Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity

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Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity An Ethnography of Men's Filmgoing in India

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Steve Derné

Book Code: GM1287

ISBN: 0-313-31287-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-31287-8

DOI:

224 pages

Greenwood Press

Publication: 3/30/2000

List Price: $115.00 (UK Sterling Price: £65.00)

Availability: Print on demand

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Contributions in Sociology

Series Number: 129

Reviews:

...With audience studies predominantly studying women, a study showing how patriarchal mechanisms operate through emotion and sociality amongst male audiences is very welcome. Another achievement of Derne''s book is his participant observation of filmgoing itself; certainly the first such effort in India. He shows how cinema audiences interact with the film screen in India: the shouting and cheering are crucial the male experience of film.
—Critical Sociology 2002
Cinema is such an important industry and cultural influence in India that studies of films and audiences are almost irresistibly intriguing. It is valuable and interesting to get informed opinions about this field of life. Steve Derne's ethnographics study Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men's Filmgoing in India is no exception....[v]ery enlightning and instructive.
—Contemporary South Asia 2001
In addition to its cultural insights, the study adds to the growing body of research that emphasizes the diversity of Indian ways of thinking, especially how Indian men balance alternative notions with mainstream traditions.
—Mass Phenomena

Description: Men in India are attracted to Hindi films partly because of their attraction to depictions of "modern" lifestyles. Derné argues that films help men handle their ambivalence about modernity by rooting their sense of "Indianness" in women's acceptance of traditional food habits, clothing, and gender subordination. The book is one of the first ethnographic studies of filmgoing and one of the first to focus on mainstream male audiences. Derné considers the effects of films' eroticization of domination and submission on men's sexuality. The study provides ethnographic support for Mulvey's argument that filmgoing prompts men to make women the object of a controlling look. The book shows how films invent new ideologies of male dominance by associating Indianness with limitations on women's movements, and by portraying men as rational and modern, and women as emotional and traditional. One of the first ethnographic studies of filmgoing and one of the first to focus on mainstream male audiences, the book contributes to a rethinking of some key arguments in media studies. While media studies have rightly focused on how films prompt men to gaze at women, this study shows that films simultaneously encourage men to see themselves as the object of controlling looks. Derné exposes as one-sided the scholarly emphasis on how Indians value hierarchy and group guidance, asserting that Indian films instead celebrate individualism and love.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Approaching Modernity: Filmgoers and Filmgoing in Two Cities
Mas=al=a: Filmmakers Create a Crazy Salad with Broad Appeal
Liminal Escape, Sober Return to Reality: Audiences at Play with Hindi Film Reversals
Men Embrace Individualism and Love
Handling Ambivalences About "Western" Ways: Strong Male Bodies, Modest Women, and New Ideologies of Male Privilege
Constructing Sexuality and Male Dominance
Contributions to the Sociology of Audience Reception
Appendices
Bibliography
Index

LC Card Number: 99-046152

LCC Class: PN1993

Dewey Class: 791


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