women – Page 2

Alice of my Wonderland

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

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When the Mad Hatter in the movie Alice in Wonderlad wonders to Alice, “Have I gone mad?” Alice replies, “I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” The thought makes me happy. This happiness comes from the acceptance of realization that that its perfectly fine to be different. It if ok not to be okey. I just want to see you smile Alice! I repeated in my deep slumber. I just want to see your smile Alice… My mind just repeated the rhetoric! I feel as if I am going down the rabbit’s hole deeper. The nullity is terrifying. The uncertainty is magnified manifold. There is darkness all around. I can see the key right there! The Key is somehow too big again for me or may be its me who is small. I twisted and turned in my soft mattress that suddenly seemed so hard and uncomfortable for my damaged soul. Man! now I can feel myself bloating into a giant berry. I have the key, but I cannot seem to fit in the exit door. In frustration I clenched my teeth and scrunched my eyes further in my lids. This chaos is going on since I do not know when. Just like in the movie when the Mad Hatter asks Alice, “Why is it that you’re always too small or too tall?”, however much I try the potion is just not in correct proportion. With a loud cough my eyes popped, and I suddenly opened my lashes! I find myself get sucked deeper in the plush grass that looks greener on this side. The colours are brighter, and everything seems to be glitzy and glossy in its existence. I have started wheezing. Has my paranoia returned? Am I going bonkers? Is this Schizophrenia that has made me forget the reality of real world?

Free art print of Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Alice in Wonderland original vintage eng | FreeArt | fa6139465

They say I seem to be floating in air! I need to come down. But I am so ready to forget everything and start afresh. This is my wonderland and I need to do whatever in it! This is supposed to be my space. I own it privately. But wait! I can see number of mad hatters all around. Their bipolar personalities are bringing my cynicism out in open. I just cannot help but break free from this wonderland that is sucking me in further with each passing moment. My hands are groping to touch something that feels like earth. I crave for the reality of its barrenness. I want to just sit and breathe in the earthiness in my nostrils deep. The queen is there, right above all of us! Like every time I can feel the noose of regulation tightening around my already tired and bruised neck. The insanity of her rules combined with the conniving smile of Cheshire cat literally gives me creeps. The chills that I get in my everyday life from cats around me is making me uneasy in my own skin. They have their nine lives, I have only one. For heavens! let me live it the way I want. I may do wrong along the way, but they will be my own. I just need to pick up the pieces after I break during this journey. The above harsh souls, time and again make me feel the guilt about something or the other that is not done right. Well, I am Alice after all, I need to be correct and prim and proper and all that is good! I feel the people that make me feel the burden, are jokers in their being because their delusion regarding controlling the other is almost on the brink of severe mental disorientation. Their psychopathic inclination is so severe that we need to be careful so as not to fall in their mousetrap. I feel it is not Alice but them who desperately need a reality check! This Alice in front of you is a white rabbit who is her own light of guidance. She may be right or wrong but that is what she has chosen for herself and this rabbit under her hide is her guiding star to pull her through the dark times. She can reach the light at the end of tunnel. My Alice in her wonderland really need to pass on, that there is no point in beating oneself for what has already happened because she was a different human then from now and now is what matters.

I believe it is the need to find something more that make us move forward from what we are now. It is the will and wish to know the unknown that pushes us forward and cross over our curiosity to find whatever is there on the other end. In doing so we can and many times we will lose our control over self, but that is okey. It is fine to let go if we do not regret what is going to happen. It is what we have chosen, and we must make peace with it. The world of grown-ups is complex and harsh. The road is filled with potholes. The ditches are deeper. There are many traps and every now and then there is an occasional rabbit hole that gets dug up. We need to leave our inhibitions behind and dive right in. Her wonderland is almost like a maze. If Alice in u and me believes that at the end we will get out of it and it will all be over, the Alice in us will definitely find a way. She will grow up along the way and it will all be fine. Her wonderland will always be there!

Films

Can ‘She’ be next 007 – Are we Asking…

October 14, 2021
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

Bond girl has travelled through the years with her hands full. In being created as a character who according to the director Terence Young is ‘the sort of woman that men dream about, but don’t exist’. Shas been a bond girl who has throughout been the love interest of the invincible James Bond. She has been shouldering a fantasised responsibility of being a physical fantasy for the audience, who has in one way or the other been rescued by Bond. By the end of the film, she has fallen for him for he has become her saviour and ideal man that she supposedly has been unconsciously waiting for all her life! She is supposed to be in dire need of rescue as her earlier association with men have made her alienated from because infliction of some sort of sexual violence. And this is where Bond comes in and help in come out of her misery during whole film. Her roles have changes with time, there is no doubt, but one thing has remained constant – the significant presence and aura of Man of the hour James Bond! He has been one constant character throughout the series.

However, the question now arises that with the change in cast of 007 to be a female, are we ready to accept the new arrival? Or is it also a one-off the rack incident of churning in more moolah for the makers to bring about this deliberate change to match up with “society trying to change”! Since Bond films very well tracked the changing times and have kept pace with changed culture, politics, and geographical outlines, do they feel there need to be a change in the over-sexualised representation of women in the industry since Bond films have been carrying the flag loud and proud since long!

What needs to be thought about is, despite bringing a vague sense of positive change in character development of bond girls, these has been not a single talk about bong being a woman up until now where the British actor Lashana Lynch is being roped in to be new 007 after Daniel Craig. Surprisingly she is an actor of colour as well which will fill the thirst of gap revolving around gender and race under representation in Bond movies! But the question here is there even a need to become the next female 007, whoever it is? Will it be sufficient to close this gap? Will there be any less discrimination or under representation by hyping this decision? Is it the only parameter for a woman to reach where she again will have to be asked a question that, was she able to fill the shoes of ‘male’ 007 efficiently! If no, then we are back to square one of woman being unable to do justice to the absence of ‘real’ 007. If yes, then we all she ends up will be becoming a good replacement to the real 007! The comparisons will always be there.

The real worry is the possibility to lose the cause behind the publicity and glamor chaos. The question of basic discrimination of peaceful development of gender, colour, race and identity! One movie and one character swapping will not change the course of tide. It may or may not bring the acceptance in the eyes of people watching, however will be able to bring a lasting change in the overall perception? Do we agree that diamond are forever? This by far is way deeper thought to question and study further for there are so many different writings on the wall before the skyfall!

Films

‘Her’ through the lens…

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

‘She’ has been talked about time and again. Media has a great impact on the social, cultural, political and even psychological behaviour of society. Our emotions as part of society acquire a particular thought flow because of the ideas that are made concrete in our minds but media. It has been praised as well as criticised innumerable times because of the power it holds! Be it television, radio, social media, or films; when we look at the representation of women, we end up running in circles because even though they are many changes that can be seen but they don’t seem to be enough! The images that is seen stay with us for a long time. Many times they even become a part of real life persona. Many social scientists asserts that these imaged have the power to change the perception of people in real and has the capacity to stimulate their everyday behaviour. In fact according to Manatu (2003) the various images that we see on screen on any pretext has a grave part to play in insinuating various behaviours they carry negative energy around like crime, violence and even to the extent of delinquency in people around us. Similarly in media portrayal of women is constant and majority of times she gets objectifies in male gaze. However hard the image is being tried to break through, the stereotypes around her never cease to exist. Even though the characterization may show her to be a at par and many times way above that, still in most situations we see her in need of that male approval, recognition to reach her happy end. In fact in whatever way her character is showed in a particular show, it simply projects the social view and the political thought revolving around her.

Even the written aspect of media constructs similar ideas. For instance the magazines that are not catering to male population, adhere to similar stereotypes. For instance if we consider women magazines, the most part of them are written by women and their target audience is women as well. But the idea imparted through these is same. Either they concern mostly home-oriented or related to childcare or even if they show careers, fitness or individual success for them, the journey of the magazines is towards enabling women to reach the parameters set by male population.

Be it the content, page layouts, camera angles, or the scripts and characterizations, ‘her’ representation every time end up leaving a vast gap among the genders. The artificial modifications in their representation has become so obscure that many times it is just impossible for those who live in real life to fall in line with the reel world. There is such a focussed generalization in female representation that the logical parameters can hardly ever be met! And they ideally should not meet too because each individual id different and unique. Just like there is a difference between men and women, there is a major difference between each woman. Trying to measure them with a single yardstick is insane for each has her own existence and purpose and trying to merge them will only bring hindrances to their capable self because as we say ‘to each his/her own’!

Films

She Speaks…Female Voice in films

October 1, 2021October 2, 2021
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

When we ask questions like is there a separate view and voice of women writers, filmmakers? Can it be independent enough to be called as their own? Is there something called as ‘female voice’ in films? Kaja Silverman elaborates upon this concept. She say different connotations are constructed according to different level voices used in films of women. According to her, very few films have moved above and beyond the segregation of female voice denouncing the gender in them and moving away from female stereotypical aspect of their usage of voice. It is mostly a clear demarcation on the basis of created genres of women, like voice of mother, lover, wife, child, mistress, vamp and many more. According to her the voice of female in films is directly entwined with the way their physical image is projected on screen. It is almost like a suppressed and subdued language of women that is reflected in cinema.

Voice ia a way to create ones existance known. So when we ralk about voice of women in films, we nean their capacity to show that in whagt form do they exist in reality for films many times are reflection of reality and not figment of imagination. Their projection sometimes even close the gap between who the signifier is and what is being signifies through projection of female characterization. The voice of women in films encompasses their physical, emotional projection along with the pitch and tonality of their dialogue delivery.

Teressa de Lauretis stresses upon the idea of creating a contradictory image of females in films…Either they are the damsel in distress that need to be pitied upon or taken care of, or if otherwise they are the vamp and all that is negative in so call character sketch of independent , strong women. According to her one hardly sees an image creation of woman that is grey and there is almost no smooth transition between the two. The imaginary expectations bar is so high in the reel world that it becomes almost impossible to bridge the gap in order to touch the realms of reality. Also there is a need to create that specific ideal female character who is made worthy of respect and eligible to be called as woman only is she is made to realise her femininity by a male counterpart. At the end it is the male only who come to rescue her and bring an ideal woman out of a woman. This is an aspect of female voice that the director of filmaker many times projects as the personality trait of women in general that ends up having an identification in real life as well!

Whether its a damsel in distress, a sedcutress, or independently agressive go-getter; audience will understand through the movie medium, the kind of feminine voice the director is trying to portray on screen. For instance if a woman is strong, beautiful, cunning, sweet-natured, her voice needs to be reflecting that particular aspect of her personality or if a nagging character of woman is developed in films then her voice need to be high-pitched and irritating enough for the character to developed. This is another take supporting the physicality of the female voice in cinema. This makes the identification for the audience in understanding the plot easy. Howver on the downside, it ends up generalising and stereotyping them in real life. The pattern is set in such a way that manytimes its casts the similar impression of the personality in real life. This is how powerful the medium of cinema is!

Films

One Thing that we do Every Day!

September 27, 2021October 2, 2021
by Sameera Khan Rehmani

The dawn of today was like any other. With my tired being after last night’s slumber, I woke up after innumerable failed attempts of shutting off my phone alarm. I dragged my drooped soul towards my morning rituals and like a repetitive mechanism I did what all I had to do. While I was trying to tie the threads of my life with a monotonous cup of honey-lemon warm water, cradled in my hand, it suddenly dawned upon me, how many things I have been doing the same way, every day. They have been my ‘one thing’ that I do each time every 24 hours. The lukewarm darkness coated its pain upon me and once again. Here I am writing about so many ‘one thing’ that we women do every day of our unique life given to us.

We wake up with the baggage of responsibilities that we so-readily mistake to be our duty (the sense of duty has been so well-engraved in our x chromosomes even before we are born!) Work, home, kids, husband/partner/better half/another half and many more. For once there is weak-dying and dependent wish to do away with these titles, then we are awake again! Then we move ahead through the day checking the tick-boxes so that our stupid self-massaging ego gets satiated and those ever-so powerful so-called invisible others can open that ‘acceptability door’ that is almost like an ever-sucking suction hole. It drains away every possible ego from us. As we move forward there are droplets of smooth moments that if or when trickles towards us, have our utmost gratitude that we guise under the garb of gratification of being a woman and identifying it with our essence of existence. What we forget to ask is why we, why us? If women are categorised still as ‘weaker sex’ by quite a few according to their convenience, then why the double standards? It is as if we are bestowed upon with the title of carer, and someone who can do it all, at the same time our invisibly visible demons in various shapes and genders unconsciously or subconsciously are pulling us down to that rock bottom where the value of women is nothing more than that figment of imagination which totally downsizes their presence. According to “wise men” women are genetically made physically weak yet they are made in a way that they are emotionally strong. It is such a narcissistic declaration! We are being empowered by keeping a strict check on our list of do’s and don’ts! We are supporters for all the possible people who are in a different capacity than us provided we stay in our unimaginably complex boundaries drawn by so-called significant others.

Why not take ‘her’ out on a merry-go-round of our glamorised and idolized world of cinema that claims to give a panoramic canvas to the representation of women. Be it the role of mother, wife, lover, vamp, sister and many more, there is always a justification for her reserved representation.

We see her in one role or the other in almost all the movies, still it feels that her representation is like just another projection of any minority. We applaud the strong roles that have come up today for her and feel so proud that at least those roles have strength to earn the moolah or critical acclaim at the box office. However, if we look deeper, we will realize that the underline bed of truth speaks the same old tone, maybe a little sugar-coated but still the same. The opportunities have increased but are there enough of them to give a justifiable representation? According to Judith Mayne in her article ‘feminist film theory and women at the movies’, pub. (1987), there is no easy fit between ‘real’ women and their cinematic representation. In fact, sometimes it does not fit only. This fit is what brings about the point of contradictions that hover over her reality. The line almost always blurs when we realise that what we see on the screen, the ideal or could-have been ideal woman is what we are wanting in our daily life. Someone who must fall under a certain parameter of societal acceptability. Onscreen if a woman is been shown as a strong character that has human traits of being capable of negative personality of having a downward graph, then either she meets her negative end or she returns to her true hypothetical identity of goodness and purity. The yardstick is so fictional in itself that when women in real life look at ourselves or like our own, we start justifying our doings or otherwise we are considered the rebellious few with no real respect or self-worth on others’ or our own eyes!

The concepts of morality, duty, happiness, selflessness, and everything that is respectful according to the social norms and constructs, has a concentration of muddy puddle in the core of their construction. The never-ending expectations and trickling down of women empowerment as charity to her, need to be realised that it is not something that is or should be given to her, even as support. The right to own her own being is like her skin that has its own blemishes and scars. She needs to be proud of herself as a separate entity and must be alright if and when she does not confirm to the rules of society because in the end it is ok! It is ok to be wrong, it is ok to flunk, it is ok to not just care and not to keep on giving and giving. It is perfect to not feel the guilt of being that idolised perfection of figment of human reality. It is ok to be just a human!

Tag: <span>women</span>

Alice of my Wonderland

Can ‘She’ be next 007 – Are we Asking…

‘Her’ through the lens…

She Speaks…Female Voice in films

One Thing that we do Every Day!