Volume 6 Issue.1: 2019 Page No 1-6
GENDER AND CINEMA: AN ECO FEMINIST READING OF SOUTH INDIAN FILM SONGS
CHRISTINA MARY GEORGY
M A English Language and Literature, Institute of English, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
doi: https://doi.org/10.33329/ijelr.6119.67
Abstract
Audio-visual media have
simultaneously constructed and deconstructed patriarchy’s historical
domination over women and the environment. To consider how gender
and nature operate as social constructs in subverting the
‘androcentric’ approach of environmentalism, ecofeminism rests on
the belief that environment is a feminist issue. The paper attempts
an ecofeminist reading of select South Indian film songs. The songs
of one representative film, released post 2015, from the three major
South Indian film industries are chosen for analysis. The movies
selected include: Baahubali: The Beginning (Telugu, 2015),
I (Tamil, 2015) and Pulimurugan (Malayalam, 2016)
among others. The study observes the manner in which the environment
is portrayed on screen, the intricate relationship between woman and
nature, their commodification and objectification, and the visual
impact it has on the audience, among other aspects, with prime
importance to the scenes, settings andcinematography of the film
songs. The lyrics are not much under consideration.
Key words:
cinema, commodification, ecofeminism, hypermasculinity, gender,
objectification, scopophilia
