The White Bollywood

2355 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Race stereotypes in movies

From Raja Harishchandra (1913) to The Good Road (2013), the cinema of India, an extremely important part of our cultural identity celebrating its centenary this year. Has been working as an ambassador of India to a global audience since the day of its inception. In India, it is often seen that films made in Hindi targeted at a larger audience, commonly known as mainstream movies or Bollywood films, employ a different grammar of filmmaking than that is used in so-called sensible or parallel cinema while representing or portraying different aspects and sections of society, race, culture, gender and class. In this paper, I try to focus on the representations of Caucasian characters, or the white, in popular Hindi cinema, or Bollywood films, and try to assess how they are introduced, perceived and represented, how they are important to the narrative, whether or how tenets of cultural hegemony applies to them and how they are received by the audience.

With a rich cultural heritage, born and developed, probably, out of a slow but steady process of acculturation through millennia, India is truly a global melting pot with a million stories to tell, and Bollywood films, one of our most fervent, if not the most accurate, storytellers. Gaston Roberge, on the impact of films on society, says:

You cannot transform the world by means of filmmaking, but you certainly can transform the representations of the world through film (Roberge 3).

A long colonial past and a mixed socio-economic existence of people nurture the legacy of multilingualism and multiculturalism in our country. If films are to be taken as dioramas of the society in a larger sense, the frequent and prominent appearance of Western characters (to be precise, characters belong...

... middle of paper ...

...e in the end, that in matters of portraying non-Indian, white characters in Bollywood films, clichés have prevailed for long, but not without the glimmer of hope for something new, something empowering – for the texts, and for the readers.

Works Cited

Chakravarty, Sumita. “Teaching Indian Cinema.” Cinema Journal, Vol. 47, No. 1. 2007. Print.

Dwyer, Rachel. 100 Bollywood Films. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2007. Print.

Gehlawat, Ajay. Reframing Bollywood. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2010. Print.

Jaikumar, Priya. “Bollywood Spectaculars.” World Literature Today, Vol. 77, No. 3/4 (Oct. - Dec., 2003). Print.

Lal, Vinay, and Ashis Nandy, eds. Fingerprinting Popular Culture. New Delhi: OUP, 2008. Print.

Roberge, Gaston. The Subject of Cinema. Calcutta: Seagull, 2005. Print.

Virdi, Jyotika. The Cinematic ImagiNation. Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2011. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis on Rebeca Keegan's Article on Racial Inequality in Media

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the semester, race is a big part of the lectures. In class, we talk about how race is distinguishing physical characteristics used to place people in different racial categories (Jensen). The biggest concern with race is racial inequality. Racial inequality is the inadequate or unfair treatment of minorities in areas like income, education, employment, health, the criminal justice system, and media. The article written by Rebecca Keegan from the Los Angeles Times newspaper discusses the inequality of race in media specifically movies. This article relates to the unfairness in films because minorities are poorly portrayed in the majority of films. More often than not, minorities are the “bad guys” in films. They are caught up in criminal activity and live in poorer neighborhoods than the majority. The article gives numerous statistics proving and exploiting that there is indeed racial inequality depicted in films. Also the Keegan touches on how minorities are underrepresented in films in the way that they usually do not have as many speaking lines compared to the white actor/actress.

    Read More

  • Whiteness In The Green Mile

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the eighties to the late nineties the film industry produced a number of films with a dominant theme of whiteness–encompassing stereotypical ideas of African Americans. Frank Darabont directed the film, The Green Mile. The films core’ John Coffey, is an African American inmate who is falsely convicted of rape and murder against two young white girls. John Coffey is a god like personage with the ability to read souls, capable of sensing suffering and joy, and is able to heal others by touch. Coffey was found guilty, and as a result is sentenced to death via electric chair. While on death row Coffey performs a series of healing acts to white people. These acts have an outward appearance of sexual assault and murder. This film has constructed

    Read More

  • Diversity In Hollywood Essay

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diversity has always been one of Hollywood’s greatest weaknesses. For the most part, the industry absolutely strives with its rich narratives, beautiful cinematography, and moving performances but it fails when it comes to diversity. The representation of both women and people of colour have been lacklustre, often with poor characterisations and distasteful stereotypes and character tropes.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Asian Women In Film: Breaking The Stigma Of Racial Dehumanization

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the years and generations, the word “stereotype” has become one of the most common used terms in today’s society. It is defined as a general idea, which allows society to oversimplify an individual’s appearance, ethnicity, the way he/she might look and many other facts that can be added to this term. In the article The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t die, by Matt Zoller Seitz’s, the author emphasizes the idea of the Magical Negro character that is often presented in the media and real life illustrations. Seitz also points out how Black characters in media are usually displayed in a positive way but in reality, it just benefits White characters. However, this creates a stereotypical problem, which causes a dehumanization between characters of color in the industry of films. This central idea can apply to "Asian Women in Film: No Joy no Luck ", written by Jessica Hagedorn. Hagedorn writes about the stereotypical portrayals of Asian women in film. She analyses some films of women that are frequently created by White American filmmakers, and are mistreated in a negative way because of their gender. As result, this creates a racial myth and increases the social tension, which could lead to a dehumanization of people of color and women.

    Read More

  • Equal Engagement: In Marriage and Between Cultures

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, places Jane Austen’s emphasis of equality in marriage within an intercultural context, where the difference in culture is the source of social tension. As West meets East, American tycoon William Darcy sparks cultural conflict with his presumption of Indian girls’ “simple” and traditional characteristics and of their ready subordination to American men. Parallel to Elizabeth’s assertion of her father and Darcy’s equal class standing, Lalita’s fierce rebuttal of Darcy’s assumption highlights his ignorance of the Indian culture, especially his inability to understa...

    Read More

  • Fire by Deepa Mehta: the Visual Layer

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Hindu symbolism and colour meanings dominate Indian culture and society,” in Global Graphics: Gloucester, Massachusetts:Rockpoint Publishers, pp.175-176. Stonjanova, Christina. 2010. “Beyond Tradition and Modernity: The Transnational Universe of Deepa Mehta,” in Brenda Austin-Smith & George Melnyk, Canadian Woman Filmmakers: The Genered Screen. Ontario, Canada: Canada Council for Fine Arts, pp.

    Read More

  • Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kellner, Douglas. “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture.” Multicultural Film: An Anthology. Eds. Kathryn Karrh Cashin and Lauren C. Martilli. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014. 35. Print.

    Read More

  • Hollywood White-Washing In Hollywood

    1696 Words  | 4 Pages

    Darius Tann Professor King English 101.023 27 April 2016 Hollywood White-Washing Hollywood has long been known for and criticized for the numerous roles that that cast Caucasian or Caucasian looking actors in the roles of other races and ethnicities. The minority representation in movies is often stereotyped and thus perpetuates the racial and ethnic stereotypes that persist in the United States. We have all seen a movie with an African-American actor playing a slave, an Asian-American playing a nerd, and a Hispanic or Latino actor playing a drug-dealer, and there are all appropriate times when this should occur.

    Read More

  • American Film and Movies from the 1950’s to Present

    2416 Words  | 5 Pages

    Unfortunately, it may be partially responsible for current socio-cultural problems, too. The critical question, then, is whether film has fostered the progress of a more open-minded America, or rather hindered its development through the perpetuation of antiquated concepts of stereotypes, densensitized violence and breeding of normalcy. Whether or not a nave approach to film as an inclusive medium holds true to fact, however, is questionable.... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Nollywood Films

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    Examples of stereotypes being reinforced through Nollywood films is by examining how Nollywood portrays different class structures in their films. A majority of Nollywood films portray the main characters as having luxurious cars and lifestyles that are unattainable to the majority of Nigerians within the upper class. The upper classes are portrayed to be westernized and modernized in a manner that discredits the actual traditions this class holds. In contrast, when lower classes are portrayed throughout Nollywood, their lifestyles are romanticized, simplified and they are portrayed as ‘unintelligent ’ individuals with ‘backward’ traditions. Where the nigerian class system is complex, these films provide a simplified and unrealistic illustration

    Read More

  • Response Essay On The Play 'American History X'

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kaye’s use of captivating audial features and instilled camera shots ultimately manipulates and stimulates the senses of the viewer. Kaye’s film adopts a unique style of cinematic expression through his blatant explicit drama and dialogue to subtly deliver the overall message. He creates a tenuous link between the message and techniques so he can broaden the interpretation of the message in his film. This formatting urges the audience to ponder their true perspective on covert yet ever-present issues in societies such as racial prejudice. As a result, Kaye has successfully brought upon the masses a large awareness to varying perspectives of racial like-minded which is now is a cornerstone in the conversation of issues that society needs to address.

    Read More

  • Hollywood Case Study

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    For instance, an Asian boy who dreamt of being an outstanding athlete will be teased by the other kid because of the conception that Asians are nerds who are good at math but physically weak, or even worse, that Asians are not able to play an important role in most areas. When the comic-based movie The Last Airbender (2010) released, there were many audiences being surprised and feeling uncomfortable with the casting of this film, because this obviously Asian culture-based comic with obviously Asian characters and factors was filmed into a movie in which most of the protagonists are not played by Asian actors. What’s more, in the casting calls document of this movie, the criterias were set as Caucasian or other ethnics, which distinctly indicates that the filmmaker has the partiality of Caucasian actors as the main roles. As a matter of fact, this phenomenon is a result of the preconceived idea that Asians or people from the “other ethnicity” are not able to play the influential roles in paramount positions. Exampling to the experience of Jeremy Lin, a famous NBA basketball player, who has performed extraordinarily in many NBA seasons, it is regrettably to find out that Lin is also a victim of racial discrimination who has suffered much doubt and

    Read More

  • Latinos, Politics, and American Cinema

    3887 Words  | 8 Pages

    Richard Stam argues that the study of racial issues in film has been bombarded by critics who reject certain films on the basis of misrepresentation. That is to say that stereotypes, sh...

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Hollywood Film

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...

    Read More

  • Globalization and Movies

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    Movies are an unbelievably important escape for many people across the world. Films can take a viewer to another place or time and since the beginning of society, performances have been a staple of cultural. Films show a perception of reality, for better or for worse. Many see films and the cultural that it is in and think that it must be a accurate depiction, which sometimes unfairly puts a stigma on a group of people or a cultural. Hollywood has been able to expand all over the world, and many think The objective of promoting American culture through Hollywood movies is to dominate the other cultural communities around the world and become the universal culture of the world.

    Read More

More about The White Bollywood

Open Document