Border and Bordering Practices from the Cinematic Lens

Abstract

The article considers the interface between border and popular culture by examining five selected films. Borders are those establishments which not only mark the limit of territory but also are the entities within and around which the interplay of integration and differentiation takes place. Are the existing borders disappearing in the wake of transnational activities, thereby transforming the world into a borderless space, or have they assumed a metamorphosed less visible yet stringent form? There is a clear indication of evolving (b)ordered spaces in the complex web of everyday bordering practices in the society at multiple levels. The article involves critical engagement of events, activities, exchange and other transactions occurring around border, borderland and bordering space. Out of the three tenets of critical geopolitics, the article looks at popular geopolitics and indulges in the cinematic manifestation of borders and related cross-border instances. The article relies upon the Internet Movie Data base (IMDb) as the source of films on border issues.