Response to "South Asian Female Representation in Hollywood"

I loved the three movies you chose for your analysis because I have watched these films and always felt uneasy about the way the South Asian women were represented. I agree with what you said about how Hollywood aims to increase their diversity however does so in an extremely counter-productive manner. If they wanted to truly increase diversity with the intention of enabling representation then the characters they have in their films must be complex, layered and full-fledged like people are in real life and like other ethnicities are represented in film.

Of the three movies you analyzed, Slumdog Millionaire is one I had the most problem with even when I watched it first. When I saw Anil Kapoor acting in a movie that paints India in such a negative and narrow-minded light, I was confused because of how renowned he is and how much experience he has. Furthermore, I think that women in these films are always seen through the men's lens, never subjectively as their own but always in relation to another male character. Like in the case of Latika, she could have been developed into a large part of the film which would push female representation forward. Instead, she was seen objectively through Salim and Jamal's lens.

I also completely agree with what you said about the importance of changing the way Hollywood represents South Asian women. I also think that there must be a shift in all of Hollywood in terms of representing all minorities. As a connected global world, we are all exposed to films and media like this which is extremely detrimental for women who are progressive but are forced to settle into these small gaps.