In 1985, a Hollywood illustrator published 'The Bechdel Test' which is a measure for women's representation in the film. The test has three basic rules:
1. There must be at least two women in the film.
2. They have to talk to each other.
3. Their conversation must be regarding something other than a man.
This sounds quite simple. However, it would surprise you to know how a lot of films don't qualify solely because they cannot meet these basic requirements to pass for equal representation. You can see it for yourself on bechdeltest.com.
The heinous acts of sexual assault, harassment and creating groups solely to discuss and sexualise underage girls in an inappropriate manner is truly unforgivable but we also need to address a major source of normalising sexism. And that is movies and popular culture.
We must address the issue where it begins, how people are influenced by pop culture and begin to harbour a sense of entitlement over women simply because their idolised movie stars normalise it on the big screen. It is almost too hard to randomly pick a movie and not find rape culture undertones in it. This needs to be corrected. If you are still not convinced, let me give you a few examples from the lyrics of our 'popular' songs:
a) "Chedenge hum tujhko, ladki tu hai badi bombard"
b) "Yeh uska style hoinga, hothon pe naa, dil me haan hoinga"
c) "Item bana ke rakh le, chakna bana ke chakh le, aakhon ko kyu seke, hothon se tu kar manmaami"
Any number of such item songs which have become a thing of normalcy, and literally so many movies carry lyrics like this. This is even glamourised. How is this not a problem? It normalises and reinforces this behaviour. And people consume it and it seeps into their subconscious. Even then, it doesn't take one second of contemplation to realise this is beyond fucked up. You can feel it in your bones. This is wrong. And this is trivialised for reasons I don't understand.
These films are enjoyed and often looked forward to solely because they are backed by popular actors, have huge production budgets, and are mainstream. CFBC has a major role of responsibility in handling this. And so far, it has done a rather poor job of it.
When did our movies become adharmi propaganda by and large? This must stop. And NOW would be great time to get started.
Comentários