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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1
INDIAN FILMS
2.1.1
Hindi and Other Indian Language Films
The film industry in India is vast and spread all over the nation, but
the largest Indian film industries are based in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta,
Trivandrum, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The Indian
lm market derives
almost 90% of its revenue from non-English language films, largely
dominated by Hindi lms, followed by South Indian lms and other regional
lms”(Young 2011).
A vast majority of population in India is multilingual and based on
the demands of the population, film industry too is multicultural and
multilingual in India. To cater to the entertainment needs of this diverse
population, the film industry too offers diverse and distinct fare in more than
20 languages. Indian cinema is often classified and distributed according to
the language it is produced in. As Hindi is the language a vast majority of
Indians speaks, Hindi language films are also watched by a majority of the
population along with their own regional language films. Hindi films are
produced in Bombay and the film industry based in Bombay is aptly called
Bollywood, which has over the years gained recognition world over.
The South Indian film industry, which comprises the industry in the
four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, is
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considered the biggest producer of regional language cinema. South India's
film industry accounts for the largest share of films produced in the country
— both in terms of value and volume (Ernest & Young 2011). Indian cinema,
like the nation, is diverse in nature. It represents a group of entities like Hindi
cinema, Bengali cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and so on and
hence it is apt to call Indian cinema as the “Indian cinemas” with the noun
‘cinema’ in plural (Rajan Krishnan 2009).
2.1.2
Viewership of Indian Cinemas
India being the second most populous nation in the world and the
largest democracy in the world, the consumption of cinema among Indians is
phenomenal. Home to one sixth of the world’s population, a whopping 23
million people, which possibly is the population of many established film
making nations, go to the cinema every day (Rajadhyaksha 2008).
So why is cinema so special to the Indians? For millions of Indians,
the art of cinema fascinates them because of its escapist nature. Indian films’
duration itself is unique. Most Indian films run for two and a half hours to
three hours. For an average Indian film goer, this two and a half hours spent
inside a theatre means an escape from the harsh reality and living in a dream
world. For many in India, a ticket cost would be his entire wage for a day, but
still they spend the money because this is a medium that allows them to
experience and even inhabit a life that they have not lived due to economic or
social reasons.
Cinema has the capacity to carry viewers to faraway places and
alternative temporalities as it engages viewers in an act of revelation and
transportation (Landsberg 2004). It is possible in Indian cinema for a
protagonist to thrash a dozen and odd thugs single handedly inorder to save a
woman, fight terrorism across border to save the nation while simultaneously
27
romancing with a young girl in Switzerland and avenging the killing of his
father to fulfill the promise to his mother. This is the life a film hero lives in
two and a half hours and this performance or the ability to transform to
various “avatars” is what the average Indian loves and lives in that two and a
half hours inside the darkened theatres.
2.1.3
Distinctive Narrative Style in Indian Cinemas
Indian cinema’s distinctiveness is understood much more in the
words of the famous Indian poet and lyricist Javed Akthar:
“The difference between Hindi and western films is like that
between an epic and a short story” (Thomas 2008).
Indian cinema’s narrative has endless circularities, digressions and
detours, and plots within plots, contrary to the linear and logical and
psychologized narratives of Hollywood cinema (Dissanayake 2004).“An
Indian filmis unique by its duration of two and half to three hours, but the
story spans at least two generations, often beginning with the protagonist.
Often, a film starts with the birth of a child and the narrative continues atleast
into the next generation by jumping twenty or so years, which is good
evidence that Hindi films have evolved from village traditions of epic
narration and the dramas (Thomas 2008).
In terms of narrative, the Indian cinema has a totally unique
formula of storytelling. No film in India is produced without song sequences,
comic interludes, sentiments, fight sequences and romantic scenes. Though
there is a great influence of Hollywood on Indian films, it is very difficult to
categorize and slot Indian films based on Hollywood genres and conventions.
Indian cinemas have a mix of everything like tragedy, comedy, romance,
horror and adventure, all in a single film. “Indian media has distinguished
Indian films with terms like ‘social’, ‘family social’, ‘devotional’, ‘stint’ or
28
even ‘multi-starrer’, terms hard to gloss quickly for a western readership”
(Thomas 2008).
India is home to myriad art forms ranging from performing, visual,
literature and crafts. The diversity in language, religion, culture and tradition
is also reflected in its artistic expressions. Art was part and parcel of people’s
lives and intertwined in the environment through sculpture, architecture and
paintings. Before the arrival of mass media, it was these arts in the form of
folk songs, dances, recitals, storytelling and plays that entertained and
educated the people. It was these entertainment forms in diverse languages
and renditions that basically taught people their values and culture. Each
community had its own art form patronized by its people. Even these art
forms were victims of caste hierarchal systems. Certain art forms were
considered highbrow and patronized by the elite, while others were demeaned
as it was performed and enjoyed by the socially discriminated and ostracized
poor communities. But there was a system which clearly demarcated these
arts and also a code of non-interference between these art forms which made
them accessible and enjoyable within their own socially demarcated lines.
The commonality between all Indian arts is that it derives stimulus
from myths, legends and two of the greatest Indian epics “Ramayana” and
“Mahabharata”. When cinema was introduced in India, Indians were quick to
use this medium in continuing their artistic tradition to reach a wider
audience. From its inception, Indian cinema drew upon the epics of
“Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” for themes and story lines” (Dissanayake &
Guneratne 2003).
The basic underlying theme in every film will be of the good
eventually overcoming evil which is also the fundamental ideology of both
the epics. “The very first surviving Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra,
made in 1913, was based on the Ramayana. Since then hundreds of films have
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drawn on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata for plots combined with themes
related to motherhood, femininity, patrimony and revenge in Indian cinema”
(Dissanayake & Guneratne 2003).
2.2
THE TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY
Tamil film industry is part of the Indian film industry. Tamil film
industry, based in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, produces on an
average 200 films every year. Tamil cinema has a special place in the history
of Indian cinema for its domineering influence on the social, cultural and
political aspects of the lives of people in Tamil Nadu. The language spoken
by the population, “Tamil”, is what distinguishes them and their cinema from
the rest of India.
Tamil cinema plays the multifarious functions of educating,
entertaining and informing its audience, through its reflection of the popular
culture intertwined directly with the lives of the Tamil people, their belief
systems and culture. Tamil cinema serves as a platform which fulfills the
social and cultural needs of the Tamil community” (Jesudoss 2009). “As a
form of popular culture, it provides an array of existential and ontological
points of reference, from cultural identity to the production of norms, values
and beliefs and dissemination of dominant values” (Velayutham 2008).
2.3
TAMIL LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND CINEMA
Tamil cinema emerges from the land called Tamil Nadu, situated in
the southern part of the Indian subcontinent; it is home to a population of 7.21
crore people (Times of India 2013). With a worldwide diaspora, the language
spoken by the population is what sets them apart from the rest of India. Tamil
is one of India’s national languages, with a status of classical language.
Belonging to the Dravidian language group, it is spoken not only in this state,
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but also in countries where the Tamil population have settled like Sri Lanka,
Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and so on.
2.3.1
The Tamil Language and Identity
For Tamilians, the language was not seen just as a tool of
communication, but an embodiment of their culture, arts, religion, tradition
and also as their bonding with their land. “The ancient origin, roots and
literary tradition of Tamil language have given impetus to the production of a
powerful myth and trope of signification between language, identity, territory
and ‘Tamilness’ (Pandian 1995) (Ramaswamy 1997) (Velayutham 2008). For,
Tamilians believed strongly that invasion need not be physical takeover of
land alone, but can happen through language and culture. When their
language and literature is slowly replaced by another, it will eventually result
in the extinction of their cultural identities. This is one of the reasons why the
state of Tamil Nadu even today resists the introduction of any other Indian
language, including Hindi (one of the official language and a language of
communication between the Indian states), in schools all over Tamil Nadu.
Though English language is the medium of instruction in many schools across
the state and a compulsory second language in schools where the medium of
instruction is Tamil, people didn’t see English language as a threat to their
culture.
Violent clashes escalated in the mid-sixties in Tamil Nadu, when
Hindi was introduced as a compulsory language in educational institutions as
the Tamil community and leaders feared that it is a tool used by the central
government to slowly phase out Tamil language from schools. Tamil leaders
strongly believed that this introduction of Hindi will result in the erosion of
Tamil language, and for Tamilians, it meant loss of their identity. Selvaraj
Velayutham, in his book “Tamil Cinema-The cultural politics of India’s other
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Film Industry”, quotes historian Ramaswamy from her book on “Language
Devotion in Tamil India”
‘….the state of the language mirrors the state of its speakers;
language is the essence of their culture, the bearer of their
traditions, and the vehicle of their thoughts from time
immemorial’ (Velayutham 2008).
The Tamil leaders saw this as a weapon wielded by the central
government, which would eventually lead to the homogenization of the
population with the rest of India, and losing their Tamil identities.
Another historical event on the basis of language and identity crisis
started in India’s neighboring nation Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, which consists
of two ethnic population Tamilians and Sinhalese, a conflict started when the
Sinhalese majority made Sinhala the official language of the nation. Though
there were other rights violations and issues which escalated the conflict into
25 years of fierce civil war between the rebel Tamil tigers and the Sinhalese
government, the war started as a demand for a homeland on ethno linguistic
basis – a new nation where Tamilians have their freedom to communicate in
their own mother tongue Tamil, worship their gods and practice their culture
and traditions. “These tendencies of separatism and linguistic nationalism are
also a salient feature of the Tamil film industry” (Velayutham 2008).
Tamilians, as an ethnic group, are known to have fiercely
safeguarded their uniqueness by protecting their language. Tamilians from
time immemorial are known to have quoted the following lines to stress on
the fact that Tamil language is the mother of all south Indian languages, a
hyperbole which is brushed aside by scholars --“When the rocks had not
degenerated into sand; even at that time, existed the language Tamil”.This is
the pride the community exhibits in talking about their ancestry. Tamilians
world over, even third generation and fourth generation settlers in foreign
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land, insist on their children learning the language and speaking the language
at home. Today, Tamil cinema is one of the important medium through which
the entire Tamil community connects to the homeland.
2.3.2
The Beginnings of Tamil Cinema –The Silent Era
Cinema as an innovation was introduced in 1897 in Tamil Nadu by
an English man, M. Edwards, who screened shorts such as ‘The Arrival of a
Train at La Coitat’(1896) and ‘La Sortie des Usines Lumiere’ (1895), in the
Victoria Public Hall in Chennai (Baskaran 2009). This new media attracted a
large number of audiences and quickly more number of screenings were
organized in other parts of the city. The arrival of drama films from the west
inspired the locals to adopt the technology and churn out films based on their
own stories. In 1916, Nataraja Mudaliar founded the first studio in South
India and made his first film “Keechakavatham” (The slaying of Keechakan),
based on a mythological story from Hindu religion (Baskaran 2009). Soon
more films were made by other film makers, and the numbers of films made
during the period between 1916 to 1934 in south India, was about 124 films.
Even during the Silent era of cinema, the 124 films made set out to address
the issues of untouchability, temple entry, temperance and nationalism
(Baskaran 2009).
2.3.3
Arrival of Talkies and Independence Movement
With the arrival of sound in the year 1931, production of films
increased with an assured Tamil audience as their base for business. The first
full-length Tamil talkie was “Kalidas” (1931). With the arrival of talkies,
stage actors and troupes migrated to the film studios. They brought the
dramatic structure, music and style of acting from the stage (Baskaran 2008).
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According to Stephen Hughes, professor of Anthropology and
Sociology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London, on the origins of cinema in colonial Madras, with the advent of
sound, mythological films too had an infusion of subtle political ideologies
especially against the British regime to attract masses (The Hindu 2010). He
says cinema, even at its nascent stage, was the best platform to spread and
share intellectual thoughts as the industry was a melting-pot of literary and
music activities.
The themes of social reform like alcoholism ruining families,
elevation of downtrodden, removal of untouchability, the evils of domestic
violence, were found along with the ideologies of the freedom struggle
movement in Tamil films. Even though direct political content was restricted
in films, the films were geared towards provoking political action. Film
makers had to struggle a lot as the British government was not in favour of
cinema, even if it dealt only with social issues as the British considered social
reforms as part of independence movement (Baskaran 2008). Hence, Tamil
cinema as a medium even in its infancy was used as a platform to question
authority (Baskaran 2008).
2.3.4
Tamil Cinema in Independent India
India got its Independence from the British in the year 1947.The
nation had so many development priorities and cinema was the least concern
of its national leaders. The national leaders were concentrating on nation
building efforts and modernising all sectors, including agriculture, education
and health. The nation was not producing enough food and was maimed with
its own social issues in terms of caste, religion and poverty. So, the leaders
were fully concentrating on developmental issues, rarely bothering about
cinema.
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2.3.5
Emergence of Regionalism and Tamil Cinema
With newly formed states on linguistic basis with well-defined
borders, cinema became the only tool available for regional politicians to
safeguard their regional identities and they used it to the fullest. The
domination of north India in politics and the feudal domination by few elitist
literate classes were met with strong opposition through the medium of
cinema. The medium of cinema questioned these hegemonies and served to
humanize everyone, irrespective of their class, gender, caste and religion.
With independence, the British departed India and with them, the
legacy of English cinema also left. Cinema was one medium which became
free for all. But cinema was successfully used by the regional political parties
to promote the concept of nationhood and also indicative of regionalist
identity (Baskaran 2009). Cinema, which once promoted the nationalistic
ideals, started to deviate from the nationalistic identity to the Tamil ethno
linguistic identity. The emergence of regional parties meant that the Congress,
the nationalist political party, started to lose its control over the newly formed
states whose borders were defined by the language the population spoke.
Playing on this language identity, regional parties started to emerge all over
India, especially in Tamil Nadu.
2.3.6
Dravidian Movement and Cinema
In Tamil Nadu, more than being political, the ethnolinguistic
identity arose out of a popular movement called the Dravidian movement.
“Dravidian” signifies the race of the Tamil population, which is different from
the races of the population of the north.
After independence, the film actors as a community, who had
earlier been backing the cause of the Congress, moved on to support the
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Dravidian movement. The practice of utilizing the popularity of film artistes
among the masses to garner political support continued at a much more
intense form after the inception of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),
a regional political party promoting the cause of Tamilians. Actors lent their
support to the movement and helped in its political mobilization programme.
In the process, the phenomenon of ‘star politician’ emerged and cinema
became a powerful factor in the social and political scenario of Tamil Nadu,
in a manner unparalleled elsewhere in the world (Baskaran 2009). No other
party in the history of Indian politics has used the medium of cinema to
promote its ideology like the DMK. Though nationalist leaders didn’t see
cinema as a threat or a useful medium, potential of cinema in political spheres
was fully realized by the leaders of DMK. Cinema was used for the
construction of an imagined community based on linguistic homogeneity
(Velayutham 2008).
Hariharan (2013), noted film maker and film scholar, notes that
cinema was a tool used effectively to question corruption in society from the
year 1952 with a Tamil film like “Parasakthi”. India became 22 States in 1947
and Indian films once again started questioning the administration and this
time it was targeted at the Indian Republic ruled by Indians themselves. The
film ‘Parasakthi’ questioned the caste system, temple system and double
standards of the legal system. From then onwards, cinema has represented the
deprived sections of society (ReachOut 2013).
The use of cinema for political purposes, namely the construction
of an imagined community based on linguistic homogeneity, was one of the
central themes that preoccupied post-colonial Tamil cinema up to the late
1970’s (Devdas 2006). The close relationship between film and politics has
been the subject of academic research, which examines the ways in which
both the DMK and AIADMK parties used the medium of cinema to
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disseminate the ideology of Dravidian movement through the cinematic
apparatus in post-colonial India. Textual analysis of specific films, star
analysis, auteur theory and ethnographic approaches done by scholars
conclude the relationship between Tamil cinema and Tamil Nadu politics as
symbiotic (Devdas 2006).
2.3.7
Social Movements and Cinema
In the seventies, the trend of film making changed. From the drama
based stories shot entirely in studio, Tamil films, with the arrival of directors
like Balu Mahendra, Bharatiraja, Mahendran and Sridhar, moved away from
the studios to the villages. The seventies also saw the entry of graduates from
the Film and Television Institute of India, in Pune and Chennai. The graduates
with fresh ideas revived Tamil cinema by giving it a touch of realism. Tamil
cinema, for the first time, had its own art movement of parallel cinema
movement. The seventies constitute a period in the history of Tamil cinema
when there was a sustained attempt towards an alternative form of cinema
(Pillai 2005).
This era also saw the emergence of social movements,
dissatisfaction over the political system, unemployment, civil disturbance
followed by the declaration of national emergency, thus curtailing the
democratic rights of citizens (Pillai 2005). Ragunath Raina, in his article
titled “Social Roots of Indian Cinema”, states that in the seventies, was a
period of “unprecedented changes, a virtual breakdown of democratic
institutions, systemic rot, sharpening of disparities and rise of a
non-ideological, self-serving political class” and “film makers departed from
song and dance formula films, brought out the rich variety of Indian
experience and growing existential problems of the people. They exposed the
exploitative power structure and focused on increasing bush fires of social
discontent” (Raina 2001).
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The seventies and eighties in Tamil cinema also witnessed another
genre of film popularly known as the “Angry Young Man” genre (Maderya
2010). The angry underdog hero, who fought in the action-packed films
against a criminal and corrupt establishment, is still remembered today as the
most prominent cinematic icon of the 1970s and 1980s (Rajamani
2012).While in Hindi cinema it was Amitabh Bachchan, in Tamil cinema it
was the twin actors Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth who rose to become mass
heroes through their performance of angry young man. These films in this
genre glorified the cult of violence for revenge and advocated the ideology
that evil can be dispensed only with evil (Raina 2001).
2.3.8
Globalisation and Tamil Cinema
Globalisation and the opening up of the Indian economy in the
nineties, had an impact on Indian cinema too. The nation was in transition
from a socialist economy to capitalist mode and this era witnessed an
assortment of films–some glorified sex and violence while others “resorted to
sharper critique of commodification of culture and some valourised
traditionalism, family values, sanctity of relationship, in fact all those aspects
of social life which came under threat as a result of marketization, foreign
television channels and displacement of indigenous industries under the
onslaught of multinational companies” (Raina 2001).
A decade after globalization, there was revival in Tamil cinema
where again the directors returned to realistic cinema. From the urban setting
of the 1990s, the Tamil cinema after 2000 looked for alternatives and viewers
were also seeking fresh alternatives. The decades beginning in 2000 saw films
venturing back to the villages.
“The movement towards realistic cinema
might have begun with ‘Kaadhal' in 2003 and by 2007, many script writers
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had moved in this direction, thus coming up with ventures like ‘Paruthiveeran'
and ‘Subramaniapuram’ (Venugopal 2011). According to Raina (2001), the
films in the new millennium and after are not about convincing the audience
that the imaginary was real, but it was about convincing the viewers that the
real is imaginary.
In his book on the history of Tamil cinema, film director and
industry insider Muktha V. Sinivaasan categorizes phases of development in
Tamil films (Maderya 2010). He says the first period i.e., during 1931-1950,
Tamil cinema narratives were dominated by Hindu mythology and folk
stories, the second phase i.e., during 1951-1975, Tamil cinema narratives
were based on melodrama. The third phase i.e., between the years 1976 and
1985, Tamil cinema moved to realism, and also anti-sentimentality and
anti-establishment films defined the stories of this era. The fourth period
(1985-1993), according to him, was marked by gratuitous violence and sex
(Maderya 2010). The fifth period (1993 - 2000) saw the valourisation of
traditionalism, family values, sanctity of relationship (Raina 2001). The sixth
period beginning in 2000 saw films venturing back to the villages, a
movement towards realistic cinema (Venugopal 2011).
Throughout history, Tamil cinema had a diverse function, role and
a lasting impact on its viewers. In her article ‘The Role of Cinema -Framing
Cinematic Indians within the Social Construction of Place’, Cynthia-Lou
Coleman infers that Harold Lasswell mass media theory, which states that
media provides five-fold functions - surveillance, correlation and transmission
functions - acting as watchdogs of government (surveillance), interpreters of
events (correlation) and conveyers of norms, myths and values (transmission),
are the roles befitting cinema
as it
provides multiple functions of
surveillance, correlation, transmission, economic, entertainment and the
39
construction and conveyance of social meanings observable in cultural
artifacts (Coleman 2005).From the history of Tamil cinema, one can say that
Tamil cinema has performed all the above mentioned functions and is still
going strong.
Films, as a mass medium, have the power to entertain, educate,
reflect and shape our sense of who we are and our understanding of the world
in which we live in. In Tamil Nadu, films “play a big role in raising
consciousness of the masses and transforming perceptions and motivating
social action” (Dissanayake & Gokulsing 2004). Cinema as an art form is
steeped in the cultural practices of a society and also a dominant entity that
influences the culture, values and beliefs of its audiences. Tracing the trends
in the narratives of Tamil cinema historically, one can conclude that Tamil
cinema has been a direct reflection of the socio-political cultural milieu of
Tamil Nadu across the decades.
2.3.9
Censorship and Control of Cinema in India
Cinema was introduced in India during the British colonial regime
and “cinema houses emerged as the first democratic space, where anyone
could get in and be together for a few hours, with a common purpose, without
the distinction of caste, class or religion” (Baskaran 2009). Even in the
production of a film, this stratification was nullified as people from various
arts came together and worked together with a single goal of producing a
good film.
The nullification of stratification and the emergence of a new mass
culture through this power visual media of cinema were seen as a threat by the
upper classes of the society in India from the very beginnings of the
introduction of cinema in India. Watching cinema was not approved by the
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upper and dominant classes of society and even it was considered as a vice
like drinking and smoking (Baskaran 2009). The educated classes, who were
part of the administration in the government, set about regulating and
controlling cinema. Firstly, in the form of regulation of the actual space - the
cinema houses itself - and secondly, control over what was screened in
cinema houses, in the form of film censorship (Baskaran 2009). As cinema
mediated the social and political concerns of the people and cinema houses
brought disparate group of people together in one place, censorship became
an important instrument of political control in the hands of the alert British
government and subsequently in the hands of the Indian government after
independence (Baskaran 2009).
Even today’s world where restrictions on media is next to
impossible as the international boundaries have collapsed due to convergence,
digitalization and the World Wide Web, Cinema is still under the scanner of
the government. No other media has so much restriction and is carefully
scrutinized like cinema in India. As a democratic nation, the media is
considered the fourth estate and is greatly valued for protection of the rights
of its citizens. So India has a relatively free media, be it newspapers or
television, but the medium of films alone calls for censorship in India. No
film is allowed to screen in theatres without the censor board certification.
Severe action, including shutting down of the theatre, will be initiated by the
government against the theatres if they screen films without the certificate
from censor board.
The Supreme Court of India, the highest judicial institution in
India, in one of its judgment on the need for censorship in cinema, has stated,
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“……because the visual nature of the film assures a high
degree of attention and retention as compared to the printed
word. The combination of act and speech, sight and sound in
semi-darkness of the theatre with elimination of all
distracting ideas will have a strong impact on the minds of the
viewers and can affect emotions. Therefore, it has as much
potential for evil as it has for good and has an equal potential
to instill or cultivate violent or good behavior. It cannot be
equated with other modes of communication. Censorship by
prior restraint is, therefore, not only desirable, but also
necessary….” (CBFC- India2012).
The Indian constitution, under Article 19(1)(a) of the Fundamental
Rights chapter, entitles “freedom of speech and expression” to all its citizens.
This also includes the freedom of expression for the press and media. The
‘freedom of expression’ right includes expressions by word of mouth, writing,
printing, picture or any other manner, including films. But the government
points out the clause wherein this freedom of expression right is subject to
“reasonable restriction” on grounds set out under Article 19(2) of the
Constitution, which permits the government to censor films.
For example, there was this episode in Tamil Nadu in the year
2009, when a film titled “Thambiyudavan” based on the water conflict
between two Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on sharing of water
between them was submitted for censor board approval and certification. In a
cinematic solution to the century-old water conflict, the Tamil hero of the
film, unable to see the plight of farmers with withering crops, abducts the kin
of a powerful minister of the neighboring state and as a ransom demands the
release of water from the dam to the delta farmers in Thanjavur. This water
conflict in reality had seen many violent clashes between farmers and workers
of the two states, and the case was pending with a tribunal. The censor board,
sensing the potential threat to peace and stability in both the states, denied
censor certification and banned the film. The director of the film argued his
right to expression, but the censor board refused permission for screening.
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Only after resubmission of the film with 45 cuts (edits), which
meant removable of objectionable scenes like abductions, was the film given
clearance and issued a censor certificate (Southdreamz 2009). Some of the
reasonable restrictions include the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of
India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public
order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or
incitement to an offence.
So, cinema in India cannot be taken lightly. It is a medium strongly
administered and regulated by the government in terms of film policy,
financial assistance, subsidies, censorship board, taxation, licensing
regulations, Unions for all talents and workers as well as the locally and
nationally instituted awards and film festivals, as cinema is considered as an
architect of public opinion and action in India (Chakravarty 1993).
2.4
ENVIRONMENTALISM IN INDIA-A BRIEF HISTORY
2.4.1
Country of Contrasts and Contradictions
India is often called a country of contrasts and contradictions. One
of the oldest civilizations in the history of humanity, the legacy of this ancient
kingdom continues even today in the form of tradition and culture, which are
strictly adhered to by its people. On the other side, India is one of the fastest
growing economies in the world with a boom in I.T sector. This indeed is an
existence where there is an amalgamation of both the old and new worlds.
A modern world with a capitalist philosophy and all the “freedoms” that
accompany that, flourishes side by side with a traditional world steeped in
eastern philosophy with the taboos of culture, a discriminatory practice of
caste system and patriarchal supremacy.
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A better way to understand this nation’s paradoxes is a quick scan
of the news headlines in Indian media, where news on extreme poverty and
starvation deaths appear alongside the launch of a super luxurious star hotel or
building of a golden shrine. India is the biggest democracy in the world and
the seventh largest country in the world, in terms of geographical area. It is
the second most populous country in the world with a population of about 1.2
billion people (Indian Census 2011).
In the pre-colonial era in India, societies were strongly influenced
by eco-centric or bio-centric ideologies which emerged from the very many
religions which originated in India and followed by the people of the nation.
But in this age of modernization and globalization where newer forms of
exploitations of nature occur, these eco-centric philosophies do not make an
impact as these ideologies, “is of little use in understanding the dynamics of
environmental degradation in modern India” (Gadgil & Guha 2013).
Moreover, the environmentalism of the west is also of little help as it too
prescribes the preservationism and conservationism over the needs of the poor
masses.
2.4.2
Environmentalism in Eastern and Western Nations
Many experts had reiterated the fact that there is a major difference
between the first world environmentalism and third world environmentalism,
or in other words, environmentalism of the rich is different from
environmentalism of the poor. For the rich, it is about raising their standards
of living, but for the poor it is about survival as their existence depended on
nature and its resources (Guha &Gadgil1994). For example, historians of
environmentalism call western environmentalism as a ‘full stomach’
phenomenon, as economic affluence leads to the desire to enjoy the beauty of
44
wilderness areas and clean air comes to be cherished, once basic material
needs have been fulfilled (Nash 1982) (Guha & Gadgil 1994).
For third world nations, environmentalism is about survival and
not a luxury. The people depend on nature and natural resources for their
livelihood. For example, villagers depend on forests for firewood, fodder for
their cattle and produce of the forest for food and income. So logging and
denuding the forest means loss of livelihood and their survival becomes a
question. As the noted environmental scientist and editor of the magazine
“Down to Earth” Sunita Narain says, Indian environmentalism essentially can
be called as ‘utilitarian conservationism’ as it was not born out of the need to
conserve nature for nature per se, but for its value as a resource to people who
depend on it (Narain 2012). But even within India, given the understanding
that it is a land of contradictions and diversity, there are vast differences in the
environmental ideologies people from various backgrounds ascribe to.
The rich, the business community, the urban can be slotted as pro
development and industrialization orientated against the poor, who have
protested against many development projects in view of their utilitarian
conservationism ideals. Major site for conflicts on environment were on
government funded projects like building dams, commissioning nuclear
power plants, setting up factories in forest areas and in coastal zones with
local communities protesting vehemently and sometimes violently in their
desperate attempt to continue their lives in their ancestral lands.
Western nations have invested heavily on technology, innovations
and science in natural resource management and also with stringent
enforcement of laws have ensured that industrialisation in these countries do
not have the same consequences as in other poor nations. In poor nations,
science or scientists have a lesser say in environmental movements, rather it is
45
the ordinary people, whose livelihood is challenged by industrialization, who
form the protest groups (Guha & Gadgil 1994). Hence, in the west, people
approach the courts and law enforcement agencies for environmental
violations, but in the poor nations, protests are inspired and guided by
principles from spirituality and religion.
The protest methods adopted by these people adhering to principles
of non-violence have sometimes shocked nations, government and officials.
Recently, in the state of Maharashtra in India, the government’s initiative to
build Omkareshwar dam was met with stringent opposition from the adivasis
(tribal population) as their ancestral lands will be flooded upon
commissioning of the dam. The adivasis staged a unique protest against the
level of water in the dam which threatened to submerge their lands, called the
'Jal Satyagraha' (non-violent protest in water), where protesters stood in neckdeep water in Ghogalgaon village in Khandwa district for 17 days. This
protest managed to get the attention of media. The images of men and women
in silence in neck deep water shocked the nation and initiated a public debate
and this prompted the government to reduce its water level in the dam and
also promised adequate compensation to the adivasis who will be affected by
the construction of the dam. This was a major victory for the people in the
recent history of environmental activism in India, where the government
budged to the demands of its people (The Hindu 2012).
In India, the struggles of people to save their environment have
taken many forms, but principally based on the “satyagraha”, meaning “truth
force”, a non-violent protest method inspired by the ideals of Mahatma
Gandhi. Ramachandra Guha and Madhav Gadgil (1994) list six forms of
protests predominantly used by environmental movements and ordinary
people resisting environmental degradation. First comes the “pradarshan”, a
collective show of strength and dissatisfaction involving the affected people
46
by undertaking a procession to power hubs and handing over a petition to the
government officials. Secondly, it is “dharna” or sit-down strike, an
aggressive method with the goal to stop activities like logging or sand mining.
Thirdly, it’s “gherao”, where officials, politicians or key persons in authority
are surrounded by protesters and booed till he or she accedes to their demands
or is rescued by the police. Fourthly, it is the “rasta roko”, which means road
blockade, where protesters block arterial roads and highways which inturn
affect the entire state. Fifth is the “jail bharoandolan”, which means to fill the
jail, by violating a law of prohibition of mass gatherings. The sixth technique
is the “bhookhartal” or fasting. Fasting could be collective or individual form
of protest aimed to compel the state to yield to the demands of protesters.
With new environmental issues, newer methods of protests are invented by
the people to show their dissatisfaction over the government policy and
decisions.
The “Narmada Bachao Andolan”, a movement which strongly
protested against the construction of a dam in the Narmada valley in
Maharashtra, used various tools of protest such as Satyagraha, “Jal Samarpan”
(sacrificial drowning in the rivers), “Rasta Roko” (road blockade at strategic
points),Gaon Bandhi or Gherao (refusing the entry of government officials
into the villages), demonstrations and rallies, hunger strikes and blockade of
projects (Nepal 2009). But, they failed in their attempt to stop the
commissioning of the dam.
But for every victory, there are also numerous failures like failure
of the people to stop the commissioning of the nuclear plant in Kudankulam
(KKNPP) in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Here too, it was the fishing
community which opposed the nuclear plant and staged innovative nonviolent protests like burying them in sand, fasting and “Jal Satyagraha” in sea,
47
but the protests turned violent as police used force and opened fire to evict
people from the coastal area, resulting in loss of lives.
The law too was not in favour of the people as the Supreme Court
gave green signal to the nuclear plant. According to the verdict, “Larger
public interest of the community should give way to individual apprehension
of violation of human rights and right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of
the Constitution” and describing the negative aspects of the nuclear power
plant as “minor inconveniences and minor radiological detriments,
….compared to the enormous benefits we reap from KKNPP since nuclear
energy remains an important element in India’s energy mix which can replace
a significant part of fossil fuels like coal, gas, oil etc” (Venkatesan 2013).
Hence, it’s not always victory for the people and environment, but
environmental movement as such in India is always people’s movement. To
understand environmental movement in India, one needs to understand its
roots and origins. “Chipko Andolan” movement marked the beginning of
environmental movement in post-independent India.
2.4.3
The Beginnings-Chipko Movement
A group of peasants in a remote Himalayan village stopped the
felling of trees by loggers by hugging the trees on the 27th of March,
1973.This event saw the birth of the Chipko movement in India (Guha 2013).
Chipko movement is historical as it marked the birth of post-independent
India’s environmental movement. What Rachel Carson’s book “Silent
Spring” did to American environmental history, Chipko movement did to
India. The Chipko movement protesting against the violations on nature was
started not by scientists, but by ordinary people from rural communities. Also,
“Chipko” movement in the Garhwal Himalayas pushed aside urban armchair
naturalists (India Today 2008). The form of non-violent protest by hugging
the trees was inspired from the history of Bishnoi community of Rajasthan,
48
who hugged the trees to prevent felling and in the process laid down their
lives (Guha 2008). The name of the movement comes from the word
'embrace', as the villagers hugged the trees and prevented the contractors from
felling them (TERI 2007).
Another significant point in this Chipko movement is the active
role women played in it (Women in the World History 2013). The Bishnoi
legend of the woman named Amrita Devi, who laid down her life to prevent
the Maharaja’s men from cutting the trees, was an inspiration for the women
from the Himalayan valley trying to protect their environment. The
movement, guided by leaders like Chandni Prasad Bhatt and Sunderlal
Bahuguna, and inspired by Gandhian principles of non-violence, was
representative of many protests undertaken by the common people against the
mindless exploitation and degradation of nature under the pretext of
development and foreign exchange earnings by the government of India
(India Today 2008).
Though Chipko movement gained popularity and the movement
spread to other parts of the nation and the collectivism was successful in
bringing about a 15-year ban on logging and tree felling in the Himalayan
forest state of Uttar Pradesh, the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas and
generated pressure for framing a natural resource policy which is more
sensitive to people's needs and ecological requirements, it was a
representative movement for the natural resource conflicts during the 1970s
and 1980s (TERI 2007).
The transformation from an agrarian society to an industrial society
had a very deep impact on the people. The government policies, based on
western principles of development, meant denial of the people’s ancestral
rights to forests, to the sea and grazing grounds, resulting in the displacement
of traditional communities. Inspired by the Chipko movement, communities
49
entered into similar protests all over India. Battles were won and lost in the
years of struggle, like in the Chotanagpur Plateau, communities launched their
struggle to defend their rights in the forest, in Kerala coast, artisanal fisherfolk
protested the destruction of their fish stocks by large trawlers, in
Gandhamardan in Orissa, tribals resisted the damage to their lifestyle and to
the local ecology by bauxite mining (Guha 2008).
Sunita Narain, in her article ‘Changing environmentalism in India’,
states that these protests arose not as a struggle to protect nature and
environment for its intrinsic value, but with an anthropocentric virtue.
Because people’s lives were so intertwined with the existence of those trees,
that they perceived their culture and survival to be at stake. This was the
agenda behind the nationwide environmental movement which spread during
the 1980s and 1990s with protests against deforestation, construction of dams,
destruction of wildlife, and growing pollution. According to her, “India never
witnessed the rise of green groups like Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. It
was not ecology, but socio-ecology at work –a pro-poor, human-centred
environmental ethic, compared to the nature-centred environmental ethic
espoused by the greens of the West” (Narain 2012). In the words of Anil
Agarwal, for the Indian environmentalist what mattered in the Indian context
is not “gross national product”, but “gross nature product”, as still people
lived in biomass based subsistence economy (Narain 2012).
India in the seventies was a close ally of the Soviet Union, hence
environmental activists of Chipko and other movements were dismissed as
agents of Western imperialism, funded and promoted by foreigners who
wanted to keep India backward. But, India being a democracy, the sheer
persistence of these protests forced the state to make some changes in terms
of establishing the Department of Environment, promulgating new laws to
50
control pollution and protect forests and restoring community systems of
water and forest management (Guha 2008).
2.4.4
Environmental Movement in Globalisation Era
The nineties India faced a severe economic crisis, the rupee value
plummeted to lowest in history. The closed economy based on socialist
principles led to the dire need for foreign exchange. India was bound to open
its economy, so in 1991 the Indian economy under the leadership of
Dr.Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister, embarked on the New
Economic policy with the intention to liberalise, privatize and globalize the
nation’s economy (Singhal & Rogers 2007). The policy of liberalization,
privatization and globalization meant more damage to the environment as the
state welcomed investors into the country and gave private parties legal rights
over resources. Industries such as mining, initially in the state’s hands, were
slowly shifted to private parties and thus began an era where the communities
had to fight multiple opponents. The government-private media partnership
ensured that environmentalists were often dismissed as anti-government and
pro-naxal groups.
In 2009, the state of Environment Report India, brought out by the
Government of India, records that “about 45 percent of India's land is
degraded, air pollution is increasing in all its cities, it is losing its rare plants
and animals more rapidly than before and about one-third of its urban
population now lives in slums” (Live 2009).
The report, prepared by NGO Development Alternatives for the
Ministry of Environment, attributes the degradation of land to erosion, soil
acidity, alkalinity and salinity, waterlogging and wind erosion. It says the
51
prime causes of land degradation are deforestation, unsustainable farming,
mining and excessive groundwater extraction (Live 2009).
Post liberalization, the status of environment deteriorated at a rapid
pace and the reasons are:
a)
Corruption has become a major spoilsport for environment in
India, illegal sand mining and stone quarrying are undertaken
by corporates and individuals with police-politician nexus and
there were incidents of transfer or life threats to officials when
the administration interferes.
b)
One can also attribute the lack of awareness among people on
environmental issues to the scientific community. Unlike the
west, where the scientists come forward with their findings,
here in India scientists are not voicing their concerns openly in
media. In India, even though there are many scientists who
had contributed to environmental understanding in a big way,
still their work is limited to academic circles and has not
reached the masses, thus adding to the woes of environmental
degradation.
c)
Another reason is lack of proper official bodies to check and
regularize the usage of natural resources. There is a grave
need for newer regulatory policies to understand and
promulgate
new
law
according
to
the
innovative
environmental crimes happening in India.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, had said: “God forbid
that India should ever take to industrialization after the manner of the West.
52
The economic imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom (England) is
today keeping the world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 million took to
similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts”
(Guha & Gadgil 1994). Mahatma Gandhi’s fears have come true, as India had
followed an erroneous way of development and in this decade, it is facing the
consequences of these unsustainable practices.
India today is facing an environmental crisis; the consequences of
decades of environmental degradation have resulted in a host of new
problems and crisis, affecting humans and living forms. Strange diseases and
new forms of environmental disasters and threats have awakened the people
to the importance of protecting their environment. Environmentalists today
are level headed, they don’t ask people to go back to old practices, or to shun
development, but are demanding the application of scientific and traditional
practices to achieve sustainable development, ensuring a cleaner and greener
future for the coming generations.
2.4.5
Indian Environmental Movement and Ideology
Guha & Gadgil (1994) identify three dominant and distinct
ideological perspectives within the Indian environmental movement.
(a) Crusading Gandhi: It is an environmental philosophy based
deeply on religion and completely rejects the modern way of
life. It upholds the pre-capitalist and pre-colonial village
community as the exemplar of ecological and social harmony
(Sasikala 2013). Environmental degradation and social issues
are seen as a moral problem, caused by the widespread
acceptance of materialism and consumerism, which draws
53
humans away from nature. His quote “frugality is not poverty,
but a way of life”, questions the western idea of development
and progress. For Mahatma Gandhi, philosophy of Ahimsa is
based on the Hindu scriptures where the fundamental principle
is reverence to nature and all living things.
(b) Ecological Marxists: Marxist philosophy is based on the
question of unequal sharing of resources, as they view both
the rich and poor as responsible for environmental
degradation. Marxists claim that the rich are responsible for
the destruction of environment inorder to add on to their
wealth and the poor do so to survive.
For Ecological
Marxists, therefore, the creation of an economically equal
socialist society will be the only solution for maintaining
social and ecological harmony. Marxist practitioners reject
tradition and religious beliefs and promote rationalism. They
involve the poor in collective activism, sometimes even in
extremism, with the goal of redistribution of economic and
political power (Guha & Gadgil 1994).
(c) Appropriate Technologists: The appropriate technologists
depend on both tradition and modernity for solutions to
environmental crisis. They have done pioneering work in the
generation and diffusion of resource conserving, labour
intensive and socially liberating technologies. Their emphasis
is on demonstrating in practice a set of socio-technical
alternatives to the centralizing and degrading technologies
presently in operation (Bhatt 1992) (Reddy 1982) (Guha&
Gadgil 1994).
54
2.4.6
Eco-restoration
Guha & Gadgil talk about the ecological restoration programmes,
which even though less publicized, are used by many environmental groups
with active involvement of people. The “Sarvodhaya movement” was initiated
by Mahatma Gandhi, inspired by the principles of “uplift/welfare of all” in
John Ruskin’s book “Unto his Last”. Inspired by Sarvodhaya movement,
religious reform movements and international relief organizations, ecorestoration was taken up by many voluntary organizations as they organize
villagers in programmes of afforestation, soil and water conservation, and the
adoption
of
environmentally
sound
technologies.
By
focusing
on
environmental rehabilitation in preference to struggle or publicity, lot of
constructive work was undertaken by these movements.
2.4.7
Media and Environmental Movement in India
Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha say that eventhough this
repertoire of protest has helped to focus public attention on specific natural
resource conflicts, in a democracy where the state tilts markedly towards the
rich and powerful, these forms of protest collectively constitute the ‘weapons
of the weak’ (Scott 1985) (Guha & Gadgil 1994). It is very true that the
people’s movement, unless supported by prominent personalities, good
leaders and the media, would go unnoticed or crushed by force or even
mocked at by the majority who are in favour of the project. So it is media
which plays an important role in drawing the attention of the nation to these
protests and also helping them seek solutions from the official machinery.
During the seventies and eighties, it was the print media which
actually gave good coverage on environmental news as broadcast media was
state controlled. With print media, the popular medium of cinema too played
an important role in fictionalizing and presenting the nature-based conflicts in
55
a manner wherein even the uneducated and illiterate masses could understand
the issue, thereby creating a new environmental ideology among the masses.
As the masses in India were mostly illiterate and newspapers were beyond
their reach, it was cinema in this era which influenced public opinion more so
even in the sphere of environment in India.
Till 1990, Indian broadcast media was monopolized and was under
state control. With globalization and the onslaught of satellite channels, public
broadcast media was sidelined. With the arrival of satellite channels, there
was a fundamental shift in the types of programmes. While state owned
broadcast media operated with development agenda, the private media’s
agenda was entertainment and profit-oriented. Hence, the television channels
were instrumental in the promotion of consumerist culture with pro-western
model of development ideology. Media houses were capitalist ventures and
hence capitalist ideologies were promoted and in many reports, socialists and
environmentalists were depicted as a threat to the nation.
2.5
ECOLOGICAL DISCOURSES IN CINEMA
2.5.1
Environmental Communication in Popular Culture of Cinema
The
Encyclopedia
of
Communication
Theory
describes
“Environmental communication as a field within the communication
discipline, as well as a meta-field that cuts across disciplines. Research and
theory within the field are united by the topical focus on communication and
human relations with the environment” (Little John & Foss 2009). Living in
an age, which is witnessing the impacts of environmental degradation due to
anthropocentric activities, it is important to study the ways people
communicate about natural world.
56
Communication
researchers
have
studied
how
media
representations and media coverage of the environment, influence public and
political perceptions and actions. Ultimately, the assumption, whether explicit
or implicit, behind most research into media representations of environmental
issues is that these play a role in shaping and influencing public
understanding/opinion and political decision-making in society (Hansen
2010).There is an increase in the number of studies in communication,
journalism, literature, science communication and the social sciences,
studying the role and influence of environmental communication especially in
the sphere of popular culture. Growing number of studies have proved that
popular culture images like those in films and advertising have a direct and
deep influence on the environmental ideologies of individuals and societies
(Cox 2013).
2.5.2
Impact of Environmental Narratives on Audience
It is an accepted fact among communication scholars that there is a
definite impact of popular entertainment medium like cinema on the
ecological ideologies and perceptions of its audiences. In summer of 1975,
the Hollywood movie ‘Jaws’ was released. The film’s central character, the
great white shark, from then on became to be known as killer machines. The
response of the film’s audience to the film’s central character ‘the great white
shark’ was “an unprecedented tidel wave of hysteria and paranoia” (Shivji &
Wilkinson 2005). The movie based on Peter Benchley's best-selling book
“Jaws” about a fictional great white shark that terrorized a fictional small
beach town, have greatly amplified public risk perceptions of shark attacks
(Leiserowitz, 2004). “The imagery and theme music of this movie still
resonate in the public mind, stoking individual fears, influencing behavior
(such as vacation and swimming preferences), and generating countless
secondary ripple effects, including re-emergent, media-driven “shark panics”
57
such as was seen in the United States in the summer of 2001” (Leiserowitz,
2004). To sum it all up, the general public couldn't separate fiction from fact
and they perceived their natural world from the ideas they received from the
fictional narratives.
Another example from Hollywood cinema is the dramatic portrayal
of a “nuclear accident” in movie ‘The China Syndrome’ released in the year
1979. The audiences were able to compare the movie with the subsequent
real-world accident at “Three Mile Island” (Leiserowitz, 2004). The movie
and the real world incident went on to initiate a public debate about the safety
of nuclear power and amplified the perceived risk of nuclear power, thus
eroding the public confidence in nuclear power and other high-tech industries
and regulatory institutions (Leiserowitz, 2004). Thus an entertainment
oriented medium like cinema can emerge as a powerful medium in
communicating environmental messages, in constructing ideologies, in
forming public opinions and influencing behaviors of its audiences. The
medium of cinema as a form of popular culture has been dynamic in the
sphere of “Environmental Communication” both in Hollywood and in
cinemas from around the world.
Corbett (2006), in her book “Communicating Nature”, states that
“Environmental Communication is a complex and multi-layered phenomenon
and all environmental messages have ideological roots that are influenced by
individual experience, geography, history and culture”. According to her,
“environmental communication not only involves exchange of information
and ideas, but also actions”. It could be simple routine things like the choice
of food, but these actions could bear a serious impact on the environment such
as “the use of land, the use of water and chemicals and food waste and waste
disposal (Corbett 2006).
58
There are also numerous studies which highlight the environmental
communication can have a direct impact on the actions of the audiences. For
example, the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”, a disaster movie, based on
the catastrophic impact of global warming was released in 2004 by Twentieth
Century Fox. The movie had a powerful impact on the “climate change risk
perceptions, conceptual models, behavioral intentions, policy priorities and
even voting intentions of moviegoers” (Leiserowitz, 2004). The results of a
national survey conducted before and after release of the movie “Day After
Tomorrow”
demonstrate that the representation of environmental risks in
popular culture is powerful and can influence public attitudes, behaviors and
actions more than official risk communications from scientists, government
officials, or special interest groups (Leiserowitz, 2004).
From the above mentioned examples, we can clearly state that
environmental communication through a powerful entertainment medium like
cinema does have a considerable and functional role to play in shaping public
opinions and actions of the audience. Environmental communication, be it in
any form or in any medium serves two different functions a) pragmatic and b)
constitutive (Cox 2013). Environmental Communication is pragmatic, which
means it educates, alerts, persuades and helps us to solve environmental
problems as in the case of ‘Day After Tomorrow’.
With a constitutive
function, it constructs or composes representations of nature and
environmental problems as subjects for our understanding like in the case of
‘The China Syndrome’ and ‘Jaws’(Cox 2013).
Cox (2013) contrasts the term “Environmental Communication”
with the Shannon–Weaver model of communication. Claude Shannon &
Warren
Weaver
(1949)
proposed
a
model
that
defined
“human
communication as simply the transmission of information from a source to a
receiver”. This model did not account for meaning or for the ways in which
59
communication acts on, or shapes our awareness. Unlike the Shannon–
Weaver model, environmental communication assumes that language and
symbols do more than transmit information, they actively shape our
understanding, create meaning, and orient us to a wider world. Hence, it is
necessary to study the narratives in popular culture, especially on the notions
of scripts, cultural packages, interpretative packages and cultural resonance
for understanding the nature and potential power of popular media
representation of nature and the environment (Hansen 2010).
2.5.3
Environmental Ideologies in Cinema
Corbett (2006), in her book “Communicating Nature”, defines
environmental ideology as a “fully formed environmental belief system or a
way of thinking about the natural world that a person uses to justify actions
towards it. So this ideology articulates a relationship to the land and its
creatures and to some extent guides the way societies act towards it” (Corbett
2006). According to Corbett, “Environmental belief systems or ideologies are
formed and shaped by (a) childhood experiences, (b) a sense of place, and
(c) historical and cultural contexts”.
Various studies have proved that the fundamental environmental
ideologies and beliefs which individuals and societies hold stem from
communication which happens at various levels from individual to
institutional communication, and analyzing these communications especially
which relate to cinema is vital in understanding the environmental ideologies
this medium of cinema propagate. Nandy (1998), in his book “The Secret
Politics of Our Desires: Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema”,
states that all films are particular ways of seeing the world and have a relation
to that dominant way of seeing the world which is the ideology of an age.
60
Hughes, in his article on ‘Ideology’, says that every film has an
ideology, based on the director's sense of right and wrong--an ideological
perspective is present in the form of the privileges certain characters,
institutions, and cultures enjoy on screen. Certainly, all films project ideology,
but the levels do vary (Hughes 2003).
Hollywood films today contain many environmentalist messages –
some explicit, some subliminal, but all intentional. Driving this trend called
“eco-messaging” into storylines of Hollywood movies are activist
environmental organizations like Environmental Media Association (EMA).
Organisations like EMA, mostly non-profit work behind-the-scenes with
screenwriters, producers, and directors to identify environmental issues a
given film should address and the positions it should take on those issues
(D’Agostino 2003). EMA urges Hollywood producers and screenwriters to
insert discreet environmentalist messages in storylines like characters
“Coming back from grocery shopping carrying a canvas bag,” “turning off
lights when leaving the room,” “donating old household items to charities,
shelters, schools etc.,” and “eating and drinking from reusable kitchenware
and mugs” into popular movies and TV shows (D’Agostino 2003).
Even Pixar’s animated films like ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Toy Story’, ‘A
Bugs Life’ contain implicit, complex, nuanced, philosophical and political
essence that; humans alone does not have a monopoly on personhood
(Munkittrick 2011). Even other animated movies like ‘Happy Feet’ contain
messages on the effects of global warming on Penguins. Explicit ideologies
are found in Hollywood movies like the “Promised Land” based on the impact
of fracking (a colloquial term for Hydraulic fracturing), the latest oil drilling
method which though drastically increased U.S energy output resulted in
heavy costs on environment (Schneyer & McAllister 2012). The film
‘Promised Land’ highlights the environmental impact fracking, , and initiated
61
debate over the use of this method for extraction of oil. The film was
criticized for its anti-fracking ideology by the U.S energy industry. According
to Joseph Cappella, a professor of communications at the University of
Pennsylvania, films with environmental themes and ideologies often can
change opinion of the audience like Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" on
climate change, and "Erin Brockovich," a film based on an expose of water
contamination by an industrial plant (Schneyer & McAllister 2012).
Based on the narratives, the ideologies could be categorized into
neutral, implicit and explicit (Hughes 2003). Film with neutral ideologies are
escapist films providing light entertainment with emphasis on action,
pleasure, and entertainment reflecting a very consumerist value system and
has a superficial treatment of right and wrong. In films with implicit
ideologies, the protagonist and the antagonist represent conflicting values, but
these values or ideologies are not dwelled upon. In films which have explicit
ideologies, the intention of the director is to influence, teach or persuade
(Hughes 2003).
2.5.4
Types of Environmental Ideologies in Cinema
Environmental ideologies are historically rooted and definitely have
a wide spectrum of belief systems. The concept of “environmentalism” cannot
be slotted as one entity as mainstream media or people understand, but
presents a broad spectrum of beliefs. Everything from the environmental laws
which are enforced, the environmental education in schools, to environmental
activists groups represent and follow an ideological view (Corbett 2006). So it
is important to have a good knowledge of these various ideologies to
understand and analyze environmental messages and discourses in popular
culture.
62
In chapter two of her book “Communicating Environment”, Corbett
(2006) sorts these environmental ideologies into various categories according
to the relationships it ascribes with the natural ecology. On a scale, she states
that these ideologies start with anthropocentricism (which includes
“unrestrained instrumentalism”, “conservationism”, preservationism) , and
ends with ecocentricism (which includes ethics and value driven ideologies,
transformative ideologies including ecological sensibility, deep ecology,
social ecology, eco-feminism, Native American ideologies, and Eastern
traditions).
Ingram (2000) in his book ‘Green Screen: Environmentalism and
Hollywood Cinema’ defines “environmentalist” films as those “in which an
environmental issue is raised explicitly and is central to the narrative”.
Ingram, in his book, also identifies and categorizes the environmental
ideologies
and
discourses
in
Hollywood
films
broadly
into
(i)
conservationism and preservationism, (ii) reformist and radical wings of the
environmental movement, including deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism, (iii) “cult of wilderness,” (iv) animal rights, (v) the romanticism of
the “ecological Indian,” (vi) the Promethean (anti-environmentalist) impulse
and (vii) mastery of nature. Ingram states that Hollywood’s environmentalist
films use their concerns with non-human nature as a basis for speculation on
human-social relationships, thereby making those concerns conform to
Hollywood’s commercial interest in anthropocentric, human interest
stories”(Ivakhiv2008).
Greg Garrad (2008), in his book titled “Eco-criticism”, also
discussed about the various environmental ideologies and belief systems.
According to him, even though ‘Environmentalism’ is relatively a young
movement, it has already a number of distinct eco-philosophies. Each of these
approaches understands environmental crisis in its own way, and also
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indicates a range of solutions with its own political slant. He categorizes these
ideologies into two major groups, i.e. Cornucopia and Environmentalism.
Cornucopia is actually a radical belief system, sometimes even
called anti-environmentalist, where despite the remarkable degree of
consensus that exists amongst scientists about the environmental threats posed
by modern civilization, it stresses that such dangers predicted by scientists
and environmentalists are illusory or exaggerated. Promoted by capitalists and
industrialists, this philosophy suggests that capitalist economies will generate
solutions to environmental problems, as capitalist economy will generate the
wealth needed to pay for environmental improvements (Garrad 2008).
Cornucopians point out scarcity of a resource will lead capitalist
entrepreneurs to search for alternatives like fibre optics for copper wires,
which relatively brought down the need for copper. ‘Scarcity’ is therefore an
economic, not an ecological phenomenon, and will be remedied by capitalist
entrepreneurs, not the reductions in consumption urged by environmentalists.
Garrad classifies environmentalism into four radical forms, i.e. deep ecology,
eco-feminism,
social
ecology
or
eco-marxism
and
Heideggerian
ecophilosophy (Garrad 2008).
For example, a research on the kind and origin of images and
popular constructions of nature and science in media, especially those related
to genetics and biotechnology, reveal the deeply rooted cultural ideologies
that have shaped the narratives and stories – for example, the Frankenstein
story. The ideological clusters, packages or script say that meddling with
nature will result in things going awry (Hansen 2010). A similar ideology can
also be seen in the movie ‘Jurassic Park” a block buster movie based on
Michael Crichton novel “Jurassic Park”. The film based on the idea of cloning
dinosaurs using their DNA also acted as a warning to the society that
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ambitious modern scientific technology in wrong hands and scientific
experimentation which neglects moral and ethical values can result in a
catastrophe. The movie fundamentally presents the accepted cultural and
social ideology that nature selects and if humans meddle with nature the
results are catastrophic.
2.5.5
Rhetoric in Environmental Communication
Ecological discourses define human beings’ relationship to the
natural world, frame environmental issues and shape values and control their
actions. It is important to study how the three “R”s of environmental rhetoric
(relationship with nature, the risks and response) are framed by naturalists,
scientists, officials, activists and media personnel.
The animated televised series, ‘The Simpsons’ environmental rhetoric
–‘with a two-pronged approach of exposing social ills and creating a new
discursive space for marginalized opinions’ - demonstrates the power of the
comic frame in spreading awareness on the ecological impacts of human
activity (Todd 2009).
The series’ portrays the counter culture of
environmental activism as an alternative to anthropocentrism, through the
juxtaposition of characters that represent the extremes on an ecological
spectrum (Todd 2009). According to Todd (2009) ‘The Simpsons’ series
exposes the effectiveness of pop culture as medium for ecological
commentary. The series increases public awareness of environmental issues,
and serves to educate the television audience while at the same time
entertaining them (Todd 2009).
Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the discovery of the possible means of
persuasion”, and also as a tool that allowed people to explore significant
social and moral issues and make wise or prudent decisions. Familiarity with
65
rhetoric and its analytical methods can help us understand the nature of our
environmental debates and their outcomes (Herndl & Brown 1996).
Brummett, in his book “Rhetoric in Popular Culture”, argues that rhetoric is
the social function that influences and manages meanings and it does so in
both professional forums and popular culture. Brummett (2006) concludes
that “if we could see how we are influenced (by rhetoric), if our repertoires
for making reality were broadened, we might make the world into something
different”.
Herndl
and
Brown,
in
their
book
“Green
Culture:
Environmental Rhetoric in Contemporary America”, prescribe a rhetorical
triangle model for analyzing environmental discourse, where the rhetoric of
‘ethos’ is seen as ethnocentric-Nature as Resource (Regulatory Discourse),
the rhetoric of ‘logos’ seen as anthropocentric-Nature as object (Scientific
Discourse) and the rhetoric of ‘pathos’ as eco-centric-Nature as Spirit (Poetic
Discourse) (Herndl & Brown 1996).
Holstein et al, in their book titled “Reconsidering Social
Constructionism: Debates in Social Problems Theory”, refers to Ibarra and
Kitsuse definitions of rhetorical idioms as vernacular claims for the existence,
magnitude and immorality of the proposed problem. They identify the
rhetoric of loss which nostalgically laments the devaluation of something
previously valued, the rhetoric of endangerment to the health and safety of the
human body, the rhetoric of unreason or concern about being made a dupe or
fool, and the rhetoric of calamity which invokes utter disaster, the rhetoric of
entitlement “institutional access the unhampered freedom to exercise choice
of self-expression, the sensibility expressed by this idiom is egalitarian and
relativistic (Holstein & Miller 2007).
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Anders Hansen, in his book “Environment, Media and
Communication”, states that environmental communication
is not about
imparting information, but it’s the power to define our relationship with
nature and the environment, and the power to define what the “problem” with
the environment is, who is “responsible” and what course of “action” needs
to be taken (Hansen 2010). The medium of cinema, with its story telling
function is a perfect platform for defining an environmental problem (setting)
ascertaining the people responsible for the problem (the conflict) and the
course of action to solve the issue (resolution). Environment as such is not a
subject for discourse in the medium of cinema, but environmental issues,
problems and crisis is what is discussed in the public sphere and is considered
worth the time in popular media. So environment in popular culture like
cinema is highly constructed as the mere notion of environment as an issue or
a problem is itself the product of active ‘rhetoric work’ and construction in
the public sphere(Hansen 2010).
2.6
AN ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF CINEMA
William Rueckert coined the term “eco-criticism” in his essay
titled ‘Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Eco-criticism in the year
1978’. His intent was to focus on “the application of ecology and ecological
concepts to the study of literature” (Glotfelty & Fromm1996). Eco-criticism is
the “study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment.
Just as feminist criticism examines language and literature from a genderconscious perspective, and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of
production and economic class to its reading of texts, eco-criticism takes an
earth-centered approach to literary studies” (Glotfelty & Fromm 1996) .
Eco-criticism is mainly concerned with how literature transmits
certain values contributing to ecological thinking of humans (Oppermann
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1999). Eco-criticism is a recognized and readily accepted theory worldwide
today. It is also known by many names like green cultural studies, ecopoetics and environmental literary criticism (Shika 2011). Most ecological
work share a common motivation, that is, the awareness that we have reached
the age of environmental limits, a time when the consequences of human
actions are damaging the planet’s basic life support system. This awareness
brings in a desire to contribute to environmental restoration, and eco-critics
encourage others to think seriously about the aesthetics and ethical dilemmas
posed by the environmental crisis and about how language and literature
transmit values with profound ecological implications (Shika 2011).
William Rueckert’s original conceptualization of eco-criticism still
shares commonalities with eco-criticism in its modern form. According to
Rueckert’s theory:
“[M]an’s tragic flaw is his anthropocentric (as opposed to
bio-centric) vision, and his compulsion to conquer, humanize,
domesticate, violate, and exploit every natural thing. The
ecological nightmare … is of a monstrously overpopulated,
almost completely polluted, all but totally humanized planet”.
It is, thus, the literary representation of the interconnectedness
between humanity and nature, and the examination of humanity’s treatment of
nature, which are among the main thrusts behind eco-criticism, both in its
early and current conceptualizations (Wyk 2012).
Eco-critical theory was initially applied to literary texts alone, but
later content in other popular visual media like television and films were also
included by scholars for the study as they played an important role in
influencing the behavior and attitude towards environment (Marcondi, 2010).
Content with environmental discourses takes on various forms and genres in
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popular media like nature documentaries, news stories, debates, discussion,
eco-films which constantly generate debate on ecological issues, hence
experts have included them as texts for eco-critical analysis.
Garrard (2008), in his article titled 'Eco-criticism - the ability to
investigate cultural artifacts from an ecological perspective' states that
“environmental crisis in their cinematic representation poses not only
technical, scientific and political questions, but also cultural ones”. According
to him, the film “The Day After Tomorrow” collapses the period of climate
change phenomena into a few days of climactic drama, vilifies an individual the US Vice-President - for the whole problem, and reduces global warming
to a silly spectacle. He stresses on the importance of analysing these
cinematic discourses to understand culture and values which needs a complete
transformation if a sustainable society is to be achieved. He concludes by
saying that the “study of the relationship between cinema and physical
environment”, known as “eco-criticism”, is part of the struggle to replace
anthropocentric values of the society with eco-centric culture (Garrard 2008).
“Eco-critics interested in unpacking the environmental meanings in
film and visual media, will have to be dependent on fields like environmental
philosophy, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and visual culture and media
studies. So it is important to study not only the “images of ecology”, but, as
Andrew Ross argues, the “ecology of images”, that is, the ethics, politics,
economics, and “ecologics” of the way images are produced, circulated, and
consumed in our society. The latter might best be thought of as consisting of
three interconnected dimensions or levels: the material, the perceptual and the
social. Looking at cinema according to these multiple dimensions will allow
for the emergence of a more full-fledged and mature ecological cinema
criticism to develop” (Ivakhiv 2008).
69
Marcondi (2010), in the introduction chapter of her book 'Framing
the World Explorations in eco-criticism and film', urges readers to adopt an
eco-critical stand point toward all types of films as eco-criticism and film
criticism together offer a much needed viewpoint on the motives and impact
of a culture’s portrayal of nature and of environmental justice concerns.
2.7
STUDYING TAMIL CINEMA
Cinema is an art form which reflects the aspirations, dreams and
concerns of the people it is made for. Cinema, apart from its entertainment
value, also serves as a historical record for generations. The argument that
feature films cannot be used as historical evidence as there is an element of
fiction in it is countered by film historian Theodore Baskaran, as he states
historians’ view that a source material is most valuable when the purpose for
which it was recorded is the farthest away from the motive of the historian
(Baskaran 2009). Moreover, filmmakers are also part of the society they make
films for, and their narratives are based on the events and incidents of that
particular society. Whether historical or contemporary, films are a reflection
of every aspect of a society at a given point of time. These do serve as a
historical record as most events are weaved by the directors themselves based
on the happenings around them.
The study of cinema as an academic discipline has its own
challenges as academic institutions consider cinema as just an entertainment
medium not worthy of study. The only university in India which has a
department of cinema, is the Jadavpur University in West Bengal. But the past
two decades saw a spurt in academic curiosity in cinema as studies by
scholars like M.S.S.Pandian proved the close interaction between politics and
cinema in Tamil Nadu (Baskaran
2009). “Tamil cinema, backed by a
productive industry and a wide distribution network that appeared in the wake
of the Tamil diaspora, has been drawing a lot of scholarly interest recently.
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This medium of cinema has been an area of interest for lot of researchers in
the recent decade, from various academic disciplines, as the impact of cinema
is all pervasive in the society” (Baskaran 2009).
2.8
IMPLICATIONS OF THE REVIEW
The fundamental environmental ideologies and beliefs which
societies hold transpire from communication, which happens at various levels
from individual to institutional communication, and analyzing these
communications is vital to understanding the relationship between humans
and nature.
Everything from the environmental laws which are enforced, the
environmental education in schools, to environmental activist groups follow
an ideology (Corbett 2006).Environmental ideologies fall into various
categories, ranging from anthropocentricism to eco-centricism (Corbett 2006).
Knowledge on these ideologies is essential to understand and analyze
environmental messages and discourses in popular culture.
Environmental communication is both pragmatic and constitutive,
it educates, alerts, persuades, and helps us to solve environmental problems,
and on the other hand constructs the representation of nature and
environmental problems as subjects for our understanding (Cox 2013).
Environment in popular culture is highly constructed, as the mere
notion of ‘environment as an issue or a problem’, is itself the product of
active ‘rhetoric work’ and construction in the public sphere (Hansen 2010).
In the pre-colonial era in India, societies were strongly influenced
by eco-centric or biocentric ideologies, but in this age of modernization and
globalization where newer forms of exploitations of nature occur, these eco-
71
centric philosophies do not make an impact (Gadgil & Guha 2013).Also, the
environmentalism of the west is of little help as it too prescribes the
preservationism and conservationism over the needs of the poor masses.
Indian environmentalism comes under what experts call ‘utilitarian
conservationism’ as it was not born out of the need to conserve nature for
nature per se, but for its value as a resource to people who depend on it
(Narain 2012).
The three dominant and distinct ideological perspectives within the
Indian
environmental
movement
are
the
‘Crusading
Gandhi’,
an
environmental philosophy based deeply on religion and which completely
rejects the modern way of life; ‘Ecological Marxists’, an ideology based on
Marxist philosophy on the question of unequal sharing of resources; and
‘Appropriate Technologists’, which depend on both tradition and modernity
for solutions to environmental crisis (Gadgil & Guha 1994).
In India, the struggles of people to save their environment has taken
many forms, but principally based on the “satyagraha”, meaning “truth force”,
a non-violent protest method inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.
Representation of nature in popular cinema or any media shapes
our attitude and beliefs to the natural environment, which inturn patterns our
actions which can either be preserving or destroying in relation to nature; our
actions, in turn, enables to either
preserve the ecosystem or damage it
(Corbett 2006).
The most popular, influential and all pervasive mass medium in
Tamil Nadu is cinema. Tamil cinema, with its mass appeal and reach, has the
potential to promote a new culture or challenge existing social, cultural and
political beliefs and norms.
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Cinema has very deep influence and impact on every aspect of life
of the people in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India. Tamil cinema has
grown to become the most domineering influence on the cultural and political
life of Tamil Nadu (Baskaran 2009).Socially, narratives in cinema have
effectively erased the practice of untouchability, caste consciousness,
religious supremacy and economic dominance in Tamil society (Baskaran
2009). Politically, five Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu were actively involved
in Tamil cinema, either as writers or actors.
The popularity of cinema in Tamil Nadu can be attributed to the
unique characteristics of the medium of cinema (a) the escapist nature of
films, (b) literacy not being a prerequisite for watching a film,
(c) consumption of cinema not requiring a huge capital investment like
purchase of a television set or radio, but anyone who can afford a ticket could
go and watch a film.
No other media has so much restriction and is carefully scrutinized
like cinema in India. India has a relatively free media, be it newspapers or
television, but the medium of films alone calls for censorship in India.
According to the Supreme Court of India, the visual nature of the film assures
a high degree of attention and retention and hence evil ideas will have a
strong impact on the minds of the viewers and can affect emotions (CBFCIndia 2012). Therefore, medium of cinema cannot be compared to other
modes of communication as it has as much potential for evil as it has for good
and has an equal potential to instill or cultivate violent or good behavior.
No film in India is produced without song sequences, comic
interludes, sentiments, fight sequences and romantic scenes (Thomas 2008).
Though there is a great influence of Hollywood on Indian films, it is very
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difficult to categorize and slot Indian films based on Hollywood genres and
conventions. Indian cinemas have a mix of everything like tragedy, comedy,
romance, horror, and adventure, all in a single film. “Indian media has
distinguished Indian films with terms like ‘social’, ‘family social’,
‘devotional’, ‘stint’ or even ‘multi-starrer’, terms hard to gloss quickly for a
western readership” (Thomas 2008).
The difference between Hindi and western films is like that
between an epic and a short story (Thomas 2008). Indian cinema’s narrative
has endless circularities, digressions and detours, and plots within plots,
contrary to the linear and logical and psychologized narratives of Hollywood
cinema (Dissanayake 2004).
Tamil cinema narratives are complex and multi-dimensional in
structure. Cinema, unlike other mass media, has layers of meanings super
imposed on every action it portrays on screen (Velayutham 2008). The
subjects addressed by Tamil cinema say as much about Tamil society, its
people and culture as they do about Tamil films (Velayutham 2008).
Films that have tasted commercial success are a valuable source for
study and are a potential source of information about the shared, collective
concerns of the group for whom the film was made (Monaco 1976).
An eco-critical study of the relationship between cinema and the
physical environment will contribute to the understanding of ecological
values of the society and can contribute to struggle to replace anthropocentric
values of the society with eco-centric culture (Garrard 2008).
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Eco-criticism aims to promote ecological awareness and bring
ecological consciousness to the study of texts and other media, and
understand the place and function of humans in relation to the non-human
world (Marcondi 2010).
Films with environmental themes and
ideologies like "Erin
Brockovich," on water contamination, “A Promised Land” on fracking, “Day
After Tomorrow” on climate change, “The China Syndrome” on nuclear
disaster greatly influence attitudes and actions of the audience. Growing
number of studies have proved that popular culture images like those in films
and advertising have a direct and deep
influence on the environmental
ideologies of individuals and societies (Cox 2013).