Assignment Code: MWG-007/AST/TMA-2022

Course Code: MWG-007

Assignment Name: Postmodernism and Gender

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Attempt any ONE of the following: 100 Marks

1. Watch any of these films: Section 375 or Article 15 or Pink or Thappad. Critically analyze the film through semiotics and psychoanalysis from gender perspective of caste, religion, ethnicity and class. (Refer to Blocks 2 and 3)

Ans) Feminism has a basic disagreement between Humanists and anti-Humanists about whether or not women are subjective. The first one uses the word "subject" to talk about women as individuals, while the second one uses it in a more general way.

Anubhav Sinha has made a name for himself as a unique filmmaker in the past. His movies Mulk and Article 15 make people think about religion and caste, which are two of the most painful and divisive issues in our country. Now, with Thappad, Sinha has made three movies that are important to society, get people talking, and bring about change.

The main question of the movie comes up several times in the storey as Tapsee faces both internal and external dilemmas. Is "just" one slap enough for a woman to want to leave her husband? In doing so, the movie takes a close look at how we as a society and as a legal system deal with domestic violence. People always question and second-guess the woman who is being abused. Does she make more of it than she needs to? Why didn't she just get over it? By showing how people around her acted, the movie shows that most people don't care about women's issues.

People who say they are educated and kind always make fun of the slap and ask if there is more to it—is he cheating? Is she seeing someone else? Obviously, a man raising his hand to his partner isn't taken seriously. Its size and effects are always downplayed as society tries to convince the woman that what happened to her wasn't that bad. In a country where domestic violence is known to be a problem, this shows that patriarchy and misogyny continue to protect abusers, even at the top of the social ladder.

No matter how smart a person is, society tells them that their daughters' weddings are the most important days of their lives. People also think that if a marriage doesn't work out, the woman didn't do enough to keep her family together.

Society tries to make women work harder to get a man's attention and sees other women as their competition for a man's attention. They are taught to depend on the attention they get from men and to believe that they can only be truly happy when they have a boyfriend. They are made to respect their partners, but most of the time they don't get the same respect back. However, they are taught to work with this situation and find a middle ground.

When something sexual happens to a woman and her partner, women are always told to feel good about it. They never learn anything about being an adult. Most of the time, all they have to do is meet their partner's sexual needs, whether or not she likes it. Women aren't supposed to talk about this with anyone, and if they do, their own family members shut them up. Most of the time, they are told that women need to give a little bit in order for their relationships to be happy. Rape is the only crime where the victim is judged just as harshly as the criminal, and when it comes to marital rape, society doesn't even care to listen to the victims. People tell the women that rapes that happen in marriage are not even rapes. Things are slowly getting better, but we still have a long way to go. Most rapes don't get heard in court because the women are afraid of being shamed by the rest of society if they do. They are so scared that they can't even speak up for themselves.

Feminism comes into play at this point. Chauvinism can only be stopped when patriarchal society is turned into a society that doesn't care about gender and treats everyone the same way. This will happen when we take the time to teach both boys and girls the right things. Giving women more power and teaching men that being strong isn't the only way to solve problems.

Women have been put in different places in the skillfully made Thappad, like chess pieces. Their moves, positions, and powers were all played out in the black and white squares of the chessboard. The goal was to get a checkmate after a smart game that sent a strong message. So, the movie shows how women also help to spread patriarchy.

But the movie could have done a better job of showing the differences between classes and giving the women more power. The movie has a few different stories going on at the same time, about different people and their own struggles. The storey is about Amrita, a wife who lives in a house run by a man in an affluent part of New Delhi, which is part of the national capital region. The family lives in a duplex villa complex, and the husband works as a manager at one of the best banking and finance companies. He wants to move to the UK. They also have a fancy car (all the characters, except the domestic worker Sunita, own cars such as Audi, Benz, and BMW).

How could we not talk about the movie Pink when we talk about feminism in Indian movies? In the courtroom drama, the importance of consent in a sexual relationship is talked about. The movie shows how Meenal, Falak, and Andrea, three independent women from different professions, religions, and states, have to deal with oppressors every day. Amitabh Bacchan's role is the most important one in the movie. Amitabh's performance in Power Pact as the lawyer who fights for the three girls shows us how important the word "NO" is when it comes to consent. In the Indian movie Raazi, Alia Bhatt played a fierce woman who was willing to give up everything for her country. This is another great example of feminism in Indian movies. Films like Mother India were the first of their kind to bring feminism to the mainstream. The way women are treated in our society changed a lot because of this movie.

Feminism is a movement that wants all men and women to have the same rights in social, economic, and political areas. A small part of feminism is the fight against domestic violence and rapes between married people. My work is about how movies show feminism and how they have a big effect on society today. With the help of feminist criticism, I've looked at a movie and told you what I think about it. The movie shows how quickly the woman saw that she had been wronged and how she made the right choice at the right time. It helps to repair some of the damage that the patriarchal society has done to her. In all of the stories, the men don't treat the women with the respect they deserve, which makes them want to fight back.

Indian society's most vulnerable people are women from low castes. Women from lower castes also have to follow rules. Their weddings are also set up by their male relatives. Most women in societies with low castes go to work and help pay the bills. In this situation, it is important to say that in the upper caste, manual labour is looked down upon and women are not allowed to go out and work. So, women of low caste are not limited to the home. They don't have as many rules to follow as women in the upper castes. It's important to remember that the fact that low-caste women go to work doesn't mean they're getting better, but that they have to in order to make money. Women from lower castes are treated differently because of their caste and because they are women. Upper caste men with a lot of power and land take advantage of lower caste women sexually. In the agrarian hierarchy, it is hard for low caste men to protect their women from the lust and desires of their masters and superiors from higher castes. There is also a tacit acceptance of'seed' from higher castes.

One of the most important parts of Hindu society is the caste system. No one can ignore how important gender is in understanding the caste system and how it affects women's lives. In India, men have a lot of power. Women don't just passively go along with caste and class structures; they can also encourage their men to hold on to the uncontested social power they've had up to the present day. Men in India treat women like they are worthless and lower than them. Women are treated as second-class citizens, and men decide what they can and can't do sexually. The caste system is a very important part of life in India. Indian society is very stratified and hierarchical because of this. There is a strong link between caste and gender. Even though upper-caste women face discrimination at every step of their lives and their men are in charge of their futures. Still, women in the upper castes have certain rights. It's important to remember that they only get these rights if they follow the patriarchal order of society. Women from lower castes are the ones who have it the worst. They are treated unfairly because of their gender and because of their caste.