This book analyses how independent filmmakers from Bangladesh have represented national identity in their films. The focus of this book is on independent and art house filmmakers and how cinema plays a vital role in constructing national and cultural identity.
The authors examine post-2000 films which predominantly deal with issues of national identity and demonstrate how they tackle questions of national identity. Bangladesh is seemingly a homogenous country consisting 98% of Bengali and 90% of Muslim. This majority group has two dominant identities – Bengaliness (the ethno-linguistic identity) and Muslimness (the religious identity). Bengaliness is perceived as secular-modern whereas Muslimness is perceived as traditional and conservative. However, Bangladeshi independent and art house filmmakers portray the nationhood of the country with an enthusiasm and liveliness that exceeds these two categories. In addition to these categories, the authors add two more dimensions to the approach to discuss identity: Popular Religion and Transformation. The study argues that these identity categories are represented in the films, and that they both reproduce and challenge dominant discourses of nationalism.
Providing a new addition to the discourse of contemporary national identity, the book will be of interest to researchers studying international film and media studies, independent cinema studies, Asian cinema, and South Asian culture, politics, and identity politics.
Author(s): Fahmidul Haq, Brian Shoesmith
Series: Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 212
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Notes
References
1. Nationhood, Identity and Independent Cinema
Nationhood and Identity
Representation and Identity
Discourses on Independent Film: Global and Bangladeshi
Film Narratology
References
2. Identity Approaches of Bengali Muslims
Bengal before the Muslim Conquest
Bengal under Muslim Rule
Interregnum: The British Imperialism and Movement of Pakistan State
Language Movement and Emergence of Bangladesh
Bengaliness as a Way of Being
The Rise of Muslimness
Islamic Revivalist Movement
British Policy
Hindu Chauvinism
Popular Religion: The Syncretic Identity Approach
Tantric Buddhism, Sufism and Vaishnavism
Post-Independence Bangladesh: Two Major Identities in Conflict
Transformation and Deterritorialisation
Jihadist Islam
Notes
References
3. The Making of Independent Cinema in Bangladesh
Early Influences
First Phase (1984-1992): Early Short Films
Early Characteristics
Some Limitations of Early Independent Films
Second Phase (1993-1999): Thrust to Transformation
Industrial Cutting Edge
We were Forced to be Independent
Third Phase (2000-2010): New Challenges and Opportunities
Corporate Electronic Media as Parallel Industry
Local Entrepreneur as Producer
Digital Filmmaking in the 2000s
Diverse Survival Strategies
Fourth Phase (2011-2018): Going Global
Documentary in a Different Note
Government, Censorship and Independent Cinema
Notes
References
4. Textual Analysis: Foundational Films
Kittonkhola: Struggle with Identity in the Rural Bengal
Histoire
Recit
A Tale of the Transformation of Identity
Portrayal of the Power Structure of Peripheral Bengal
Behula or Manasa: Feminine Dichotomy
Narration
A Tree Without Roots: Portrayal of Muslimness of a Peasant Society
Lalsalu and Syed Waliullah
Histoire
Recit
A Fatalistic Society
Manufacturing Fear
Women: Victim, Labourer and Rebellious
Anti-Islamic Text?
Narration
Dollhouse: Love in the Time of War
Histoire
Recit
War Victimises Woman
War Can Confuse People
Nationalist Narrative of Resistance
A Dollhouse can be Built under Aggression
Nature of Bengal: Additional Narrative
Narration
References
5. Textual Analysis: Transitional Films
The Clay Bird: Plurality of Identity of Bangladesh
Histoire
Recit
Constructing Identity: Bengaliness, Muslimness and Popular Religion
The Clay Bird Symbolises Freedom
Representing Cultural Diversity
Narration
Meherjaan: Challenge to the Grand Narrative of Liberation War
Histoire
Recit
An Absurd Affair?
Can a Birangana Speak?
Nationalist Jingoism and Moral Policing
An Untimely Deconstruction?
Is 'Loving the Other' Possible?
Narration
Television: Religion's Negotiation with Modernity
Histoire
Recit
Television as a Vehicle of Imag(e)ination
A Conflict between Zealotry and Modernity?
Religious Sense and Sensibility
Love in the Time of Religious Bigotry
Narration
References
6. Textual Analysis: Contemporary Films
A Runway: Profiling Terror Network in Bangladesh
Histoire
Recit
Dealing with Jihadist Islam
Geneology of a 'Jongi'
Class Exploitations Everywhere
Narration
B Ant Story: Globalised Man's Descent into Madness
Histoire
Recit
Psychoanalysis
Contemporary Bangladesh
Narration
C Under Construction: A Document of Time and Space under Construction
Histoire
Recit
Narration
D My Bicycle: Changing Indigenous Life on the Advent of Modernity
Histoire
Recit
A Historiography of Indigenous People
Depiction of an Ethnic Identity and Culture
Advent of Modernity and a Changing Society
Military and the Censorship Fiasco
Narration
References
7. Representing Identity through Cinema
Bengaliness and Muslimness as Conflicting Identities
Bengaliness as the Preferred Identity Approach
Popular Religion in the Selected Films and the Greater Identity Questions
Bangladesh Society in Transition and Deterritorialisation
Women in the Identity Politics: Victim, Labourer and Rebel
Class as a Component in Identity Politics
'Oriental's Orientalism': Re-reading the Case for Independent Films in Bangladesh
Independent Cinema as a Cultural Institution: It's Influence in Constructing Identity
Notes
References
Conclusion
References
Index
