Bhadžis paplūdimyje: hibridinė tapatybė ir populiarieji diskursai Didžiosios Britanijos diasporiniame kine | Bhaji on the Beach: Hybrid Identity and Popular Discourses in British Diasporic Cinema

• Main Author: Deimantas Valančiūnas
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Vilnius University 2012-01-01
• Series: Literatūra (Vilnius)
• Online Access: http://www.literatura.flf.vu.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/58-691.pdf

Gurinder Chadha is a British South Asian diasporic director who attained international acclaim releas­ing films Bend it like Beckham (2002) and Bride and Prejudice (2004). However, her first feature film Bhaji on the Beach (1993) is one of the finest exam­ples of British diasporic films. Released in the sensi­tive post-Thatcheric era, it investigates the complex issues of gender relations, racism, domestic violence, and hybridity in the diasporic environment. The film director also emphasizes different ideological for­mations which are produced in, and disseminated through popular discourses. Therefore this article ex plores the ways identity is constructed through vari­ous ideological and nationalistic discourses embed­ded in the popular culture, particularly in Bollywood and imperial British cinema and heritage films. Such popular discourses are seen as major ideological forces used to establish monolithic and fixed identity, creating disruptions and crises when it clashes with contemporary hybrid British culture.