South Asian Feminist Cinema



South Asian Feminist Cinema

Fall 2015

Instructor: Prof. Shandilya

Office Hours: Wednesdays 3pm-5pm

Office: Johnson Chapel 30E

Email: kshandilya@amherst.edu

How do we define the word “feminism”? Can the term be used to define cinematic texts outside the Euro-American world? In this course we will study a range of issues that have been integral to feminist theory--- the body, domesticity, same sex desire, gendered constructions of the nation, feminist utopias and dystopias ---through a range of South Asian cinematic texts. Through our viewings and readings we will consider whether the term “feminist” can be applied to these texts and we will experiment with new theoretical lenses for exploring these films. Films will range from Satyajit Ray’s classic masterpiece Charulata to Gurinder Chadha’s trendy diasporic film, Bend it like Beckham.

Course Protocol

1. You are required to attend every class and post on the films and the readings for each class. The Class Attendance grade will depend on your attendance and your posts.

2. Read the readings and view the films before class, not during or after class or right before the papers are due.

2. Distribution of grades is as follows:

Paper 1: (5-7 pages) 20% of base grade

Paper 2: (5-7 pages) 20%

Paper 3: (8-10 pages) 25%

Class Attendance: 25% (includes Moodle Posts)

Class Presentation : 10%

4. On top of the base grade, your participation in class discussion will result in one of three adjustments, a null grade, a quarter grade increase, or a half a grade increase. You will not be graded down for anything you say (or don’t say) in class. However if you say nothing or almost nothing you will not receive any grade benefit.

Student Conferences

These conferences will be scheduled before each mid-term to help facilitate the beginning of a paper and clear any doubts. Students must schedule a conference at times to be announced.

Absences

Students are allowed two unexcused absences. Further absences without a medical (please bring a signed note from the doctor which states that you were ill) or another valid explanation will deleteriously affect your grade. Attendance and participation are absolutely necessary.

Required Films:

Satyajit Ray, Charulata

Aparna Sen, Paroma

Muzaffar Ali, Umrao Jaan

Madhur Bhandarkar, Calendar Girls

Abhiskek Chaubey, Ishqiya

Abhishek Chaubey, Dedh Ishqiya

Santosh Sivan, The Terrorist

Manish Jha, Matrubhoomi

Deepa Mehta, Fire

Gurinder Chadha, Bend it like Beckham

Leslee Udwin, India’s Daughter

Vibha Bakshi, Daughter’s of Mother India

Required Texts:

Shashi Tharoor, Show Business (1992)

Week 1: INTRODUCTION

Tues. September 8th:

South Asian cinema and feminist theory

Week 2: EXPLORING TEXTS AND CONTEXTS

Tuesday September 15th :

Lalitha Gopalan, “Introduction: ‘Hum Aapke Hain koun?’- Cinephilia and Indian Films” Cinema of Interruptions (2002): 1-33.

Shashi Tharoor, Show Business (1992)

UNIT I: DOMESTICITY

Week 3: DESIRE IN THE HOME

Tuesday September 22nd :

Discussion of Charulata

Partha Chatterjee, “The Nation and its women” The Nation and Its Fragments:

Colonial and Postcolonial Histories

Tanika Sarkar, “The Hindu wife and the Hindu nation: Domesticity and nationalism in nineteenth century Bengal” Studies in History August 1992 8: 213-235

Week 4: PARALLEL CINEMA AND WOMEN FILM MAKERS: DOMESTICITY AND DESIRE RECONSIDERED

Tuesday September 29th : Discussion of Parama

Brinda Bose, “Sex, lies and the Genderscape: The cinema of Aparna Sen” Women: A Cultural Review, Volume 8, Issue 3 Winter 1997, pages 319 – 326

Kathleen McHugh, “The World and the Soup”: Camera Obscura (2009)

Interview with Aparna Sen ()

Thursday Oct. 1st: PAPER 1 DUE

UNIT 2: THE BODY

Week 4.5: VISUAL PLEASURE AND THE BODY

Friday Oct. 2nd: Field Trip to NYC

Viewing of Calendar Girls

Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women “The Beauty Myth” (9-19)

Week 5: EROTIC ENCOUNTERS: THE COURTESAN

Tuesday Oct. 6th:

Discussion of Umrao Jaan

Faisal Devji, “Gender and the Politics of Space”, South Asia vol.14, no. 1: June 1991

Nijhawan, Amita. 'Excusing the female dancer: Tradition and transgression in Bollywood dancing', South Asian Popular Culture, 7: 2 (2009):99-112

Vanita Reddy, “The Nationalization Of The Global Indian Woman: Geographies of Beauty in Femina” South Asian Popular Culture Volume 4, Issue 1 April 2006, pp. 61-85

Week 6:

Tuesday Oct. 13th: FALL BREAK

UNIT 3: WOMEN AND VIOLENCE

Week 7: REPRESENTING VIOLENCE

Tuesday October 20th : Discussion of The Terrorist

M Dillon, “Patriotism and valor are in your blood': necropolitical subjectivities in The Terrorist (1999)” Studies in South Asian Film & Media (2009)

Neloufer De Mel, “Agent or Victim? The Sri Lankan Woman Militant in the Interregnum” Women & the nation's narrative: gender and nationalism in twentieth century Sri Lanka

Week 8: REPRODUCTION AND ECOFEMINISM: A FEMINIST DYSTOPIA

Tuesday October 27th:

Discussion of Matrubhoomi

Barbara Creed, “Horror and the Monstrous Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection” Feminist Theory (ed.) Susan Thornham

Manhoff, Alison Wood. “Banned and Enforced: The Immediate Answer to a Problem without an Immediate Solution-How India Can Prevent Another Generation of "Missing Girls".

Week 9: SEXUAL ASSAULT

Tuesday November 3rd

Discussion of Leslee Udwin, India’s Daughter and Vibha Bakshi, Daughter’s of Mother India

Shandilya, Krupa. "Nirbhaya's Body: The Politics of Protest in the Aftermath of the 2012 Delhi Gang Rape." Gender & History 27.2 (2015): 465-486.

Friday Nov. 6th: PAPER 2 DUE

UNIT 4: FEMINIST NOIR

Week 10: THE VAMP AND THE HEROINE

Tuesday November 10th :

Discussion of Ishqiya

Janet Staiger, “Les Belles Dames sans Merci, Femmes Fatales, Vampires, Vamps and Gold Diggers: The transformation and narrative value of Aggressive Fallen Women” Feminism and Film History (ed.) Vicki Callahan (2010): 32-57

Lalitha Gopalan, "Avenging women in Indian cinema." Screen 38.1 (1997): 42-59.

Week 11: SEX AND GUNS

Tuesday Nov. 17th: Discussion of Dedh Ishqiya

Ismat Chughtai “Lihaaf” Manushi

“Film and the Masquerade: Theorizing the Female Spectator” by Mary Ann Doane from Thornham

Week 12: THANKSGIVING BREAK

UNIT 5: CINEMA ON THE MARGINS

Week 13: SAME SEX DESIRE

Tuesday Dec. 1st:

Discussion of Fire

Jigna Desai, “Homo on the Range: Mobile and Global Sexualities” Social Text, Volume 20.4, (2002): 65-89

Gayatri Gopinath “Local Sites/Global Contexts” Impossible Desires

Week 14: MAKING FILMS ABOUT THE DIASPORA

Tuesday December 8th: Discussion of Bend it like Beckham

“Bend it Like Beckham: Identity, Socialization and Assimilation” by Alberto Bisin and Elenora Pattachini, 2006

Jigna Desai, “Between Hollywood and Bollywood” Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of Diasporic Film (2004)

Week 15: FINALS

Tuesday December 15th: FINAL PAPER (PAPER 3) DUE

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