Cinema in the City

Tangible Forms, Transformations and the Punctuation of Everyday Life

Bibliographic Data

ID2162828
AuthorsLakshmi Srinivas (Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Group of Institutions, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume23
Issue1
Pages1-12
Publication date2010-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueVisual Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0894-9468 • E-ISSN: 1545-5920
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08949460903368879
OpenAlexW1978429215
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited2

In India, cinema does not exist merely on the screen; it permeates everyday life. Just as formula films are punctuated with song and dance, fantastic interludes which at times break from the narrative to express the dreams, wishes and desires—in short the “inner-world” [Kakar 1980 Kakar , Sudhir 1980 The Ties that Bind: Family Relationships in the Mythology of Hindi Cinema . India International Centre Quarterly , (special issue) , 8 ( 1 ): 11 – 21 . [Google Scholar]] of characters—everyday life in India may be seen to be punctuated with the fantasy world of cinema. If popular Indian cinema is indeed a “collective fantasy” or “group daydream...containing the unconscious material and hidden wishes of a vast number of people” [Kakar 1980 Kakar , Sudhir 1980 The Ties that Bind: Family Relationships in the Mythology of Hindi Cinema . India International Centre Quarterly , (special issue) , 8 ( 1 ): 11 – 21 . [Google Scholar]: 12], what is to be made of the images from this fantasy world which populate the urban landscape? What does cinema's spectacular presence in the Indian city mean for cinema? For urban life? Scholars of film in India have commented on cinema's ubiquity and presence outside the theater, noting the pervasiveness of film music, film fashions and film magazines and of the posters and other visible icons of films, such as “decals, painted signboards, giant movie hoardings [billboards] and towering cut-outs” that clutter urban space [Dickey 2005: 69; see also Dickey 1993 Dickey , Sara 1993 Cinema and the Urban Poor in South India . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]]. The colorful posters, “cut-outs” and hoardings which announce a film and which make cinema's presence in the city tangible have been studied as art [Dwyer and Patel 2002 Dwyer , Rachel , and Divia Patel 2002 Cinema India: The Visual Culture of Hindi Film . Piscataway , NJ : Rutgers University Press . [Google Scholar]] and as advertisements, “circulations and reproductions” of cinema which form a mediascape and which provide urban spectacle [Jacob 1998 Jacob , Preminda . 1998 Media Spectacles: The Production and Reception of Tamil Cinema Advertisements . Visual Anthropology , 11 ( 4 ): 287 – 322 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]]. Taking a phenomenological perspective, this essay provides a descriptive analysis of the incorporation of cinema into everyday settings, addressing the significance of this presence in the context of the flow of urban life and for the “extra-cinematic experience” [Spitulnik 2002 Spitulnik , Deborah 2002 Mobile Machines and Fluid Audiences: Rethinking Reception Through Zambian Radio Culture . In Media Worlds . Faye Ginsburg , Lila Abu-Lughod , and Brian Larkin , eds. Pp. 337 – 354 . Berkeley : University of California Press . [Google Scholar]]. While study of posters and billboards as advertisement acknowledges their intentional role, this essay comments on the unintentional aspects of cinema's visual and tangible presence outside the theater, and the kinds of reaction and interaction it attracts

Aesthetics · Art · Everyday life · Fantasy · Hindi · Literature · Media studies · Movie theater · Mythology · Narrative · Sociology · Cinema and Media Studies · History · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · South Asian Cinema and Culture

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