This article analyzes the representation of the figure of the\u00a0dasi<\/i>\u00a0in early Tamil film. Against the backdrop of the abolition of the\u00a0devadasi<\/i>\u00a0system in the Madras Presidency and the reformist activity associated with it, the article attempts to look at how the figure of the\u00a0dasi<\/i>\u00a0underwent a strong repression in the cinematic discourses of the 1930s and 1940s. This was part of nationalist modernity, a project that sought to secure a new sexual economy in which the\u00a0dasi<\/i>\u00a0was eventually narrativized out of Tamil film and pushed to the cultural margins of Tamil society. The article focuses on one film,\u00a0Cintamani or Bilvamangal<\/i>\u00a0(1937) and shows how in this text the repression of the figure of the\u00a0dasi<\/i>\u00a0was accompanied by an irruption of the real, the \u201cuncanny.\u201d It argues that there existed a nexus between sexuality and vision in early Tamil film, and that cinema itself acted as a safeguard against the trouble of the excessive sexuality embodied in the\u00a0dasi.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article analyzes the representation of the figure of the\u00a0dasi\u00a0in early Tamil film. Against the backdrop of the abolition of the\u00a0devadasi\u00a0system in the Madras Presidency and the reformist activity associated with it, the article attempts to look at how the figure of the\u00a0dasi\u00a0underwent a strong repression in the cinematic discourses of the 1930s and 1940s. Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,58,26,21],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-courtesan-films","tag-film-tropes","tag-secondary-source","tag-tamil"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t