The impact of cinema can be monumental since it shapes our vision. However, with enormous pros, the film industry we know can also involve bigger cons.
Cinema is more than just a form of art – it can appear as a banner exhibiting several troops of pointers that have been practically normalised. A stereotype is often a recognizable set of ideas people have about someone, especially which is extremely inaccurate and misleading. The discourse about stereotypes usually always starts with a thud upon several groups of people advocated in a light people assume is normal. The progress needle of cinema has evolved with time, yet the stereotypical boundaries haven’t quite moved away.
Cinema is acutely responsible for expanding vision of individuals, especially since it vocalises the actions most of the crowd refrains to discuss. The stereotypes we root for have existed in the cinematic bubble from its inception in time – representing derelict, forsaken ideas that do not really comply well with the present time countdown.
The exhibition of black, enslaved single mothers restricted in impoverished and indigent ghettos has kindled altercation in the stream of cinema. Black characters are often portrayed as the enemy of a suburb – especially because they are impersonated as past inmates, or convicts who represent the notion of menace.
The volley of sexism has always sprouted within the carton of cinema, manifesting ideas that often mislead a set of audience, diverting them to assert dominance over opposite genders who are widely considered inferior while they are in fact not. Hollywood, as much as Bollywood, characterises women within shells of boundaries, undertaking jobs that symmetrically represent their gender qualities.
Women undertake jobs that are usually stereotyped feminine, like nursing. They are displayed as characters balancing job responsibilities and their families – often under the pinpoint of questions. It is normal to have a family, and yet to be a working individual – not only by men but equally by every gender. The idea of financial support should not be of the man alone, but ideally for everyone seeking an independent life.
The impact of racism and sexism has often played a pivotal role in the film industry, and as much as we are trying to move away from barriers that once defined us, it seemingly is becoming a notion fiercely getting adopted in the cinematic arena. There is an abundance of films, like “Vivah” or “Mard” that have shown us innumerable instances of sexism against men and women both. While “Vivah” stereotypically demonstrated women to be strikingly beautiful in order to get married, “Mard” characterised men to be strong pillars of family, refusing to feel emotion due to robust, masculine structures.
Films like “Vivah” cement the vision of the audience in the light usually assumed normal, marginalising women and shaping their ideas inferior to men. The cinematic bubble of “Vivah” represented women spending time in the kitchen, serving men their plate first. The female protagonist in the film stereotypically demonstrated the notion of docile, subordinate and an ambitionless woman lead, whose role is considered significant within the walls of a kitchen.
The cinematic sphere carves the way individuals perceive characters and their roles, and it is time that filmmakers chose to forgo ideas that are ideally illusory, and misleading.