“HOW IS INDIAN DIASPORA DEPICTED BY DIASPORIC FILM-MAKERS IN CROSSOVER INDIAN MOVIES?”
I remember watching the movie “Bend it like Beckham” by Gurinder Chaddha and how fascinated I was with the entire depiction of Indian diaspora and the process of negotiation and assertion of identity that is spun across the movie. In a similar fashion Mira Nair’s the namesake is the story of identity conflict and formation of two diasporic generations in the U.S. I was captivated by the idea of how the Diaspora film-makers themselves make films on the diaspora and the way they present it on the big screen. This kind of films compels me to look deeper into the question of how the diasporic filmmakers themselves imagine and portray the Indian society in the movies they make known by the term crossover cinema.
The term crossover itself is a new emerging trend in Indian cinema. It has emerged to encapsulate the new brand of cinema that crosses cultural borders at the stage of conceptualization and production and thus manifests a hybrid cinematic grammar at the textual level as well as crossing over in terms of distribution and reception. It is both situated and global. Situated in the sense that it depicts the cultural aspect of a particular society but global by the fact that it has the ability to go beyond genre, audience and cultural borders. In that sense it is not relegated to one cultural border. Moreover, the term crossover for this genre of movie comes from the fact that it appeals to a wide variety of audience, cross-cultural conceptualization, production and reception. This lends cultural hybridity to the cinematic text. As, also the fact that it is grounded in a multiple of national, cultural and generic source. In such type of films as i...
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...al layer intertwined with the original layer that makes it so fascinating to watch for audience all over.
The diaspora film makers in their own essence brings home the trial and triumph of being an immigrant Indian in a foreign land as was also depicted in the movies like Mississippi Masala, Namesake, Bend it like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding etc.this films are not only works about the feeling of loss and alienation but rather as Gurinder Chaddha’s film portrays, they are also about transplantation and personal growth. It is to their creative genius that there is a feeling of loss and alienation along with hope and grandeur. It is about living that goes beyond existence and survival. It is about grappling with the issues of identity, tradition, culture and modernity which intrigue me whenever I watch a crossover movie from the diaspora on the diaspora.
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Pooja Kalita
In this paper I will attempt to discover how cultural differences affect communication in two movies of differing cultures. I will keep the names of the characters formal for both movies and for the Indian movie I will translate their lines to English directly. The first movie is of the Indian culture entitled Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak, which roughly translates to “From Armageddon Till Armageddon.” This has a classic Romeo and Juliet theme. I will focus on what I consider are the three main relationships in this movie: 1) Raj, the main male character, and Reshmi, the main female character, 2) Raj and his family, and 3) Reshmi and her family. The second movie is of the African American culture entitled Boomerang. This is in essence about a lady’s man who is in search for a perfect woman. Along the way to finding Miss Right he romances other women and as soon as he finds who he believes is the right one, she romances him. I’ve chosen three main relationships from this movie as well: 1) Marcus, the main male character, and Angela, the women he ends up falling in love with, 2) Marcus and Jacqueline, the female he believes is the perfect women, and 3) Marcus and his friends Gerard and Tyler. This essay will discuss how the friends of each movie communicate with each other, what good and bad communication behaviors they have, compare and contrast the relationships depicted in the movies, talk about how the theories of friendship in the course text apply to the friendships in the movies, converse about how each film portrays the culture of the characters, and lastly discuss what each film says about the communication habits of their respective cultures.
In “My Two Lives”, Jhumpa Lahiri tells of her complicated upbringing in Rhode Island with her Calcutta born-and-raised parents, in which she continually sought a balance between both her Indian and American sides. She explains how she differs from her parents due to immigration, the existent connections to India, and her development as a writer of Indian-American stories. “The Freedom of the Inbetween” written by Sally Dalton-Brown explores the state of limbo, or “being between cultures”, which can make second-generation immigrants feel liberated, or vice versa, trapped within the two (333). This work also discusses how Lahiri writes about her life experiences through her own characters in her books. Charles Hirschman’s “Immigration and the American Century” states that immigrants are shaped by the combination of an adaptation to American...
Dubey,A.P. (2008). Modernity and the problem of cultural identity. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre Publications
In Shohat and Stam’s article, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media (2013), they discuss the issue of racism within the media and entertainment industry, such as Hollywood films. More importantly, Shohat and Stam’s discuss the assertion of racial politics in casting within the Hollywood films industry. The interesting idea to their argument is that they suggest that for a film to become financially successful, the casting of the protagonist must consist of a white star as they are seen to be ethnically universal (Shohat & Stam, 190). They further suggest that the ethnic minority have been limited to designated roles which ultimately perpetuate their ethnic stereotype (Shohat & Stam, 190). They concern this issue by critically analysing and contrasting western Hollywood films against other ethnic films.
Throughout the world when many people think of India the first thing that comes to mind is Bollywood. Bollywood has created a major mark in India and around the world. In 2011 CNBS reported Indian cinema as being $2.2 billion industry which creates 1,200 movies yearly, provides over 1.8 million people with jobs, and has more than 14 million theater viewers daily (Jetley). People who have had little to no expose with Bollywood films may wonder what makes Bollywood films stand out in the global market, and the answer is easily the presence of songs and dances in the films. Song and dance is a creative form of art and has been embedded in Bollywood cinema since the 1930s (Marcoux, and College). Every popular Bollywood film has at least 3 songs and dances sequences , and these sequences allow the characters to freely express their emotions in what is seen to be a “dream sequence” (Marcoux, and College). In Indian films women are represented as the object of men’s desires, and are often seen and not heard. Song and dance in Bollywood cinema allows women to express their sexual desires in a non-disruptive way, specifically I argue that this is attained through women who are rendered as respectable.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
the team and is accepted by Joe the Teams coach. At this time it is
...r, with investigation into the visual elements of this film, meanings of this film expand beyond the literal dialog and -- existing in the film.
Gallagher, T. 2002. Senses of Cinema – Max Ophuls: A New Art – But Who Notices?. [online] Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/ophuls/ [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014].
suggests. A film from 2004 and an essay from 2012 touch on the topic of how ethnic and cultural
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
In the present day world of globalization, with convergence of heterogeneous cultures and hybridization of identities, and ever growing transnational migration, geographical boundaries are becoming redundant. The definitions and ideas of ‘home’, ‘identity’ and ‘culture’ have undergone changes with spatial politics and its displacement, intimacy, inclusion and exclusion. This paper makes an attempt to understand the conflicts of identity and culture before the Indian diaspora with reference to The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
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 terms of music, dance and visual representation. This paper deals with a specific part of globalization, providing evidence that it is not only related to the spreading influence of the western culture but also of eastern culture. Feature film produced in 2009 Courtesy: UNESCO Indian movies began production in the beginning of the 20th century and were, much like American films, in black and white.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universally understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films; Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films; Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society using sound and editing.
The above fact again highlights one of the many factors of what is wrong with the Indian film industry. Still our thinking is that only, as to who watches movies whose director, producer or a writer is a woman. The thinking straight goes as to “ arre ek ladki ne film banai hai, kon jayega”. People still say these words which shows how backward we are. Today only male-dominated movies cross the 100cr.club. Commercialization has killed the essence of Indian cinema.