INDRAPRASTHA COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
BACHELORS OF MULTI MEDIA AND MASS COMMUNICATION
SUBJECT : FILM APPRECIATION
SUBJECT CODE :312
TOPIC: Representation of Urban Middle - Class in Recent Bollywood Cinema
Made by :
Devika Vohra
BMMMC-A
14/0437
ABSTRACT
As we know cinema is the mirror to reality and with the ever increasing middle class in India , the representation of Urban Middle Class in recent bollywood cinema has also increased. This paper aims to justify this by talking about the distinct backgrounds to which urban middle class families belong , the main aim of the middle class and the problems they face. The following will be understood with the help of discussion of three bollywood movies in detail and also with an overview of different aspects displayed in bollywood cinema like the value construction , role of women , construction of masculinity , stigma attached to sex , different love stories and youth of Urban Middle Class .
INTRODUCTION
India, being a developing country, with an average per capita income USD 750 is also the home of the world’s largest growing middle class . And its major role on the global stage is no longer open to questions. The late twentieth century saw the emergence of new middle classes which is the result of liberalisation . The middle classes have now become a part of the growing economic sectors such as business , technology and media and they are located at the upper hand of the
Although the American economy is improving from the great recession , the middle class is shrinking, a problem for a consumerist based economy where the middle class makes up the consumerists. Every industry has a place in today’s world, however some industries are losing importance while others
McClelland’s article “RIP the Middle Class” was published September 20th 2013 in a salon, which is an online news site that publishes pieces that includes fearless commentary and criticism point of views. McClelland’s Rhetorical statement is that big automotive cities are diminishing which is a result of losing; which as of a result of this causes the middle class to lose. The rhetorical statement that McClelland indulges to the audience is to be persuaded by the aim which is once known as the “blue-collar aristocrats” to the “blue-collared” workers. Whom struggle to pull in a national median title of “middle class.” The time era that this has taken place started in the 1970s, remembered by Americans as the “Decade That Those Forget” which blue-collared workers prospered in the middle class economy.
Reading through RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013, it became fairly obvious that the author, Edward McClelland, was presenting a thesis idea that consisted of promoting the middle class through examples of its prime time when middle class thrived. McClelland made the point clearly as he repeatedly provided examples ranging from the glory days of the assembly line industry that had provided high paying jobs for many people, to presidents who attempted to keep business within the United States to promote home grown jobs. He was especially focused on the point that the middle class was shrinking due to a large discrepancy between the wealthy and the rest of society as capitalism achieves its goal of padding the wealthiest and keeping the middle
According to an article published the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History titled, “The Fifties”, the American middle-class grew rapidly during the 1950’s and by this time 60 percent of Americans were considered “middle-class”. Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood, chronicles the murder of a well-to-do middle-class family known as, the Clutter family. Capote uses the Clutter family to represent the rising middle-class in the 1950’s by showing a lifestyle that is comfortable yet modest. The middle-class consists of well-educated business workers who are neither rich nor poor.
In the article, “A Million Dollar Exit From the Anarchic Slum-World: Slumdog Millionaire’s Hollow Idioms of Social Justice”, Mitu Sengupta responds to how the slums and its citizens are presented in the film Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle. Sengupta describes the slums as run-down and then goes on to specifically address the poverty that exists in India. When writing about the portrayal of the slums, Sengupta states, “Slumdog depicts the ‘slum’ as a feral wasteland, a place of evil and decay that is devoid of order, productivity and compassion”(599). Sengupta uses imagery to illustrate to viewers the unsanitary conditions that the people of Mumbai experience on a daily basis.
Elites’ taste were commonly adopted by people with lower income and status through the process of refinement which created the middle class. However, the middle class had to work in order to purchase all the material objects like tableware, china, carpets, and clocks. They earned extra income from household manufacturing. Thus, the middle class dealt with textiles and quilting to earn money and comfort. They were used to create family clothes or exchanged work with other people to create a strong fabric used to create summer working dressses.
Atlantic Media Company, 18 May 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. "The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground. "
The publisher of this article is very well know in reference to the affairs of the middle class, and would be considered creditable source. Contributor, G. (2013, October 24). The Rise And Fall Of The Middle Class In America. (SB, Ed.) Retrieved June 21, 2015, from Liberal America.org:
The Social Class in American Television How many times have you seen an American TV series? Have you realized that they show some of the most common situations in the country, like social classes? They make comedy or a drama about it and that is amazing. For example, 2 Broke Girls, Gossip Girl, 90210, and many others. Max and Caroline from the sitcom 2 Broke Girls are the best example for this and we can see how American television shows to the audience differences and similarities between people that were born rich and people who were not.
“Dadi 's Family” demonstrates how women in Dadi 's household fight to secure their status around the idea of the dominant patriarchal mentality which insists that females are the inferior caste. The dedication to the production of the film consists of following the life of Dadi and her daughters-in-law showing the viewers the struggles they encounter trying to maintain the traditional ways of living the gender roles that have been developed for generations. In Dadi 's Family, it is clear to see that there is a different role play that women and men play which demonstrates inequality between the different dynamics of gender and power. There are many ways in this film where we see women dependent and subordinate to male authority. To begin with, in the beginning of the film Dadi explains the process of how women are traded off as braids.
The middle class want to become rich and the low class only wants equality.” Orwell’s predictions of the party, the government in modern society, rises to power and the poor stay poor. In LA Times “Income Inequality makes the rich more scrooge-like, study finds”, “Since the 1980’s -- the end of a 30-year period… wealth has grown increasingly concentrated at the top of the economic ladder, while low-income Americans have commanded a smaller and smaller share of the nation’s wealth.” *add where quote is from* ”... top 5 percent of American families saw their real income increase 74.9 percent… the lowest-income fifth saw a decrease in real income of 12.1 percent… Sharply contrasting with the 1947-79 period… with the lowest income group actually seeing the largest gains.”
“Dadi 's Family” is dedicated to demonstrating how women in Dadi 's household fight to secure their status around the idea of the dominant patriarchal mentality which insists that females are the inferior caste. The dedication to the production of the film
In order to raise awareness of the staggering injustices, oppression and mass poverty that plague many Indian informal settlements (referred to as slum), Katherine Boo’s novel, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, unveils stories of typical life in a Mumbai slum. There are discussions on topics surrounding gender relations, environmental issues, corruption, religion, and class hierarchies, as well as demonstrating India’s level of socioeconomic development. Encompassing this, the following paper will argue that Boo’s novel successfully depicts the mass social inequality within India. With Indian cities amongst the fastest growing economies in South East Asia, it is difficult to see evidence of this in the individual well-being of the vast majority of the nation. With high unemployment rates, the expansion of informal settlements and the neglect of basic human rights, one of India’s megacities, Mumbai, is a good representation of these social divisions.
The novel is somewhat of a memoir of his journey to finding his freedom in India’s modern day capitalist society. The book shows how it can create economic division. In India there are not social classes, there are social
The social stigma that women are housekeepers and should be confined to the four walls of the house is perhaps a viable cause of gender disparity. They should not raise their voice regarding their fortune for the sake of the prestige of the family. In patriarchal society a lot of weightage is given to men.” The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchy system.