WGST 340: Gender and Identity in Bollywood Cinema

Course Description

India is home to the largest film industry in the world, and Bollywood, or the Hindi language film industry, plays a particularly important role in representing and influencing Indian culture. This course focuses on constructions of gender identity in Bollywood film. Through films and readings, the course examines the ways that Bollywood film addresses issues of gender, caste, sexuality, class, ability, and nationalism. It critically analyzes the cultural, historical, and political effects of these depictions as they manifest themselves in both public and intimate spheres of Indian life. The course also explores questions of “global Bollywood” and the transnational circuit of images and ideas in globalized film. Finally, the course examines subversive representations that are emerging to challenge mainstream Bollywood films’ restrictive ideas about gender and sexuality. (W, YR).