Feminism and Films
Feminism though mostly considered as a social theory is more of a post- colonial and psycoanalytical
theory which has had an enormous impact on film theory and
criticism. The development of feminist film theory was influenced by Second Wave Feminism. Feminist scholars began applying the new theories arising from these movements to analyzing films. Initial attempts in the United States in the early 1970’s were generally based on sociological theory and focused on the function of women characters in particular film narratives or genres and of stereotypes as a reflection of a society's view of women
. Cinema is taken by feminists to be a cultural practice representing myths about women and femininity, as well as about men and
masculinity. Issues of representation and spectatorship are central to feminist film theory and criticism. Early feminist criticism was directed at stereotypes of women in mediums like advertisements ( print and electronic), in films etc. The image of woman prortrayed in movies like Mother India( a sacrificer for her family), Bandini, Sujata, yatra( a young bride married to a dying old man at the river side performing her duties religiously) etc was that of a sacrificer, culturally exploited woman.Such fixed and endlessly repeated images of women were considered to be objectionable as they presented them as mutes which could probably have a negative impact on the female spectator as these lacked strength and righteousness. Hence, the call for positive images of women in cinema. Soon, however, the insight dawned with movies like Dor, Mrityudand, Filhaal etc presenting woman as righteous and strong. Chak-de proved to be a milestone were the image of woman was metamorphasised from a sufferer to a achiever achiever bringing pride for the whole nation.
Feminist critics tried to understand the all-pervasive power of patriarchal imagery with the help of structuralist theoretical frameworks such as semiotics and psychoanalysis.
These theoretical discourses have proved very productive in analysing the ways in which sexual difference is encoded in bollywood movies. For over a decade psychoanalysis was to be the dominant paradigm in feminist film theory. More recenty there has been a move away from a binary understanding of sexual difference to multiple perspectives, identities and possible spectatorships. This opening up has resulted in an increasing concern with an alternative approach asking how films depict the self and pleasure, or whether viewers can find gaps and ruptures in a film's depictions. Feminist philosophers present alternative views about the construction of women as subjects of knowledge, vision, or pleasure. questions of ethnicity, masculinity and hybrid sexualities.
The present paper explores issues of representation, visual pleasure, spectatorship, and subjectivity. Since the aim of feminism is to end (male) domination, we shall ask several questions which bear this politics in mind: how are women represented and construed in mainstream films, what is the function and consequence of these representations in the social and cultural context, what kind of subject positions does film construe and represent for the viewer? Emphasis will also be placed on what kind of interventions feminist filmmakers can contribute to the unmasking and probing of the tension between politics and aesthetics. Here we will look at films which have a high charge of aesthetic engagement and their take on power structures