The silent Tibetan women and their visual exclusions in Pema Tseden’s ‘Tibetan Trilogy’

Abstract

It can be observed that Pema Tseden’s ‘Tibetan Trilogy’ is a series of male-dominant films. Men, at times, serve as ‘images’ used to represent Tibetan culture and ethnicity. Women in the trilogy can be considered silent and sometimes they are outside of the dichotomy of ‘image’ and the play of the ‘look’. This visual representation of gendered politics can be seen to differ from feminist film studies readings of ‘woman as image’ and ‘man as bearer of the look’ in traditional (Hollywood) mainstream cinema. Meanwhile, the trilogy rejects any objectification and exoticisation of Tibetan culture and landscape. This paper therefore takes into consideration a postcolonial feminist perspective to examine if it is possible to understand Pema Tseden’s refusal to include visually women in his ‘Tibetan Trilogy’ as one way in which he rejects the objectification and exoticisation of the Tibetan culture. In addressing this question, this paper will adopt the lines of inquiry, asking: can the ‘Tibetan women’ speak? If yes, from where can they speak? What can they speak? In this way, this paper raises questions for whether and how the permissible subjectivity of female characters in the trilogy can speak, be heard or be seen.