Monsoon Wedding
Monsoon wedding”(2007), an award winning movie, directed by mira nair. Features widely known Indian actors, such as Vasundhara Das, Naseeruddin Shah and Vijay Raaz.
The film is based on the autobiographical account of Mira Nair's own family.( Manish Gajjar 2002) It is about a stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten events coordinator, and relatives from around the world who create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India (IMDB). The excellent exploitaation of symbolism, colour and costumes together with the contrast between modern and traditional India has been successfully depicted the Indian values and beliefs. Nonetheless, with the use of representations, and by dealing with the concept of love, cultures and gender, the film manages to capture the attention of its audience and to broaden its appeal to all corners of the globe
The main Representations in the film are colours, symbolism and gender and class
Colour
This element plays a significant role in “Monsoon Wedding”. They are shown frequently to portray the reality of India and give the audience a deeper understanding of cultural values and beliefs. Nevertheless, they also challenge the majority of people on their assumptions about contemporary Indian culture, as they reinforce the traditional Indian customs, whereby the modern values are also being portrayed.
In India, orange and red connote absolute purity, innocence and love. Alternatively, white has the connotation of mourning and death (Hartley’s recourse centre). This is evident in an early sequence of the film when Lalit, the father of the bride, is urging the wedding events coordinator, PK. Dubey, to decorate the wedding tent colourfully with orange and red. Whereas, Dubey insists on having the tent in white, the American fashion.
This scene verifies how India applies different cultural symbolism in selecting colours compared with other cultures. In addition, this also provides evidence showing that
The film is based on the autobiographical account of Mira Nair's own family.( Manish Gajjar 2002) It is about a stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten events coordinator, and relatives from around the world who create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India (IMDB). The excellent exploitaation of symbolism, colour and costumes together with the contrast between modern and traditional India has been successfully depicted the Indian values and beliefs. Nonetheless, with the use of representations, and by dealing with the concept of love, cultures and gender, the film manages to capture the attention of its audience and to broaden its appeal to all corners of the globe
The main Representations in the film are colours, symbolism and gender and class
Colour
This element plays a significant role in “Monsoon Wedding”. They are shown frequently to portray the reality of India and give the audience a deeper understanding of cultural values and beliefs. Nevertheless, they also challenge the majority of people on their assumptions about contemporary Indian culture, as they reinforce the traditional Indian customs, whereby the modern values are also being portrayed.
In India, orange and red connote absolute purity, innocence and love. Alternatively, white has the connotation of mourning and death (Hartley’s recourse centre). This is evident in an early sequence of the film when Lalit, the father of the bride, is urging the wedding events coordinator, PK. Dubey, to decorate the wedding tent colourfully with orange and red. Whereas, Dubey insists on having the tent in white, the American fashion.
This scene verifies how India applies different cultural symbolism in selecting colours compared with other cultures. In addition, this also provides evidence showing that
Bibliography: Manish Gajjar (2002), Movies - Monsoon Wedding Available at website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/films/2002/02/monsoon_asian.shtml Date accessed: 4th June, 2008 Hartley’s recourse centre (unknown), COLOURS Available at website: http://www.geocities.com/resourcepages/colours.htm Date accessed: 4th June, 2008 Jason Baldridge (2002), LANGUAGE IN INDIA Available at website: http://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html Date accessed: 6th June, 2008 Monsoon Wedding (2001), unknown Available at website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265343/ Date accessed: 5th June, 2008 Date accessed: 2nd June, 2008 Marigold – spiritual (unknown) Available at website: http://www.plantcultures.org/plants/marigold_spiritual.html Date accessed: 4th June, 2008 Mr. dowling (2005), The Caste System Available at website: http://www.mrdowling.com/612-caste.html Date accessed: 5th June, 2008