BIO

My name is Emily Nguyen and I am a second-year from Jacksonville, Florida majoring in Human Resource Management and Management Information Systems. As a first-generation college student, it has been so important for me to be involved on campus in order to receive the support needed to feel more integrated with other students, as well as succeed in college. Beyond being involved in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, I will be serving as an Orientation Leader for the 2022-2023 school year, I am a member of the Vietnamese Student Union, and I am involved with the Southern Scholarship Foundation. I am grateful for this opportunity to showcase our research on women in Bollywood films since this has grown to be a passion for me over the course of the year, and I am so excited to present our research with my co-hosts this afternoon!

Portrayal of Women in Bollywood films and What Does it Mean?

Abstract

Bollywood films are most popular in India but due to the expansion in the global market, we have seen a rise of such films in the United States especially. While our research is primarily on how female characters are being portrayed by female directors, it is important to understand why such research is relevant. Most commonly, women are portrayed as distressed damsels or submissive to their male counterparts in historical Indian cinema. Not only does this reinforce negative stereotypes, but it does not provide a positive image of women to potentially young and impressionable audiences. Despite these harmful depictions, the Bollywood industry has a mass following and continues to be a lucrative asset--proving its global impact. Suffice to say, the impact of how women are portrayed in Bollywood films is crucial to shaping how they are perceived outside of the cinema. In analyzing several films directed by female directors, our research has illuminated whether or not these depictions are maintained or changed and how that has impacted future perceptions of women.

Keywords: Bollywood, Women, Film