The Mortality Narratives in Cultural Representations: Themes and Tropes in Malayalam Cinema

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.462

Keywords:

Mortality narratives, Malayam cinema, Deleuze and event, cultural practices, film studies

Abstract

Malayalam cinema is a vibrant creative space that post 1990s, underwent a transformation, leading to a proliferation of films, uniquely experimental in nature. An interesting perspective explored in detail was that of mortality, analysis of death from a microcosmic perspective. Evaluating death as an event in Deleuzian framework enables us to gain interesting insights and the film used for study here is Ee. Ma. Yau. (2018) which has a funeral foregrounded in the narrative. The paper traces the encounter with death in popular films, over time, to comprehend social discourses built around mortality in India, specifically in the southern state of Kerala in India.  Death and the social interventions in this context emerge as aspects significant for this study.

Author Biography

Swapna Gopinath, Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication

Associate Professor of Filma nd Cultural Studies

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Published

2022-10-04

How to Cite

Gopinath, S. (2022). The Mortality Narratives in Cultural Representations: Themes and Tropes in Malayalam Cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 11(1), 89–114. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.462

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