User:IpshitaSharma/gap analysis

Gap analysis
Technological advancements in equipment and connectivity have made motion pictures one of the greatest forms story telling and expression of the century. With the spread of globalization, people all around the world have been taking to the camera instead of paintbrushes and using their surroundings as their canvas to create worlds, which can be real, or utterly fantastic.

Like the rest of the art world, men and male narratives too dominate this field. Wikipedia currently contains two main articles about the contribution of women in cinema both of which have gaps the size of craters.

“Women in Film” exclusively talks about Hollywood and ignores all the other films that are produced in other industries. “Women’s cinema” includes “the work of women film directors and, to a lesser degree, cinematographers and screenwriters.” It does not evaluate the actual content produced by the women and excludes the work of female actors. Contrary to the “Women in Film” article, this does mention film industries around the world albeit the information being limited to one to four sentences for each industry.

Cinema is a valuable medium and every film industry can be evaluated to observe the representation of women at various junctures of intersectionality, society and culture. All of this cannot be learnt simply through the study of women in Hollywood.

For this assignment, I propose that the contribution of women to every film industry in the world should find representation. The struggles of women to frame their own narratives and control how they wish to be depicted in various parts of the world needs to be addressed in a comprehensive manner. The introduction here is for an article titled “Women in Indian Cinema” and includes women and the depiction of women in Indian films.

WOMEN IN INDIAN CINEMA

Introduction

Women in Indian films describes the contributions of female directors, film producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics and other industry professionals as well as the depiction of women in Indian cinema through the years. The Indian film industry comprises of films made in multiple languages like Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese etc. The Hindi film industry also known as Bollywood is the world’s largest film industry by volume.

The participation of women in the production of the movies was present with the likes of Fatma Begum who became India’s first female film director in 1926. Since then, women have participated in film making in various capacities but recognition fluctuated. This article explores such changes and the movements in Indian cinema in the midst of economic progress and social change.

The Vancouver Sun noted in 1993, “Hindi films have constructed an image of Indian women as unchanging stereotypes; women who are innocent and marry; women who sin and repent (or die); the woman betrayed yet who forgives; the mother who suffers and understands.” From there on, the landscape developed for female characters.

The Financial Times in 2001 noted, “working in the film industry wasn't considered an honorable profession until 15 years ago. But there is a marked difference in the scenario and that is for everyone to see. Women have moved on from being merely an object of desire in films. Proof: today films such as No One Killed Jessica and Fashion, with no male lead, are becoming box-office hits.”

The trend continues as Nivedita Ganguly observes for Businessline, “Be it the middle-class woman fighting against crimes and prejudices of upper class society, the lonely spouse struggling to find fulfillment in her marriage, or the confident individual who flaunts her sexuality to climb the ladder of success -- women-centric films in Bollywood ruled the roost this year. They explored mature topics such as incest and drug abuse with the portrayal of unapologetically amoral characters played by the leading female protagonist.”


 * List the reliable sources that could be used to improve this gap. (You can use the Cite tool from the editing toolbar above to input and format your sources.)


 * Chatterjee, Madhusree. "'Women More Assertive, Men More Macho in Bollywood Now'." News India - Times [New York, N.Y.] 06 Apr. 2012: 22. Print.
 * "More Power to Women in Bollywood." Financial Express [New Delhi] 11 May 2011: Financial Express, May 11, 2011. Web.
 * Purva Desai. "Women Oriented Films in Bollywood." The Times of India 20 Apr. 2013: The Times of India, April 20, 2013. Web.
 * The Women of Bollywood: In Bombay's Booming Film Industry, the Female Is Either Timid or Tempter." The Vancouver Sun (Index-only) [Vancouver, B.C.] 20 Jan. 1993: C4,C6. Web.
 * Ganguly, Nivedita. "Lights, Camera, Action -- Bollywood Turns to Women." Businessline [Chennai] 23 Dec. 2011: Businessline, Dec 23, 2011. Web.