3. Art, Censorship, Social Justice
The Issue/Event: The banning of the production of Deepa Mehta’s film, "Water"
The filming of Water, about Indian widows in the 1930s, was stopped in 2000 when the Indian government withdrew the film’s location permits as protestors went on a rampage. The theme of Water explores the plight of Indian widows, who were and still are socially discriminated against. The death of their husbands, the measure of their worth, reduces them to living on the margins of the patriarchal extended family, often working as domestic help when able-bodied, forced to enter widow houses when old, prevented from eating certain foods, and usually dressed in a simple white sari shorn off her hair and jewelry.
The ancient and holy city of Varanasi was to have provided the setting for Water, the finale of Mehta’s trilogy: Fire, Earth and Water. But before it could be completed, two thousand protestors stormed and destroyed the sets, burnt effigies of Mehta, and threatened to kill and hurt her and her crew. The political/religious parties which led the angry mob proclaimed themselves as the guardians of the culture of Hinduism and of Varanasi. They declared that the world did not need to hear the problems of the widows in India and argued that Mehta had been poisoned by western influences and was simply looking for a story to sell, using the potent mix of widowhood and sexuality.
Positions:
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Jasmine Yuen-Carruncan (Australian camera assistant): ‘I flew back to Australia with the understanding that one of the greatest privileges we have in this country is the right to free expression. A country where directors and other creative artists are given the freedom to choose whether they want to make a political statement, rather than being forced to do so.’ (Yuen-Carrucan)
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Mehta presents an unfavourable view of Hindu society that panders to Western fantasies about life in India.
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Hindu Right groups used violence to coerce the Utter Pradesh government in an attempt to interfere with Deepa Mehta’s freedom of expression.
Questions:
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How is censorship to be viewed? As stifling dissent? As protecting the public? As representing the position of a majority — or a minority? What is the psychology of censorship?
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Do artists have a responsibility to the public and, if so, which public? Is it Mehta’s duty to expose the plight of Indian widows or to respect the sensibilities of Hindu fundamentalists? Or does she address her own sensibilities as a woman, a film-maker, an Indian, a Canadian resident?
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Do we interpret art, or does it interpret us? And, if the latter is the case, what might this say about art that upsets us
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What is the relation of art to hierarchy? Can art – by presenting, representing, interpreting, setting an agenda for thought –a) influence hierarchies (challenging them, fostering them) and b) influence the way we think about hierarchies? Might art create a space/distance, which enables us to engage with entrenched hierarchies in new ways? Can art instigate social change?
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What is considered ‘degrading’ and ‘denigrating’? What differentiates Water from the Bollywood production Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, which attempts a positive depiction of the life of a Hindu woman, who is primarily a daughter, a wife, and a mother?
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What is the role of the listener in discussions of ‘free expression’? Is there even such thing as ‘free expression’? Or is all expression culturally determined?
References:
(1) Yasmine Yuen-Carrucan on The Politics of Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/28/water.html
(2) Moorti, Sujata, ‘Inflamed Passions: Fire, the Woman Question, and the Policing of Cultural Borders’, Genders, 2000, #32. (http://www.genders.org/g32/g32_moorti.html)
(3) Sabala, ‘Breaking the Silence: Exploring Women's Sexuality’, in Voices: A Journal on Communication for Development. April 1999. 3 (1).p.22-24. Location: SNDT Churchgate.
(4) ‘Kabul bans Indian films’, The Guardian, 28 August 2002 (Officials in Kabul have banned Indian films from being shown on television and ruled that radio must not broadcast women singing. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2222332.stm)
