...Summer Work...

Media Representations

Who is being represented?

• In what way?
• By whom?

The text that i have chosen to study is Cash (Hindi, 2007) within this movie the women protagonists are all shown non inferior to men, both male and female protagonists are equal.

-Shamita Shetty although married (to Ajay Devgan) has a professional job, she is very confident and is not controlled by her Husband.
-Esha Deol, an independant women, who is uncatchable, she is too fast.
-Dia Mirza who also plays a role with her Boyfriend (Sunil Shetty), but Sunil doesnt seem to have any control of her.

ALL FEMALE PROTAGONISTS IN THIS FILM ARE NOT DOMINATED BY ANY MALE CHARACTERS. IT'S LIKE THE ROLES OF FEMALE ACTRESSES IN BOLLYWOOD HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME, AS THEY SAY ITS THE 21ST CENTURY, WOMEN ARE EQUAL TO MEN. BUT THIS CHANGE HAS TOTALLY REVOLUTIONIZED BOLLYWOOD.
CASH MAY BE AN AUTHENTIC/ACTION/ADVENTURE MOVIE, BUT BOLLYWOOD FANs WOULD KNOW HOW DRAMATICALLY THE FILM INDUSTRY IS CHANGING. ISIT HOLLYWOOD INFLUENCE OR WHAT?
WELL AS TIME GOES ON INDIA IS MODERNISING, AND SO WILL ITS FILM INDUSTRY. YOU WOULD NOT HAVE SEEN WOMEN BEING EQUAL TO MEN IN BOLLYWOOD BACK IN THE 20TH CENTURY, OH NO YOU WONT, BECAUSE WOMEN WERE KEPT UNDER THE FINGER, THEY WERE RESPECTED FOR BEING SHY/QUITE/INNOCENT AND BEAUTIFUL. BUT IN THE 21ST CENTURY WHAT WE ALL WANT TO SEE IS HOW MODERN THE INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY IS, BECUASE ALL BOLLY WATCHERS NOW KNOW THAT FILMS GET BETTER AND MODERNER


Why is the subject being represented in this way?

• Is the representation fair and accurate?
• What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?

According to todays society, the representation of female protagonists are fair, but these characters are to be seen under-dressed. The female actresses nowadays are seen as sex symbols, like in CASH>>>

Media Languages and Forms

• What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
• What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
• What is the significance of mise-en-scene/sets/settings?
• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?

As a whole, the movie focuses on the action, the stunts and the sophisticated roles. But when it comes to the girls theres' some irony, because Bollywood still hasnt fully morphed to an modern/contemporary film industry- they still follow thier traditional bollywood values.

Well i can say that the Denotative meaning would be that in this movie, the female protagonists are shown as independant role mdoels in the modern indian society. The Connotative meaning can be that they are shown as sex objects, which would be there for the 'male gaze'

The female protagonists are to be seen as sex symbols, due to their roles as well as their get ups 'aka' props. If you look at the pictures above you would see how skimpy their clothing is. This poses the significant connotation of the protagonists.

Throughout the film we see many different facial expressions/gestures. but the main facial expressions are Curious, Oddity and Cunning. Gestures are created so the audience can identify the protagonists feeling.

Cash has many different Mise-en-scenes, but the most obvious one would be the city, where the most of the filming is done. It is set in Cape town, south Africa. The city implies modernism, new technology, high in commerce and culture. With tall structures and life being so busy living in the city, tells us how modern these protagonists are. We are shown how professional each character is in their job. They are clever, hard working and FAST!!! Especially the girls!!!

Well music in films are used to show the themes of the text, however most of the time in Bollwood it's there to convey love n passion. Songs are there for many reasons but whatever the genre, having songs is a must in Bollywood. The music in CASH is there for :
- love/passion (Shamita Shetty & Ajay Devgan)
- Entry roles (Esha Deol)
- Start Credits
- End Credits

Finally there was an "ITEM" song/number in CASH...VDO can be seen on the Side Bar>>>
An Item song refers to highly sexualized songs with racy imagery and suggestive lyrics. The "item number" would feature an "item girl" who appears in the film as a dancer, usually in a bar or nightclub, and was only in the film for the length of that song.
or
to include almost all upbeat dance numbers involving either a woman in skimpy clothing, or a "guest appearance" from a star who is only in the movie for the length of that song. It is a common occurrence for these item numbers to occur in the opening and closing credits of Bollywood films.

Narrative

• How is the narrative organised and structured?
• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
• What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
• What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc within the narrative?
• What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?

The movie has a non-linear stucture, this is because the story starts of from the present time, then goes in a flashback, then back in present time, then flashback....this regurgitates several times...finally it comes back to present time and the films ending is shown.

Genre

• To which genre does the text belong?
• What are the major generic conventions within the text?
• What are the major iconographic features of the text?
• What are the major generic themes?
• To what extent are the characters generically determined?
• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?
• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?

The Genre of the text is-

Double Cross
Animation
Action
Thriller
Heist
Surfing
Caper
Con Artist
Diamond
Exploding Car
Hang Gliding
Mastermind

The Generic Conventions of this text would be action, some thrill, master mind thinking.

Yes the movie casts all well known characters. Ajay devgan the mastermind, is one of the famous casts in the movie, also Suniel Shetty. These character are known to be in thriller/action/or comedy films. Zayed Khan is known just for Action or thriller.

Media Institutions

• What is the institutional source of the text?
• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?
• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?
• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter?
• How has the text been distributed?

Its Production Company-
Karma Entertainment

Its Distributors-
Adlabs Films Ltd. (2007) (India) (all media)

Adlabs produces movies, distributes, has television sector & cinemas. This means Diversification can be done as they have thier hand in other industries. This tells us how well known and how big they are.

Media Values and Ideology

• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it?
• What criteria have been used for selecting the content presented?

That women are independant, they can do things their way, not in co-ordination of men. Props/clothing is the main criteria which has been used to show this, as well as the characters role.

Media Audiences

• To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience?
• What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?
• What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning?In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?
• What do you know or can you assume about the likely size and constituency of the audience?
• What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?
• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background etc?

Well i think the text is addressed to people who enjoy action/thriller/adventure films. Their age may be 15 years or over, who would understand the movie as it has an complicated plot. It would really attract the male audience as there is action, cars and the girls, it does definatley fulfill the male interest. The secondary can be the females as they see the independant female protangonists doing stunts, which would stun the female audience, as they would relate themseleves to it, thinking 'wow that was a nice kick, or some bad ass driving or wow girls can do that too'

Due to a big cast, there would be a mass audience, as the cast was a perfect lot for such movie.

I think this text is a KEY text for Bollywood, because it emphasises the equality we are still underpinning in society. When i saw this movie i felt that there something different about this movie, its ironic because we dont really see films like CASH which show all women as indpendant, so i thought Bollywood is moving away from its women being passive and men being active, but when i see other movies from Bollywood i still see that there is male patriachy, so this made me to look at this issue/study.

Due to my Asian background, we assume the female protagonists being an insult for Bollywood industy for doing these kind of roles, and would be de-moralising the traditional values and norms of the Asian Culture, but because we are now advanced and modernised we accept this happily. But i do feel Bollywood is being held back and it can't open itself freely.