CASE STUDY ESSAYS DUE in class!!

No reading or blog assignment. We’ll discuss FIRE (so be prepared to consider the questions on the handout I provided — and have posted below), the Panopticon, and begin case study presentations.

FIRE: – questions to consider for class discussion next week (April 16th):

• What symbols or signs do you see in the film that carry specific meanings (explain what and how)?
• In what ways are ethnicity, sexuality, and gender “constructed” in this film?
• Who, within the film, is challenging social and cultural “defaults” (traditions, customs, and how? In what ways does this film disrupt hegemonic (dominant cultural) historical narratives?
• Mehta was born in India and spent the first 23 years of her life there, but has spent the last 20+ years living in Canada, which calls up questions of “authenticity” – can Mehta accurately portray the lives of Indian women? Is there is some sort of authentic experience that only “real” Indian women can have access to?
• What do you make of the fact that this film was made in English (with occasional subtitles of Hindu sprinkled here and there)?
• In what ways does Fire defy worthless and unhappy lives as the only option for so-called disobedient wives/women?
• In the film, Sita says to Radha that “there is no word in our language that can describe us, how we feel for each other.” What significance does that have to our understanding of the lesbian subject within Indian culture?
• The film, particularly in India, drew and incredible amount of criticism, vandalism (to theaters showing the film), and even death threats to the director. What does all of this (response/reaction) to the film suggest about the film’s theme, message, significance, and/or power?