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Abstract

Women as a group have often been victims of oppression. Cinema being a medium that forms a part of the public sphere too has represented the same. Objectification of women is not something that is limited to a single entity. Objectification is something that is beyond the boundaries of caste, race, religion etc. The worth of a woman is equated with their appearance and their sexual functions. At the same time the female body not only becomes an object of pleasure but also becomes a site of power for males. The idea of controlling women by establishing a control over their body is one among the techniques through which patriarchy operates. Women on the other hand are denied control over their bodies, the violence inflicted on the female body places women in mental trauma. The female body undergoes a constant pressure to conform to the societal demands and norms constructed in patriarchal society. The idea that a woman’s body should be transformed and molded according to the needs of their partner reflects on how women lack rights on their body. This paper examines how women are represented in the selected movies; Ammu, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and Pathombatham Noottandu which portray women belonging to different time periods are objectified as instruments of sexual pleasure and victims of violence. The paper also attempts to unveil how cinema as a medium has brought into frame the experience of women, examining the changing trends in film narratives. The paper also attempts to read these film narratives in the light of the theory of body politics.

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