Shep Analysis.

Social: Social issues are definatly involved in Provoked. Undoubtedly, the social position of females has increased over the years and has nearly reached its epitome. For example, Maritual rape was considered illegal in 1991 and was made a law. However, Provoked strongly challenges this law as maritual rape is still evident in the movie as Aishwariya Rai's husband forces himself onto her numerous amounts of times as she is definitely being victimized as she is is not physically and mentally able to defend herself from the strong forces of violence he is taking on upon her. Therefore, the issue of equality between males and females still remains deeply unequal.
Historical: The historical references to Provoked include the ways in which females gained voice and significance after the world war 2. For example, during the war, this is when females first got their chance to experience work life etc. This has been an influential factor in their rise to equality.

Economical: The economical issues in Provoked include

Political: There is one major political issue which is reccurent thoughout the whole of the film Provoked. This is whether the victim, Aishawariya Rai should be able to seek justice and liberation after murdering her husband. In other words, this is a question of sin and justice. However, acts such as the Southall Black Sisters have allowed many females to seek help if they are undergoing the same problems. This can be linked to the social contexts to.

Bollywood Movies: Subverts or reinforces stereotypes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74xWB2X0SyU&feature=related

This scene from Khabi Kushi Khabhi Gham solidifies my hypothesis as females are looked upon to be the housewife. Essentially, by conforming to the housewife roles and routines, she has to take part in the relgious activities around the house to maintain the wellbeing of her family. By Kareena Kapoor singing a religious hymn, she is making the whole house happy and is contributing to the livelyhood of the family by washing away any arguments. Instantly, this tells us that the steroetype of females acting as passive audeinces but maintaining peace within the family is strongly advocated here.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knriKq9r-GM
This song is a small prelude to the narrative of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. In this movie, the male protagonist falls for the more girly, flirtacious girl who wears revealing clothes, in comparison to his best friend who is more of a tomboy, but has fancied the protagonist for a logn period of time. This is conforming to sociologist theorist Scheibe, who stated that females are most predominatly concerned with beauty, as the flirtacious girl is clearly a tart.

Glossary of Key words:

Vamp- refers to the transition of female roles in Bollywood. These females appear to be highly seductive and michieveious yet flirty.

Books i can use for guidance and evidence:

*Encyclopeda of Indian Cinema-Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willeman.
*Bollywood-Tejaswini Ganti
*Bollywood cinema, Temples of desire-Vijay Mishra.

Ttitles of movies I will be refferring to alongside Provoked:

As i will be talking about British Asian movies and wil be comparing them to Bollywood movies, here is the list of movies i shall be including in my study:

British Asian movies- Bend it like Beckham, East is East, Anita and Me, The Guru, Life isn't all hahehehe, Monsoon wedding, Bride and Predjudice.

Bollywood movies i shall be reffering to- Mother India, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Khabi Kushi Khabi Gham, Black, ChameliI(where the main female is only suessful in life because she is a prostite).

Theorists I will be referring to:

Mulvey-Male Gaze:
Aishawariya Rai in one scene wears revealing attire and this scene is later followed by her spouse taking advantage of her and therefore forcing himself on her and carrying out the activity of maritual rape.

Shulasmith Firestone: She stated females are biologically oppressed in their families and this idea is evident as the victim is unable to defend herself as she is physically weaker than the male is appears to be masculine and powerful.

Levi Strauss:
He talked about binary oppositions in media texts, and my study conforms to his idea from the dated stereotype of females in Bollywood movies in comparision to its British Asian counterparts which attempt to subvert the typical sterotype of females whenever there is a chance.

Gunter's 'Media, Gender and identity' hypothesis claims that women were twice as likely to be seen inside the home than men. This is clearly advocated through various scenes in Provoked which manifest Aishawariya Rai as the typical indian housewife, whilst her husband goes 2 work. Not only is this conforming to steroetypes of Asian females, but is also strenghthening the male position as the sole breadwinner in families.

Analysis of the trailer: Provoked!

Within seconds of the jovial familial ideology created, this consensual and harmonic depiction of the family is demolished as forms of female oppression are evident in this biased marital relationship as the male inflicts violence onto Aishwariya Rai which promotes the ideology that society is still patriarchal even in the 21st century. The short caption which then appears stating “victim” when the female faces abuse followed by a freeze in the movement of the trailer emphasises the shock value of domestic violence, and can also reflect the fear in the females emotions. Also, the significance of the high angle shot highlights male superiority and paints the image of the female as being vulnerable and intimidated by her husband. Alongside with this, the typical stereotype of females being emotional is reflected through the medium shot of the mother hugging her two children, and no references are made to the male showing affection to his children which shows females are still perceived to be the main nuturers in the family. However, beyond this moment, this British Asian film attempts to subvert the sterotype if females in many ways. For example, many of the criminals in the prison are females which to some extent exemplifies that females are infact capable of commiting devious crimes in life too, and that they are not as innocent as they are not as innocent as they were in previous ages. Moreover, Aishawariya Rai confides to Southall Black sisters who forward her case and bring attention to the members o the public in order to server Aishawariya Rai justice. They are successful in doing so, which depicts that females in modern day society are capable of taking control of significant issues in a diplomatic and intelligent way and will still be heard. Moreover, the ending slogan: “In prison she found her freedom”, not only acts as a catalyst to lure the audience into watching the movie, but also conforms to Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions as prison is normally associated with isolation and that is where she found her freedom which is unusal. Nevertheless, this represents how socially deprived she was in her marriage and now that she has gained freedom by going to prison higlights her happiness as she never did endure that before. She is now an indepedant lady as the trailer shows her wearing smart attire which subverts the sterortype of females up the social hbeing a housewife as she can move up the social hierarchy in the workforce and has the ability to predominantly be a breadwinner. Therefore, Provoked challenges the sterortype of women as it represents them as ambitious females in the end.