Bollywood, or the mainstream Indian Cinema, has been presenting the idealised image of male characters as machismo or super-hero, revered and emulated by all, while simultaneously demoting women to trivial or insignificant roles. However, during the last two decades, celluloid developed new experiments projecting its female characters as redefining and reconstructing the stereotypes redundantly dominating the silver screen. In this article, I propose to explore femininity through the lens of hegemony in opposition to the emphasised femininity of Connell and alignment with Mimi Schippers and Carrie Paechter’s understanding of hegemonic femininity by looking at its depiction on the panoptic silver screen of Indian cinema. The article will reconnoitre, discuss and compare the femininity of the female protagonists in the select Indian movies Fire (1996) and Shakuntala Devi (2020) and will analyse how there is a scope and space for the discourse on hegemonic femininity portrayed as having significant overlap with hegemonic masculinity instead of standing in diametrical opposition. The article will also analyse the construction of hegemonic femininity to hegemonic masculinity and other forms of femininity, fidgeting with the reality of weaving the prospects and probability of surviving the lead roles while continuing to nurture and maintain the traditional hierarchy of gender binary. The meticulous perusal would keenly try precipitating the truth or the repercussions of the role portrayal of women leads in the Indian Cinema—whether these female leads are concomitantly deconstructing the gendered stereotypes associated with male/female binary or operating in tandem with hegemonic masculinity to safeguard a still patriarchal and binary gender order.

This study highlights intelligent bots and their uses in journalism and media by looking at the leading global experiences in exploiting this technology within media institutions through integrating the technological determinism theory and, to a lesser extent, the job insecurity theory into the studied context. The study used the Delphi method to anticipate the future effects of artificial intelligence on human journalists’ jobs, based on the opinions of a sample of researchers and experts in the relevant subject that were gathered through personal interviews and other external sources. The information collected from experts, researchers and specialists showed a divergence in opinions between pessimistic and optimistic about what the human job will become after the penetration of AI within media institutions, depending on key indicators with technological, professional, and economic dimensions.

Due to their long-standing marginalisation in mainstream social and cultural settings, the hijra community continuously strives for recognition. Bollywood film Laxmii 2020 has added to the prejudice and misconceptions surrounding hijras by perpetuating biases and stereotypes and using them as a source of comic relief and mockery. This article examines the portrayal of hijras in the Bollywood movie Laxmii ( Lawrence, 2020 ) based on two dimensions. The first is gender identity, as examined through the performative theory of gender rather than essentialist formulations. Second, Baudrillard’s (1983) formulation of postmodern hyperrealism is applied to analyse the exaggerations and mutilations of common concepts. Considering the positive and negative portrayals of hijra characters in Bollywood movies, we attempt a comparative study to comprehend the evolution of hijra representation diaphanously. However, in Laxmii, a substantial gap is recognised between reality and fiction, as the movie fails to demonstrate the real-life experiences of the hijras while paving the way to the narrative of the unreal ghost.

Many young people have aspired to become social media influencers (SMIs) in today’s social media proliferated world. However, there has been little scientific literature about this widespread aspiration. This study introduces a robust and straightforward self-report scale measuring desire to be an SMI. Item and factor analyses supported the unidimensionality of the desire to be an SMI questionnaire. Reliability analysis, including inter-item correlation, corrected item-total correlation and Cronbach’s α, revealed good internal consistency. Subsequently, we investigated the psychological determinants and consequences of the desire to become an SMI. Results revealed that desire for fame, materialism, perceived deprivation, preference for immediate gratification to delayed gratification and confidence in one’s success as an SMI predicted desire to be an SMI. In addition, an elevated desire to be an SMI was linked to a tendency to place less value on education but not on careers in education (e.g., teaching). Our findings suggest that the aspiration to be an SMI may inspire ‘hope labour’, which may lead young people to devalue education.

The notion of Celtic music is constantly changing based on specific contexts. Mass media used as communication tools to promote and sustain an authentic tradition could be complicated in terms of contextualisation and commodification in a globalised world. Hence, this work investigates the formation of Celtic music identity, its transformation, tension, and adaptation to the global world. Prior work in the literature suggests more practical-based research in homogenising Celtic music’s historical and musicological discourse to discover its potential in cultural reconstruction and knowledge that links to its global development. Thus, this study explored the global development of Celtic music and analysed the impact on its definition through the influence of cultural hybridity and global media by investigating its origin, cultural changes, and possible sustainable interventions.

© Media Watch | Volume XII | Issue No. III | 2021 ISSN 0976-0911 | E-ISSN 2249-8818 DOI: 10.15655/mw/2021/v12i3/165405 Article | Open Select Download PDF Impact of Social Media Influencer Marketing On Youth Purchase Intentions in UAE Ahmed Farouk Radwan1, Sheren Ali Mousa2, MervatMedhat Mohamed3, & Enaam Youssef Mohammed Youssef4 1University of Sharjah, UAE 2Helwan University, Egypt 3,4 Ajman […]

© Media Watch |12 (3) 440-450, 2021 ISSN 0976-0911 | E-ISSN 2249-8818 DOI: 10.15655/mw/2021/v12i3/166019 OTT Media Streaming in COVID-19 Lockdown: The Indian Experience Suresh Chandra Nayak & Santosh Kumar Biswal Amity University Chhattisgarh, India Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, India Abstract Covid-19 has immensely impacted every walks of life worldwide, including in […]