Abstract
In this article, I explore the portrayal of the information technology (IT) boom in Indian Tamil cinema to think through representations of unemployed youth. Three main questions anchor this article: one, what are the ways in which unemployment is problematized? Two, how are depictions of unemployment (and employment) gendered? How do gendered representations of unemployment feed into dominant tropes of language, given the Dravidian orientation of Tamil cinema? Three, how are these crises resolved, and what imaginaries do they present of relationships between men and women? Through a reading of three recent films that directly or indirectly relate to the IT boom, I offer an analysis of the privileging of certain professions, skills and academic disciplines under capitalism, its effects on employment prospects for youth, as well as its gendered implications. I argue that the films assert a subculture of masculinity that represents the subaltern male’s encounter with the globalizing city and its many transformations – most visibly the feminization of labour represented by the IT industry. Refuting the claim that cinema has positively embraced neoliberal subjectivity and celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of youth, I show that the ‘unemployed hero’ is constructed as a social conscience to highlight the problems of a globalizing world. Though many aspects of late capitalism are productively critiqued through such consciousness-raising, the breakdown of traditional gendered roles appears as a leitmotif, exposing the gendered nature of anxieties accompanying the IT boom. The remaking and consolidation of masculine identity then becomes a way to manage these anxieties.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.