Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper will be an attempt to look at recent representations of same-sex desire in mainstream Indian films. It will connect these films to the discourses surrounding identity and nationalism in a post-colonial environment. It will look at how these representations intersect with class, domestic family dynamics and hegemonic notions of nationalist identity. In doing so, it will also analyze how gay and lesbian characters are positioned within the main narrative. If we look at the globalization phenomenon in India, it is ironic how certain “western” discourses to do with development and progress, are unproblematically adopted by a country which views the West as a defiling agent otherwise. This contradiction comes through very strongly when dealing with homosexuality which is erroneously and conveniently attributed to “western” culture. This picking and choosing of “modernity” is a fascinating phenomenon that is also brought out in GLBT visibility in Indian cinema today.
These films thus offer a lot to be examined in terms of content, as well as packaging of same-sex desire. I will analyze these films according to how these characters are portrayed as gay/lesbian, their placement in the main narrative and their class identity. Some questions that I will attempt to answer in my analysis: How do these films offer positive spaces of visibility for these characters? Are the films with “positive” representations of gay characters really successful in breaking away from the homophobic portrayals of gay characters as seen in other films?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Of the people who packed theaters in 2004 to see Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” most were already regular churchgoers. Using data from a Fall 2004 poll of a Southern state’s adult population, this study investigated the merits of explaining this phenomena using a presumed media influence model in which religious individuals chose to see the movie partly because they believed that the movie would promote religious faith and practice among others. Results provide support for the model but suggest a need for a more refined operationalization of the “other people” thought to be influenced.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Hong Kong cinema is extremely exceptional in the world. Despite the lack of government protection and support, it was rarely dominated by Hollywood features. The question of my paper is, “How did the early year (pre-1990s) of Hong Kong and Hong Kong cinema enable Hong Kong cinema to flourish in the 1990s?” It is a study of the history of Hong Kong and its cinema. I will examine the political, economic and social formation of Hong Kong which has facilitated Hong Kong cinema to be competitive in the world market. Hong Kong cinema, strangely, in its regional and global context, benefited from the world's asymmetrical power structure. It was enabled by Hong Kong’s political detachment, economic autonomy and social network. However, the same factors also made it vulnerable to volatile international changes and impeded its growth.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: As the global popularity of Hindi cinema continues to grow, increased scholarly attention is being paid to the themes and tensions explored by Indian directors within both domestic and diasporic contexts. In this essay, I draw upon Giddens’ metatheory of structuration and Habermassian public sphere theory to focus on key thematic fault lines that have emerged in contemporary Hindi cinema, including the binaries of tradition-modernity, popular-artistic, east-west, local-global, and motherland-diaspora. Through this analysis, I illustrate how structuration helps to explicate the production and reproduction of these tensions within the context of globalized media. I conclude by outlining an agenda for research.

Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Abstract: Mexican New Cinema (MNC) is a term which appeared in Mexico’s public discourse during the late 1980s after some profitable Mexican films began to gain attention from audiences inside and outside the country. The term is elusive in that this phenomenon seems to correspond more to the impressive effort of film production and profitability in a country economically overwhelmed, than to an ideological, technological, or aesthetic trend. The purpose of this study is to define ‘Mexican New Cinema’ and to identify distinguishing narrational procedures and metaphors of Mexican identity construction in MNC discourses after the political divide in year 2000. This year coincides with both the change in government after 70 years of one ruling party and the beginning of a recovering, though uneven, film production. Previous studies concerning representations and stereotyping of Mexicans in cinema were conducted before MNC emerged. They form part of general histories of Mexican cinema written by both Mexican and foreign historians, critics, and scholars concerned with the evolution of genres and representations of Mexicans from the 1890s to the 1980s. Drawing from the circuit of culture model described by Paul du Gay and colleagues, this discourse analysis will identify the distinguishing narrational procedures and metaphors of Mexican identity construction in Mexican New Cinema discourses from 2000 to 2004. The purposive sample will include the semiotic analysis of 10 films produced by the public and the private sector, and 20 long interviews with producers, directors, and screenwriters directly involved in their production.