Movies, Masculinity and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men's Filmgoing in India (review)

Movies, Masculinity and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men's Filmgoing in India. By Steve Derne. Greenwood Press, 2000. 212 pp. Cloth, $59.95.

Given that India is the world's largest producer of feature films, with roughly 800 films being produced every year during the 1980s, Steve Derne's study of these films is timely and significant. As the title suggests, however, this is not just a study of Indian films as cultural texts; it is an ethnographic study of the social context within which men view films. The book is not so much concerned with what films means as it is concerned with the sociology of filmgoing. Consequently, analytical focus is directed as the way in which the filmgoing experience factors into the way in which men make sense of their Indian identity, their sexuality, their ambivalence about the west, their ideas about love and romance in the context of arranged marriages, and gender issues broadly defined.

Although ethnographic -- in the sense that Derne observed men watching films and participated in filmgoing in two cities -- at base this book is sociological rather than anthropological, and as a sociological study it is extremely thorough, very detailed and profoundly academic. Derne's analysis reflects a solid grasp of the literature dealing with popular culture in general and sociology of film in particular. To supplement his ethnographic data and to strengthen his arguments he has also made effective use of the abundant popular literature on films that is available in India.

Broadly the book is concerned with male power and expressions of masculinity as men in India deal with "modernity." As such it fits with a current trend in Indian studies to question overarching generalizations by focusing on the diversity of local experience and what Derne refers to as "alternative Indian ways of thinking." After the first two chapters, which introduce readers to Hindi language and their various audiences, and where Derne explains their tremendous appeal, each of the following five chapters can be characterized as dealing with a specific issue or problem. Chapter 4 makes the argument that films are an escapist fantasy and thus function to release tension. Although filmgoers enjoy the vicarious pleasure of rebellion, they do not model their behavior on the messages in films. A clear distinction is maintained between the fiction of rebellion and the fact of conformity. In chapter 5 the argument is that although men tend to reject rebellion, they embrace ideals of individualism and romantic love as these ideals are reflected in film and made possible by the cinema as a location outside the sphere of family control. In embracing these ideals, however, both men and women have become concerned with the problem of Westernization. The argument in chapter 6 is that men and women are able to use films to define a positive sense of Indianness set againt images of the West and Westernization that are regarded negatively. Although regarded as positive, this new sense of Indianness reflects male dominance. Chapter 7 deals with how films celebrate aggressive sexuality and violence wherein men have power and women do not.

The book will be of interest to sociologists and anthropologists who study gender in general and masculinity in particular. In the field of Indian studies it provides important insight into the debate about the relationship between modernity and gender identity. Although not explicitly comparative, it will be useful to scholars who study the sociology of popular culture in a cross-cultural comparative framework.

Joseph S. Alter, University of Pittsburgh

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