REVISIVITING THE CHILDHOOD THROUGH SELECTED CHILDREN’S FILMS IN MALAYALAM

Abstract

The image of a child has long been employed for ideological objectives in national cinemas all throughout the globe. The representation of children and childhood in cinema is an open dialogue in the field of children's films. Disney films portrays children in ideal family and societal situations, making Disney films acceptable to the broader public as representations of conventional children and family ideals. Those kinds of films may have an impact on promoting an idealised picture of childhood since millions of people across the world watch them. Similarly, according to Giroux (2004), Disney films combine an ideology of enchantment with an aura of innocence, which is built around children's learning and development of themselves and their world, yet they tend to have traditional views on socio-cultural aspects around them. Children in early British silent films were depicted as self-representation, in contrast to their innocent appearances in Hollywood films. Children can be found as the central focus of the narrative in Malayalam films such as “Manjadikuru”, “Ottal” and “101 Chodyagal”. Children are shown in these films in a real world with complex challenges, destabilising the idea of the "innocent child." The researcher examines how the selected Malayalam children’s films help to reinforce and negotiate ideological and social codes interlacing gender, sexuality, class, and caste.