DECONSTRUCTIVE
READING OF ‘HELLARO’: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS
Name- Kavisha Alagiya
|
Paper 8 (C)- Cultural Studies
Roll No- 10
Enrollment no.- 2069108420200001
Batch – MA 2019-21
Submitted to - Smt S. B. Gardi Department of English
|
CONTENTS
Keywords
Introduction
Deconstruction- Meaning and
Ideas
Aspects of Deconstruction
and its application in ‘Hellaro’
Free play of Meanings
Decentering the center
DifferAnce
Metaphysics of Presence
Binary oppositions
Conclusion
Works Cited
DECONSTRUCTIVE
READING OF ‘HELLARO’: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS
abstract
“The is
nothing outside of the text”
The above mentioned statement
by Derrida contains a great deal of truth yet it is ambiguous to search for a meaning
of the text. A text can therefore have multitude meanings. ‘Hellaro’ is a
Gujarati period film directed by Abhishek Shah which the National Film Award
for Best Feature Film at the 66th National Film Award. Majority of
the critics would agree that the film is so far an insightful retort against
the patriarchy. This film as a text provides a multitude of images of the
culture of Gujarat. Critics have written many controversial essays on the film
and its meanings as well as the effects it carries in the minds of the audience
of Gujarat. All the readings and the interpretations leads one to the other,
but no critic can demand a particular write-up as the ultimate analysis of the
text.
The present study attempts to
analyze the text from a closest viewpoint in order to deconstruct it with a concern of a different reading of the film by applying the principles and rules
of Deconstruction as proposed by Derrida. Deconstruction doesn’t mean
destruction but it generates the possibilities of reading a text from different
viewpoints.
Keywords
Derrida, Deconstruction, Meanings, Signs, Hellaro.
DECONSTRUCTIVE
READING OF ‘HELLARO’: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
Beginning with Cultural
Studies, it is composed of elements of Marxism, post structuralism and
postmodernism, feminism, gender studies, anthropology, sociology, race and
ethnic studies, film theory, urban studies, public policy, popular culture
studies, and postcolonial studies: those fields that concentrate on social and
cultural forces that either create community or cause division and alienation. (Guerin, Labor and Morgan)
As Patrick Brantlinger points
out, cultural studies is not "a tightly coherent, unified movement with a
fixed agenda," but a "loosely coherent group of tendencies, issues,
and questions". While Pramod K. Nayar defines, “Cultural Studies is
interested in the process by which power relations between and within groups of
human beings organize cultural artifacts (such as food habits, music, cinema,
sports, events and celebrity culture) and their meanings.” (Nayar)
It would seem most obviously
that Cultural Studies focuses on the codes of a particular culture in order to
view the political domains which operate the codes. Jacques Derrida, a French
philosopher believes that a Culture is always ‘colonial’, in that it imposes
itself by its power to name the world and to instill rules of conduct. No one
inhabits a culture by nature. As a matter of definition, no culture comes
naturally. We are all exiles. Moreover, the culture we belong to is never
beyond improvement, never quite what it should be. (Belsey)
‘Hellaro’ (Shah and Gupta) with its traditional scenes and sets as
well as its base on a rural village of Kutch, with orthodox patriarchal mentality of village people explores the idea of liberty and other grave
issues.
DECONSTRUCTION- MEANING AND IDEAS
Although the French philosopher
Jacques Derrida did not invent the term ‘deconstruction’- he found it in
dictionary – it was an absolute and archaic word when he first used it in the
1960s. By the popularization of the term Derrida has become if not quite a
household name, certainly a superstar of the academic world. (Thomson)
“Deconstruction, for Derrida,
makes its way through an inventive movement towards a future in which the very
idea of movement into the future is conceived in a radically new – and not so
teleological –way.”
Not just a new heading or another heading for Man, but a
heading that would be something other than a heading for Man, a heading in
which the future remains, precisely, open, to come. (Glendinning)
Deconstruction resists easy and
simple summary. This may be because of Derrida’s philosophical interest. In
‘Psyche: Inventions of the other’ (1987) he notes that ‘deconstruction loses
nothing from admitting that it is impossible’, that it is ‘an experience of the
impossible’.
Deconstruction is to undo.
Peter Barry describes, “The deconstruction of a text does not proceed by random
doubt or arbitrary subversion, but by the careful teasing out of warring forces
of signification within the text.” (Barry)
ASPECTS OF DECONSTRUCTION AND ITS
APPLICATION IN ‘HELLARO’
Deconstruction arises out of
the structuralism of Roland Barthes as a reaction against the certainties of
structuralism. In ‘Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human
Sciences’, Derrida argues against the notion of a particular or knowable center.
“The function of this center
was not only to orient; balance, and organize the structure—one cannot in fact
conceive of an unorganized structure—but above all to make sure that the
organizing principle of the structure would limit what we might call the free play
of the structure.” (Derrida)
FREE PLAY OF MEANINGS
“Hellaro” can be viewed as a
text with multiple interpretations. The title of the film which is “Hellaro”
means ‘the air of freshness’, ‘a wave’ or ‘the outburst’ contains many serious
ideas within itself. On one hand this title has a literary significance of the
air of fresh thoughts or new vibes but on the very other hand the texture of
the film is going backwards with an aim to show the rural village of Kutch
during the time of emergency in and around 1975. In one of the scene (duration
15:40) the men of the village were discussing with ‘Mukhiya’ on whether to
allow a widow to fetch water from the river nearby the village or not. The time
of the film can be recognized in their conversation.
“The government has not been
able to reach here, how will the emergency get to us?”
The film pulls in the backward
direction with the rituals and norms which are followed by the village folks
but with the same speed those norms and rituals pushes the audience forward
where they are able to recognize the absences through which the film becomes a
revolt against the patriarchal constructions. Still the meaning of the title
seems unclear. The meaning of the text gets blurred at the moment of watching
the scene where the men perform Garba with swords. The title may mean a wave
but the first performance of Garba by men is thrilling where the camera speaks
the language. Outside men are playing garba but the suppression of women are
heard from the inside frame. The two vital frames represent women as always to
be located in actual contents of gender oppression and patriarchal family
structures. It creates an ambiguity whether the garba played by men proves
their manliness and their strength in controlling women or it is their
mentality to squash a little girl’s curiosity when she asks why she can’t play
the garba like her father. As soon as she finishes her question a strong
patriarchal voice flashes which command her mother to teach the daughter not
to even as such question! The ambiguity of these meanings generates the real
essence of the film where it can deconstruct such extravagant patriarchy and
can prove that the film is not only about woman’s revolt against patriarchy but
it also has many interesting characteristics that qualifies it as a good art.
An art, where the camera resides more inside the mud houses rather than
focusing on the performance of men.
DECENTERING THE CENTER
The center of the film, from a
shallow viewpoint, is the goddess or Maavdi. And as the deconstructive reading
demands the deep observation of recognizing the irony, the making of God and
glorification by men of the village generates a scope to read the absences, as well as the ironical implications, supports the idea of Albert Camus which suggests
that killing god is a necessary rebel. Through the making of the goddess and
glorifying her, the film perhaps reveal ironically the helplessness of humans
especially the women of the village. In the film the very idea ‘Maavdi’ of the
folktale from which the story is believed to have inspired, is killed. The
folks of the village keep on praying the goddess for rain but she is not at all
blessing the villagers. Despite this, a tale is weaved around the draught like
condition of the village where a woman’s elopement is the major issue. The
woman for the scope of earning attempted to liberate herself from the threshold
of patriarchy and the headstrong norms designed especially for the suppression
of women.
DIFFERANCE
From one point of view, it can
be said that Differing is Spatial and Deferring is temporal. Here is the
clarification of Derrida's 'differAnce'.
Different signs are suggested
in the film or text to prove certain meanings. The ‘Maavdi’ itself is the main
sign. The idea of ‘Maavdi’ is different to men and women of the villages. For
one group, it is the medium to express joy and for another it is the medium of
suppression. Because of this reason, perhaps, the women perform garba along the
tunes of dholi without any medium. The idea of ‘Maavdi’ is broken. The film has a woman protagonist who is the
sole literate in the whole village. Manjari, the female protagonist is educated
and studied until 7th standard which is symbolically said in the
incident when a letter arrives and all the men of the village is ashamed to
discover that they don’t know even to read. Here the meaning of the incident is
postposed once we try to reach at an interpretation that men may feel the
inferiority complex, the very meaning may get postponed in the next reading. The
sign of education generates the concept of curiosity which is hardly allowed or
approved in fixed patriarchal structure.
METAPHYSICS OF PRESENCE
Derrida says that by vacating
the language of meaning, we occupy another set of meaning and this way the
metaphysics of presence works which opens up new interpretations. In the film
‘Hellaro’, the dialogue is repeated almost number of times-
“MAavdi
rasto batavse”
‘The goddess will show us the
way or will lead us’. This very statement by the ‘Mukhiya’ of village rules the
film. The story is that the women are
going to fetch water from a distant river where one day they met a drum player
who plays the drum for them and they play the Garba. This happens every day till one day somehow
the men of the village come to know about the Dalit dholi and their wives who
try to liberate from their created rules as men have assumed that women are
their submissive and so should or must act only in accordance with their order.
The original folktale ends with all the women becoming Sati behind that Dholi
who was punished by the men. The film, though based on this folktale, ends
differently where it beautifully shows the revolt, rebel of the women without
disturbing the aesthetic decorum of the tale. The earlier frame which shows
that only men can play garba is completely broken down by the last frame.
Besides this, the narrative style with ellipses reveals the war of female
against the patriarchy, against the superstitious wall, against womanhood,
against the bondages of rituals, against nature, against their own life.
Besides this, the film can be
assumed to promote the casteism where the Dalits are portrayed as the lower
strata of the society. All the higher post and respect is given to the higher
strata in the dignified community.
BINARY OPPOSITIONS
Structuralists used to believe
that language is created on Binary Opposition where one is privileged over the
other. But deconstionists have totally dismantled this concept where they
believe there is nothing like opposite things. Everything is equal and on the
same line.
The film ‘Hellaro’ has indeed
made a change in the society where it tried to focus on the human centric world
rather than the god centric world as well as being a feminist film, perhaps, it
revealed the gender dynamics which operates within society. The
deconstructive reading may reveal that in the film all men, on one hand, have the deepest faith in their ‘Maavdi’ (Goddess) but on the very other hand they
oppress their own wives.
CONCLUSION
‘Hellaro’ though set in rural
world with orthodox tradition; it takes gigantic leaps in terms of thinking and
literacy against superstitious belief. The richness of the text particularly
the film enables
it to keep on producing new meanings. Any new reading of the film will come up
with new suggestions and new possibilities of cultural readings. Any reading
may remain valid until the new reading replaces it. The Times of India puts it
with a four star rathings- Hellaro is a beautifully made film that ends in
euphoria, not just onscreen but in the hearts of the audience as well.
WORKS CITED
1.Al-Jumaily, Ahmad Satam Hamad. "A deconstructive
study in Robert Frost’s poem: The road not taken." Journal of Literature,
Language and Linguistics 33 (2017): 16-22.
2. Barry, Peter. Beginning theory: An introduction to
literary and cultural theory. Manchester university press, 2017.
3. Belsey, Catherine. Poststructuralism: A very short
introduction. OUP Oxford, 2002.
4. Brantlinger, Patrick. Crusoe's footprints: Cultural
studies in Britain and America. New York, Routledge, 2013.
5. Derrida, Jacques. Psyche: Inventions of the other. Vol.
1. Stanford University Press, 2007.
6. Derrida, Jacques. "Structure, Sign, and Play in the
Discourse of the Human Sciences.” 1967." Trans. Richard Macksey and
Eugenio Donato. The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends.
Ed. David H. Richter. 3rd ed. Boston: St. Martin’s (2007): 915-26.
7.Glendinning, Simon. Derrida: A very short introduction.
Vol. 278. Oxford University Press, 2011.
8.Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to
Literature. 5th. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
9.Hellaro. By Abhishek
Shah and Prateek Gupta. Dir. Abhishek Shah . Perf. Jayesh More, et al. Prods.
Ashish Patel, et al. 2019.
10.Nayar, Pramod K. An Introduction to Cultural Studies.
New Delhi: Viva Books Private Limited, 2008.
11. Thomson, Alex. "Deconstruction." Waugh,
Patricia. Literary Theory and Criticism An Oxford Guide. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2006. 298-317.
Thank you.
Post a Comment