Adam's Rib: a celebration of women in Indian cinema

 

 

After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

from "Extracts from Adam's Diary" by Mark Twain

 

When I first came up with the idea of devoting the month of March to women in Indian cinema I had no idea, really, what to call it, and I sort of half-jokingly toyed with the idea of calling it Adam's Rib after the 1949 film directed by George Kukor, starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (and which bore the tag line:  "It's the hilarious answer to who wears the pants."  Some days I think it's obvious who wears the pants in the business of cinema.)

The more I thought about it, though, the more I thought that perhaps it was the best name for what I hope to see happen in March, as I originally quoted from Women in Malayalam Cinema:  Naturalising Gender Hierarchies, edited by Meena T. Pillai:  a celebration of the "immense creative and productive potential" of women.

One interpretation of the idea of Eve being created from Adam's rib is that it represents the fact that she is, in fact, his equal; having been taken from his side, she complements and completes him.  And I suppose that idea is precisely why it gets up my nose a bit at times when women are given short shrift, in any endeavour, but also in cinema. 

In the end, I kind of think it's fitting to call a month celebrating women in cinema "Adam's Rib", in a tip of the hat to the fact that, in a kind of cinematic Garden of Eden,  cinema would be much less rich without some of the wonderful women who make films, write films, and star in films -- and who, all too often, support men in the fringes of films.

So that's the plan for the whole month of March, and I'm giving everyone a head's up now so they have all of February to plot, plan, and write.  There are no rules:  just write about women in Indian (and diaspora) cinema.  You could look at actors, directors, writers.  You could just write about your favorite female actor if you want.   You can look at women's issues, and how they're dealt with in film.  Anything goes, as long as it fulfils the month's essential aim:  to celebrate women and their creativity and talent.

If you would like to join in, let me know in the comments, and I'll put together a list of participants.  I'll also collect the links on Delicious, and I'm going to suggest using the hashtag #adamsrib on Twitter.

Let's show everyone who wears the pants around here!

Comments

[Beth]

I will most definitely try to play along, though I'll be in India for enough of March that I'm not sure I'll be able to post much of substance. Tweets, though, yes. :D

[Asimburney]

That's an awesome idea!

-Asim

[Liz C]

Beth, you should definitely tweet/email photos of film ads and posters with women from India!

I'm in. I have two or three ideas, and will hopefully be able to put some time towards this. I'll also volunteer to pull together a list (for you to post, or I can do it on my blog) of some existing posts that people have done that might fit in nicely.

[Temple]

I'm in. I have a couple of suitable films planned already and will see what else strikes my fancy. Cheers, Temple

[katherine]

@beth As Liz points out, there definitely things you could add to this mix via Twitter!

@Asim Does this mean you're in? ;-)

@Liz That would be brilliant! You should put it on your blog, if you're doing the work, and everthing will just get added into the list of links at Delicious anyway for everyone to enjoy.

@Temple Super!

[Krishna Kavita Kasturi]

Am definitely in, wonderful idea. Will write an article for sure. Though don't really subscribe to the Adam Rib's theory - I lean more towards the 'Ardhanareshwara' concept :)

[Maxqnz]

My next two blog posts are abuot my two favourite actresses, so in this post I see somewhat suspiciously serendipitous synchronicity..

[Isabel]

The plan was to work on the representation of the white woman in the indian cinema but february flew by and I don't have much to go by. So I'll try to still work around that problematic but with a less academic approach than originally expected.

[katherine]

@Krishna Kavita Kasturi You may approach this any way you please, and I'm curious to see what you'll do, I'm sure this will be a learning experience for me.

@maxqnz Serendipity indeed!

@Isabel Consider it research and a warm-up for what you'll do with the subject later. :-)