India
Women are pieces of property and should be used as pleased. After
watching the three films in class, this seems to be the underlying
point and main concept for the two Indian films and has representation
somewhat in the western movie, but a more in depth analysis of the
pictures show many more ideas and concepts, and in fact woman as
property may not be the main idea at all. A more in depth analysis
would seem to place gender roles and power, the most important issue in
the films, and because of this, social control, and love and marriage
are very important co ideas, that must be analyzed and talked about as
well. Gender roles and power would seem to go hand in hand, but in the
films there was a conflict between the two. The male as it was
portrayed seemed to be the more powerful of the two genders. Woman in
all movies were treated as property, there was instances of rape,
violence, and disrespect in all three movies. In the Bandit Queen,
Phoolan Devi was raped, beaten, and disowned by her own father. Kama
Sutra had men controlling the two lives of Maya and Tara, and even in
The Deceivers, Pierce Bronsen physically harms a woman and almost kills
her
For example in Bandit Queen even though Phoolan Devi went though
several trials and tribulations, from being raped and beaten, to sever
verbal abuse from her father. Phoolan Devi was born into a low caste.
When Maya a beautiful young woman refuses to marry a prince she is
banished and learns the way of the Kama Sutra. She becomes a notorious
gang leader that extracts revenge from every man that did her wrong. In
fact the reason Pierce Bronson's character almost kills a woman and
almost loses his mind, is because of the goddess Kali. In doing so she
destroys the lives of two men, the one she loves and the one that loves
her by using what men want, as a tool of power. In Kama Sutra again it
seems the men control woman. She is mentioned time and time again, and
is the focus of the whole movie. You can't say after three movies that
the Indian culture believes in these ideas or that these ideas are
predominant in the Indian culture, since all three movies seem to deal
with situations that could arise in any culture . t further examination
of the movies show that woman are the ones who actually poses the
power. Wives seem to be seen as more of a nuisance, then a loving
companion, cheating on your wife is not only condoned but also expected
in the upper class. The Deceivers is more difficult to understand,
again the western movie draws away from the other films in that a woman
from a lower caste is trying to disvalue gender roles and acquire
power, but in The Deceivers a man from a higher caste is trying to gain
power from a woman goddess in a lower caste. So in fact even though it
seems that men were the more the powerful gender at first, further
analysis of each movie shows that woman can overcome gender roles to
become the more powerful gender. The bandit queen as we all know is
raped by her husband at in early age, but dose find true love, but
never gets to marry her true love. Each movie had pretty much the same
ideas and theories, but the western movie conveyed the ideas
differently