Fire, Water and The Goddess: The Films of Deepa Mehta and Satyajit Ray as Critiques of Hindu Patriarchy

This article focuses on Fire (1996) and Water (2005), two films directed by Deepa Mehta that present patriarchal Hindu attitudes to women and sexuality as in need of reform. Mehta’s films have met with hostility from Hindu conservatives and have also been accused of Orientalist misrepresentations. W...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Burton, David F. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2013
In: The journal of religion and film
Year: 2013, Volume: 17, Issue: 2
Further subjects:B Patriarchy
B Satyjit Ray
B Deepa Mehta
B Hinduism
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Description
Summary:This article focuses on Fire (1996) and Water (2005), two films directed by Deepa Mehta that present patriarchal Hindu attitudes to women and sexuality as in need of reform. Mehta’s films have met with hostility from Hindu conservatives and have also been accused of Orientalist misrepresentations. While these objections highlight the contested nature of “authentic” Hindu identity, Fire and Water remain powerful indictments of male hegemony in Hinduism. Mehta has cited Satyajit Ray as a major influence on her work; there are interesting parallels between Mehta’s films and Ray’s film Devi (The Goddess, 1960), which explores the plight of a young woman in a patriarchal Hindu family in the nineteenth century.
ISSN:1092-1311
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of religion and film
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.17.02.03