Thursday, November 26, 2009

Burst Media Bubbles: The Dress Code


The film Sivakasi is a typical mainstream commercial Tamil film that falls under the ‘masala’ category. The hero is portrayed as a brave and honest man while the heroine is the beautiful rich girl falling in love with the hero, a mechanic.
The scene is the introduction scene of the heroine, who is dressed in modern clothes. She is being ‘man-handled’ by a guy in the market. The hero rescues her and starts lecturing her on how Tamil women should behave. He assumes a typical patriarchal role and says that Tamil women should be confirmed to traditional standards by wearing a 6 yard sari and flowers on her head. Take a look at the clip......
Take a look at the clip...
This kind of stereo typing is seen in most Tamil movies where the woman is constantly expected to adhere to the invisible social rules whereas the man is allowed free rein over several issues. In Tamil cinema women are still treated and portrayed as a door-mat, lover or wife of a larger-than-life hero. The woman is either an amazingly self-righteous person with a single-minded dedication for the well-being of her family or a girl who falls in love with the hero hero, dressed in minimal clothes and always singing songs in Swiss Alps or Pollachi landscapes with lewd lyrics.
The all-new woman is rapidly redefining her limits and emerging to claim the traditionally male space as her own.
It is high time Kollywood understands the evolving standards of women and moves away from the traditional patriarchal structure. Cinema, being one of the largest promotional devices, should be used to empower women and strengthen their social ties.

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