Burnt Brides Pay the Bitter Price of Dowry

Questions

1. Nirmala Chaudary was a girl who got married to a man named Hari Ram. Hari was chosen by her parents. Nirmala's family paid a generous dowry (a sum that the family of the bride pays to the groom) for their standards and the marriage was sealed. Only 4 months after, Nirmala's new husband came to her father, Subdash and asked for more money and a share in the Chaudary's flat. Understandably, Subdash refused to pay and 2 weeks later Nirmala was fatally injured in a kerosene fire in her in the house of the Ram family. Mr. Ram claimed that it had been suicide and since there were no evidence or witnesses of the crime there wasn't done anything about it.
   
2. Bride-burnings are getting more and more common because more and more people starts realizing that it is an easy way of making a lot of money from dowrys without getting punished for it. Over 1500 women have burnt to death in their homes since 1985, and that is just in New Delhi. Of course india has a huge population and compared to that the number may seem small but as a very likely way of murdering someone it is a lot.
   
3. The size of the dowry is determined mostly by the quality of the husband she will get. For example an education or good looks could raise the dowry quite a lot.
   
4. The Dowry Prohibition act does not have any effect because such a huge amount of people see it as a standard at almost every wedding. It is like forbidding danish people from giving each other gifts on Christmas Eve. Also, in the prohibition act, the word dowry is not defined. It is basically a gift and you can't forbid people of willingly giving other people positive gifts. It wouldn't make sense.
   
5. Marriage in India is not just declaring your love to one another. For the women's part it is determine who they will spend the rest of their lives with. Because once a woman gets married, she will live with her grooms family and perhaps never see her own family again. If the women isn't content with her new life there isn't much to do about it. Because divorce is very frowned upon and if done leaves a stain on the family possibly denying any sisters' chances of getting married. Therefore sometimes suicide is the only resort for an abused bride.
   
6. Both the women and the men in the advertisements wants to highlight their physical features such as height, and their educations or any other provable accomplishment.
   
7. In the western countries there are generally less traditions that are bound by religion and the focus is more on the individual freedom, which isn't a good thing all the time, because families have a tendency to become a bit distant of each other. Of course there are also extremist religious groups in western society but these exist all over the world. It has also been a general concern that women should have equal rights as men since the middle of the 20th century. In muslim countries some people think that women are being discriminated because they have to cover themselves, but if you were to ask a normal muslim female they would say that they do it completely willingly because that is what they believe in.  

Bride & Prejudice - Analysis of 2 scenes

How to read a film: Wedding scene

Mise en scéne/setting:

The entire scene is set in a very formal situation with traditional Indian clothes and environments and it is clear that the occasion is a wedding or some other formal event as the men are wearing some kind of white uniform like a suit in western culture and the women are wearing light-colored beautiful dresses almost like bridesmaids.

Framing and focus:

The main event in the scene is the dancing and therefore the people dancing are generally the people in focus. While the dancers mostly are in the foreground the spectators make for a lively background. The shot itself is at most times close up focusing on the details and expressions of the characters  or zoomed out to create an overview of all the people involved with the dance.

Camera movement:

The camera movement tends to pan in the general direction that the people dancing are moving but when it moves it does steadily. There is a lot of camera switching which creates a dynamic experience of the dancing but might seem a bit disorientating at times.

Camera angle:

Especially at first when all the women are situated on a raised level. The camera is pointing upwards at the girls or pointing downwards at the men dancing. This correlates with the way that the men are admiring the girls in the song they are singing. When the girls then move down to dance with the men, most of the camera angles are level with the people dancing.

Lighting and color:

The lighting in the scene is warm and soft creating soft shadows. The colors are all light except for some of the main characters.

Sound track:

The music in the scene is very traditional. It is happy and light and has a fast pace that synchronizes with dancing in the scene.

Editing:

The cutting in the scene works in relation to the music. Every part of the song has its own set of cuts with same rhythms. The audience also knows that the parents of the girls are trying to get them married to some of the men. While the girls know this, the men don’t.

Wider contexts:

The scene is like a scene pulled out from any other Bollywood wood movie and that is one of the scenes where the title and the movie unites, because Darcy comes to India full of prejudices and in this scenes he gets one of the first impressions of traditional Indian culture which just reaffirms his prejudices.

How to read a film: Goa beach scene

I was not sure if this was the right scene as there is no beach involved in the scene but I have analyzed the pool scene.

Mise en scéne/setting:

The location is at a luxury hotel which pulls Lalita out of her natural environment. Meanwhile Darcy and Kiran are in surroundings they are very used to be in coming from wealthy families.

Framing and focus:

The discussion between Lalita and Darcy are the thing in shot while the love between Jaya and Balraj is blooming in the pool. The background is a luxurious hotel environment which to Lalita has nothing to do with the “real” India. The camera is viewing the scene from a distance at first but quickly transitions into a close-up when the characters start to speak.

Camera movement:

The camera is mostly steady but when the characters are moving the camera is tracking them.

Camera angle:

The camera is functioning as a still observer of the situation and there are no special camera angles in the scene. The camera is serving as the eyes of the audience

Lighting and color:

This scene is filled with warm, light and exotic colors. The lighting is pretty harsh letting us know that is comes from a burning hot sun. This also makes the shadows very distinct.

Sound track:

In the start of the scene there are some very peaceful music playing to indicate the harmony in the scene but when the discussion starts the music stops leaving only the animal sounds behind. When Lalita in the end finishes her argument and leaves, dramatic music starts playing.

Editing:

There are no special cuts in this scene. The camera cuts to the one talking for the most parts.

Wider contexts:

The film is a modernized version of the novel “Pride and prejudice” from 1813 by Jane Austen. As explained before, the film is a musical with Bollywood aspects and it certainly lives up to that genre with love, drama and feelings being unleashed in dancing and singing. The film can also be compared to "Slumdog Millionaire" which also expresses the Indian culture just like Lalita is trying to show Darcy how the real India is beyond the hotels and the prejudices.

How would i react in Clyde Shelton's place - Law Abiding Citizen

It is extremely hard to put yourself in a horrible position like Clyde's but if I were to i think i would enter a state of grief. I wouldn't be able to stand the pain of losing someone i held that dearly in my heart. Of course i would be furious to find out that the real inflictor of the crime was only mildly punished for it.
I would try to contact my lawyer as much as possible for news on the case but i dont think that I would have the intelligence to work out a plan like Clyde Shelton's or the guts to become a vigilante. I would of course be extremely frustrated with the broken court system yet ultimately i think i would be too broken emotionally to be busy trying to punish the felon.
Eventually though i think i would learn how to shut out some of the pain as many other people who have lost someone they loved have learned.