious if director, Victor Fleming and producer, David O. Selznick and screenplay writer, Sidney Howard knew what they were creating a masterpiece and how this film would have such an enormous impact on audiences for years to come. Interestingly enough there were some who thought the film should not be made, as Irving Thalberg said to Louis B. Meyer in 1936, “Forget it Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel” (Ten Films that Shook the World).
As a beginning of this film, a myth is told by the Nyinba people of Nepal: a story of fearsome spirits thought to kill children and the weak. Their crime was adulterous passionate love and it was this that had condemned them to live eternally between life and death. In this film, we learn about and explore marriages in tribal societies. We can clearly identify the differences that challenge both side’s ideas and sensibilities about marriage bonds.
In the contemporary context, when one tries to analyze the idea about women from previous decades being an audience and not the crew of a film industry, one wants to question and ask: why were women only an audience or, actors? Maybe there were some culturally held values and beliefs with respect to their contexts? However, with the passage of time, cultural and professional values improved. Technology began to improve and so did the mind-set of professional groups along with the audiences. Film industry has had an impression of providing first entertainment and, second education. Hence those working for the films might have had hurdles in choosing working for films as their career or vocation. At different times in the history, women in different cultural contexts have worked for certain film industries. I want to explore the idea about women and their talent in the film industry. Since I am primarily a viewer of the Bollywood industry and an occasional viewer of the Hollywood cinema, I want to compare the cultural and professional values of those who work for films in different settings. Since the course readings provided information with respect to certain cinema contexts, I wanted to add some ideas providing a comparative analysis of the women talent in diverse film settings.
This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.
In the second chapter of his book, Childhood Indians: Television, film and sustaining the White (sub)conscience, Raul Chavez describes the common notion of modern racism in America as something that is invisible and overlooked. Chavez discusses the effects of racist thinking as perpetuated by a collective denial of its existence in present society. The continuations of racism in modern America is, unfortunately, upheld by ignoring that it is still happening. The film The Exiles by Kent Mackenzie offers a way to counteract the denial and ignorance of continued racial thinking in modern society in a way that escapes common racial stereotypes.
Established with Adam and Eve, still surviving, marriage is the oldest institution known. Often the climax of most romantic movies and stories, whether it may be ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘Dil Wale Dulhaniya Ley Jaein Gey’, marriage has a universal appeal. It continues to be the most intimate social network, providing the strongest and most frequent opportunity for social and emotional support. Though, over the years, marriage appears to be tarnished with high divorce rates, discontentment and infidelity, it is still a principal source of happiness in the lives of respective partners. Although marriage is perceived as a deeply flawed institution serving more the needs of the society than those of the individuals, nevertheless, marriage is
For this paper, I am going to be discussing gender in the institution of films. Specifically, I am going to be discussing femininity in coming of age films. I am going to discuss how gender is represented in coming of age films in regards to femininity. Coming of age movies set an expectation for teens and young adults it lays out what they should fear and what they should thrive to be in order to transition to adulthood successfully. The media defines cultural and gender norms that are often very stereotypical (). The cultivation theory suggests that exposure to stereotypes in the media can lead to adopting these beliefs in their real lives (Giaccardi et al., 2016). In the media, masculinity is often portrayed as aggression, power, dominance,
Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.
Over the years, Bollywood has emerged as its own distinct identity in the global Film industry. Bollywood is the global leader in production of movies with a staggering 27,000 featured films and thousands of short films. ( Pillania 1) However, Hollywood is still the leader in revenues generated. Due to the growth of the Indian market and globalization, Bollywood has made its way to the international markets. Globalization is often misrepresented as the growing influence of the western culture in the world and so we tend to state that Hollywood is influencing Bollywood to a great extent. An argument can be made to justify the validity of that statement. However, this paper aims at presenting the influence of Bollywood on Hollywood in
Today, romance is one of the most popular genres to watch on television. Unlike most, romance is a genre where the plot revolves around the love between two main characters as they experience the highs and lows of love. “Common themes that revolve around romantic movies are kissing, love at first sight, tragic love, destructive love, and sentimental love” (Taylor). These themes appear in many historical films and the pattern still continues in modern films as well. Watching romantic movies has a giant negative influence on the viewer's analysis of what love and relationships should really be like. These films give the wrong impression of reality when it comes to dating, marriage, having children, and even how to manage a relationship in
Indian culture before the transformation of globalization was a male dominated society with very little respect or regard for females. According to India’s constitution, women are legal citizens of the country and have equal rights with men (Indian Parliament), however due to lack of acceptance from the male dominated society; Indian women have suffered immensely prior to globalization (Tripod, n.d.). Indian culture after the transformation of globalization has had an innervation of mass media, most prominent being satellite television bringing images and dialogue from countless other cultures. This global influence has started to turn the tables in the marked sexist roles in Indian culture prior to globalization.
Crawford (2012) described many difference characteristics in mate selection which may potentially lead to marriage. She first describes marriage as being institutionalized because the laws (and certain religions) tells you who you can and cannot marry, when you can marry, and the responsibilities to each other while married. Yet people are infatuated with the ideology of love and romance. People choose their partners as individuals and expect to live their marriages according to their own needs and wishes (Crawford, 2012). Something that can explain why people choose to get married can be the marriage gradient. The marriage gradient states that women have the tendency to “marry up” and men tend to “marry down” (Crawford, 2012). This came
When someone mentions Bollywood, the mind quickly thinks of a film where the plot is based on love triangles and romance which often ends happily ever after. This thought is accompanied with characters singing and dancing in authentic traditional costumes, like the sari (a costume for women), in an attempt to highlight a situation or mood more. Watching Bollywood is like watching recorded cultural dance shows because of how well cultural aspects are embedded in each routine. In Bollywood films, love is usually the driving force of each plot, so it is interesting to watch a film like Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara, an adaptation of William