Research Symposium

BIO

I am an honors student at FSU pursuing a dual degree in both Neuroscience and Spanish. I love learning about languages and cultures and in the future I want to incorporate my interests into medical research.

Representation of Women in Bollywood Films

Abstract

This project is looking specifically at Bollywood films produced by female directors and how female characters in Bollywood films differ from characters in films produced by men. Female directors are somewhat rare in the Bollywood film industry, especially those who are backed by Indian film production companies. While not always the case, female directors tend to give more agency to female characters in Bollywood films. Women are less sexualized and seen as objects of desire and instead have dreams and aspirations. Each female character was categorized through a process called "film coding“, which looks at the number and qualities of female characters. A survey gets filled out about every major female character. Each survey for that specific character is then cross-referenced to make sure data is accurate and reported accordingly. Preliminary data reveals strong correlations between female directors and female characters having more “favorable” traits. These traits include any behavior that does not result in violence or abuse at the hands of another party, including but not limited not clothing choice, temperament, and reactions to confrontation. Men on average outnumber women in Bollywood films 6:1, this includes in the films themselves and set workers. In spaces where there is a female director on the set of Bollywood films, there is an increase in women working on film sets. With more women directing movies in the Bollywood film industry, audiences see female characters with more autonomy, and more women have jobs on film sets.

Keywords: Bollywood, Directors, Female Characters