STOLEN GLANCES, DANCES, AND FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: EVOLVING REPRESENTATIONS OF ROMANCE IN PAKISTANI CINEMA
Keywords:
Cinema, Culture, Gender, Pakistan, Postcolonial, Romance, WomenAbstract
This study explores the shift in the narratives, character depictions, and cinematic techniques used in the representation of romance on national screens. As the traditional urban, lower-middle-class and lower-class viewership gives way to a more diverse, socioeconomically varied demographic, the portrayal of romance becomes a means of reflecting and engaging with the gender stereotypes and moral ambiguities embedded within Pakistani society and culture. Through an analysis of three mainstream Pakistani romantic films, which were marketed as romance and/or featured conventional happily ever after endings, this study demonstrates that despite an increasing awareness of gender equality in character development and plot resolution, these films continue to reinforce traditional patriarchal gender binaries and regressive relationship dynamics. Contemporary Pakistani cinema increasingly shows female protagonists who exercise agency and challenge traditional power structures, but these narratives ultimately restrict women’s autonomy by framing it within acceptable patriarchal boundaries. I argue that the shifting cinematic representations of romance highlight the moral ambiguities in Pakistani popular culture and these ambiguities are constructed in response to the broader postcolonial sociocultural and religious structures.
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