Hegemonic femininity in Tamil movies: exploring the voices of youths in Chennai, India

Abstract

The media often showcase culturally normative forms of masculinity and femininity. This paper explores the portrayal of femininity in Tamil movies and examines the youths’ views on these portrayals. The data for this paper came from a content analysis of 40 movies (1961–2012) and 30 face-to-face interviews with undergraduates in Chennai, India. Women’s roles in Tamil movies can be regarded as secondary in nature, and meant for the male gaze. These roles emphasize traditional feminine ideals. Tamil movies are cautious about challenging the deeply rooted traditional feminine ideals of Tamil society. The strong maintenance of traditional femininity is one of the reasons why it is seen as a form of hegemonic femininity: that is, a form of femininity that holds ascendancy when compared to other forms of femininity. Youths sometimes question the stereotypical portrayal of women, but are not always able to resist them.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Sean Moran and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The notion of acham, madam and naanam as feminine ideals is discussed in Tolkappiyam (Sivakami 2004) which was composed between the first or second century BCE and the fifth century CE (Zvelebil 1973). Payirpu was not discussed in Tolkappiyam and was added much later (Sivakami 2004). For a detailed discussion on these ideals see Karupiah (2015).

2. The year 1961 was chosen for two reasons. First, movies made since 1961 are still available for research. It is rather difficult to find movies which were produced prior to this era for analysis. Secondly, movies from the 1960s are still popular among Tamil movie fans and are regularly shown on satellite television channels which specialize in Tamil and Indian language programs.

3. A list of movies available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tamil-language_films was used as the sampling frame. Wikipedia was only used to create a sampling frame of movies because there is no official list of Tamil movies produced in India from the 1960s to present.

4. Bharathi (1882–1921) is considered one of the greatest poets in Tamil literature. His works mark the beginning of modern Tamil Literature (Zvelebil 1975). In his poem Pudhumai Penn (a new woman), he describes women who are brave, liberated and educated.

5. Colloquially, the word ‘figure’ refers to a beautiful woman or a woman with a good figure. ‘Item’ is used to refer to a woman with loose morals, or a sex worker.

6. Item songs are songs with dance sequences that are not relevant to the plot of the movie, usually showcasing sexily dressed women performing dances with very suggestive moves.

7. Actors’ real names or screen names (rather than the character name) are used in this paper.

8. For discussion on Aval Oru Thodarkathai (1974) and Aval Appadithan (1978), see Lakshmi (2008).