Masculinities, femininities, and the patriarchal family: a reading of The Great Indian Kitchen

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to examine the representation of masculinities and femininities in the renowned South Indian drama film The Great Indian Kitchen. The research construes the manner in which the two dominant genders promote and/or modify patriarchal norms within the institution of family. The functioning of women as ancillary members of patriarchy, the interplay between masculinities and femininities, their evolution in contemporary times, etc., are also critically engaged in the paper. The paper argues that the movie The Great Indian Kitchen not only illustrates different masculinities and femininities but also reconstructs the patriarchal family structure which institutionalises gender inequality. It further argues that the movie proposes an alternative image of the family based on gender equality, where men and women live with mutual respect and complementation.

KEYWORDS:

• Malayalam cinema
• masculinities
• femininities
• patriarchal family
• gender

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their very insightful comments and indispensable improvements to the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.