What do you think of Katherine Mayo’s North American
criticism of Hindu (arguably) women’s realities in 1920? What do you think of
the Mehboob Kahn’s reimagining of the role of the Indian woman in Kahn’s Mother India? In what ways does Deepa Mehta’s
Fire (and surrounding controversy) comment
upon independent India’s self-representation?
Women’s issues and traditional roles are represented
very differently in the films Mother
India and Fire. In many ways this
is a comment on the passing of time. The film Mother India was made by Kahn in 1957. Fire was made by Mehta in 1996. (North American representations of
women’s issues and roles differ greatly between 1957 and 1996, as well.) What
is your reaction to these films and their agendas?
Both Saving
Face and Fire critique
patriarchal culture; can you think of a comparable North American film? I could
have chosen to show a Bollywood film or a film like Slumdog Millionaire (co-directed by a British man and an Indian
woman). Instead, I decided to have these particular films encourage us to
engage in a debate surrounding fundamentalisms and global feminisms. This is not fair to the myriad
of Indian and Pakistani films that exist... In my own defense, in designing this course I chose readings and films to
complement one another and to attempt to raise certain discussions, and I chose to attach certain issues to certain cultures, although these issues are not relegated to any particular culture, but are global issues. My hope is
that you will be inspired to search out other examples of internationally
produced films on your own and broaden your own cultural perspectives.
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