2. Literature review
2.9 Media representation(s): The case of Bollywood
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
18
immune to disturbances generated by movies (Orgad, 2012), puts question mark over Dwyer’s (2014) thesis that cinema imagine a future society.
However, it won’t be an understatement to say that media shapes our views of ourselves and others (place and person). In this regard it is important to carefully attend to Orgad’s (2012) work. She takes cue from the works of Foucault (1980) to unravel relations between power and knowledge where media is seen as a major stakeholder in formation of ideology, knowledge and so called truth(s). In this regard she conceives of a theoretical framework ‘global imagination’ which helps elucidate the intricate relations between representation and power. She does so by taking number of case studies. ‘Global imagination’ in her work is a “symbolic space characterized by social imaginaries (carried largely in mediated representations), which people around the world share, but which they simultaneously compete and struggle over” (ibid, p. 46).
2.9 Media representation(s): The case of Bollywood
In India there exist multiple languages and likewise there are region and language specific movie industry which cater to their respective target population. For example there is Malyalam movie industry, Telugu movie industry, Tamil movie industry, Bhojpuri movie industry, Hindi movie industry. However, among these the Hindi movie industry, popularly known as Bollywood, occupies a dominant position. The dominance of Bollywood is at the level of outreach, no of movie it makes and most importantly also at ideological and political level. For instance, it is amongst the largest film making industries of the world.1
1 In the year 1998, it got recognition as an Industry. According to 2009 figures its worth was US$109 billion.
According KPMG’s 2009 report, an eighteen percent cumulative growth for the years 2009 to 2013 will make it US$ 170 billion worth of industry by the year 2013.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
19
On account of which it attracts investments from abroad.2 It has rapidly transformed itself into conglomerate of a few media houses. Foreign investments in more than one way has impacted the industry, from the movie making to coming up of multiplexes.
Scholars have argued that Bollywood plays a vital role in defining “standards of beauty and aesthetics, good and bad, identity -- historical and contemporary” (Ahmed, 2011). It has taken precedence over traditional means of knowledge exchange, among and across communities. Perceptions are being made, more through reel rather than real. The problem lies with movies being predominantly perceived as the presentation of the real.
Representation at times is too ambiguous, for instance in Cinemas Indian culture is represented through the north-Indian culture. Representation here could be understood as
“the process of producing meanings through the creation of symbolic forms and content”
(Foucault, 1980, p. 15). In this regard study of representation and images becomes crucial so as to unravel the ideologies of power with which the representations are entwined with.
Ashish Nandy (1995) is critical of the generally held view where Bollywood is associated with plurality. He is of the view that oft associated plurality of Bollywood in reality is a restrained one, where movies entail projects of homogenization and dominance of mass element.Sarkar (2010) takes the above line of enquiry to question representation of Muslims in cinemas of Bollywood. He argues that in movies sensitivity is not shown to cultural and ideological varieties instead a homogeneous Muslim community is constructed.
Likewise the dominance of North Indian Hindi culture in the cinemas of Bollywood cannot be ignored.
2 2009 KPMG report states that, for the year 2007 US$ 179 million was the foreign investment for the entire entertainment industry. The foreign investment has increased by 21%, in between the years 2008 and 2009.
The foreign investment has further increased over the years.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
20
Dwyer (2014, p.30) writes that through Hindi cinema it is possible to discern “patterns of India’s social imaginaries, which show how India sees itself today, how it hopes to see itself in future and how it views its past”. Dwyer looks at Hindu cinema as a collective repository of texts. In the work she argues that all Hindi movies are not same, and neither are all movies “unrealistic”. However, she keeps focus on the construction of ‘Indianness’.
‘Indianness’ as depicted in the films post 2000 is “a global category rather than a local citizenship...part of this borderless, imagined world” (ibid, p.64). Further she discusses national unity by following diverse markers of Indianness (such as – caste, class, religion, region, language, and ethnicity) in movies from 1950s to the present times. In the movies post liberalization of early 1990s she excavates the linkages with globalisation, multiculturalism and market forces.
Coming to the forms of entertainment in Hindi cinema, Dwyer writes that it revolves around emotions represented through hybrid and multilingual songs and dances. The songs and dances follow different trajectories to suit the occasion depicted in movie. She writes that the emotion laden movies lend credence to the concept of utopia as the movies mostly have feel good ending. Through movies like Wake Up Sid, 3 Idiots and Aarakshan she looks at the depictions of educational institutions. While through movies like Hum (1991), Khalnayak (1993) and Satya (1998) she looks at portrayals and glamorization of mafias. She
in her work has made an attempt to explore the connections between the glamour, violence and entertainment. However, here work analysis only those cinema which have been produced by Bollywood.
Here it is important to take note of Orgad’s (2012) work where local-global binary and
“methodological nationalism” (Beck, 2003) are critically looked at and attention to shifting
‧
國立 政 治 大 學