Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2012, 13 (2): 59-69

Border Identities in Deepa Mehta's Film Trilogy

Blanka Knotková-Čapková

The paper presents an analysis of Deepa Mehta's film trilogy (Water, Fire, Earth) through the concept of a border identity. The Protagonists of Deepa Mehta's Film Trilogy may serve as examples of border identities or identities "in-between" (cf. Homi Bhabha). The "in-betweeness" is illustrated through the lens of various categories and their intersections - especially those of gender, sexuality, social status, religion (religious community) and tradition/individual freedom in general. For all the films, overstepping traditional taboos is typical, be it the mythological taboos, those of collective communal identities, traditional gender roles and stereotypes or compulsory heteronormativity. Within these frameworks, the dominance of the power discourses and the (in)visibility of the marginalized ones is thematized. While the main characters of the three film stories are female, they (in some cases) only seemingly play a leading role and the real acting heroes are the men. The most obvious example is the story of the Earth where the moral conflict takes place between the two male heroes. The author also notices the figuring of the females as mostly victims of the social order and male violence. However, this critical remark is not articulated to question the real aspect of the discrimination, but rather to point to the risks of a simplified picture of victimization of women which have been, in the context of Asian studies, analyzed by Chandra Talpade Mohanty and other postcolonial theorists.

Published: June 1, 2012Show citation