Real, Reel and the Anthropocene: Eco-trauma Testimonies in the Film Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal

Authors

  • Bibin Thomas School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Calicut https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6194-3921
  • Reju George Mathew School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Calicut

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2021.391

Keywords:

Anthropocene, Endosulfan, Kasargod, Pesticide, Testimony, Eco-trauma, Film, Environment

Abstract

The paper attempts to read the Endosulfan disaster in Kerala as an instance of the Anthropocene wherein the unscientific use of a pesticide resulted in the persistent misery of a population and the ecology in which they struggle to survive. The suffering is further presented to a larger audience through the film Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (2015, Dir. Dr Biju) by assimilating the reel and the real to bear testimony to their struggles amidst the toxicity of the chemical. The film, as the paper argues, becomes a representative text in the eco-trauma genre that on the one hand displays the disaster while on the other offers a cultural resistance against the unchecked use of chemicals around us. The film situates the Endosulfan disaster amongst the global movements against the pesticides and emphasises the need of a healthy environment.

Author Biographies

Bibin Thomas, School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Calicut

I am a Research Scholar in English at the School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, Kerala, India.

Reju George Mathew, School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Calicut

I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut, Kerala, India.

References

Bateson, Gregory. (2000). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Biju. (Director). (2015). Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal [Film]. Maya Movies.

Carson, R. (2000). Silent Spring. Penguin UK.

Crutzen, P. J., & Stoermer, E. F. (2000, May). ‘The “Anthropocene”’. IGBP Newsletter, 17-18. Retrieved from http://www.igbp.net/download/18.316f18321323470177580001401/1376383088452/NL41.pdf

Crutzen, P. J. Geology of mankind. Nature 415, 23 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415023a

Felman, S., & Laub, D. (1992). Testimony: Cries of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. Routledge.

Freud, S. (1961). Beyond the Pleasure Principle (J. Strachey, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism. Routledge.

Herman, J. (2015). Trauma and Recovery. Basic Books.

Kaplan, E. A. (2005). Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature. Rutgers University Press.

Leib, L. H. (2011). Human Rights and the Environment: Philosophical, Theoretical and Legal Perspectives. Martinus Nijhoff.

Levy, D., & Sznaider, N. (2006). The Holocaust and Memory in the Global Age. Temple University Press.

Lyotard, J. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press.

Mathew, R. (2010, October 16). India opposes ban on endosulfan despite Kerala plea. The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/India-opposes-ban-on-endosulfan-despite-Kerala-plea/article15783711.ece

Narine, A. (Ed.). (2015). Eco-Trauma Cinema. Routledge.

Nayar, P. K. (2017). Bhopal’s Ecological Gothic: Disaster, Precarity, and the Biopolitical Uncanny. Lexington Books.

Nayar, P. K. (2019). Ecoprecarity: Vulnerable Lives in Literature and Culture. Routledge.

Nixon, R. (2011). Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard UP.

Quijano, R. F. (2002). Endosulfan Poisoning in Kasargod, Kerala, India: Report of a Fact-Finding Mission (Rep.). Retrieved from http://files.panap.net/resources/endosulfan_report_Kerala.pdf

Schaffer, K., & Smith, S. (2004). Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition. Palgrave.

Thanal. (2009). India’s Endosulfan Disaster: A review of the health impacts and status of remediation. (Rep.). Retrieved from http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/IndiaEndosulfan.pdf

Vermeulen, Pieter. (2020). Literature and the Anthropocene. Routledge.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-14

How to Cite

Thomas, B., & Mathew, R. G. (2021). Real, Reel and the Anthropocene: Eco-trauma Testimonies in the Film Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 9(2), 147–163. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2021.391

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2021): Fall 2021

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.