Department of Communication
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Item Postmodernity and elevated horror in The Lodge (2019)(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The Lodge (2019), directed by Austrian directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, explores dimensions of the disturbed psychological realm of its female protagonist, played by Riley Keough. The film's narrative establishes an unsettling atmospheric horror and is a play with elements of mental health, dysfunctional family, religious iconography, and superstitions. This chapter analyses the film through the notion of "elevated horror," a category of horror cinema that utilizes the artistic aspects of the horror genre to create a cinematic form that transgresses the archetypal jump-scare tropes of conventional horror. It argues that this form of horror relies more on obscure realities and fragmented states of the mind through symbolic and interpretive modes, thus defining postmodernity in horror cinema. This study examines the cinematic form, narrative style, and thematic concerns of The Lodge to analyse how it subverts the rational discourse of modernity and replaces it with a postmodern structure. It specifically investigates how the film's centralization of guilt and grief reflects psychological disorientation that disrupts normative social institutions like family and religion to disseminate a postmodern incredulity towards their many established metanarratives.Item Dark days of Indian democracy: a historical study on the portrayal, censorship, and representation of ‘Indian emergency’ in Malayalam cinema(2024) Raj, Sony JalarajanIndia, the biggest democracy in the world, once experienced the worst oppression in its history when the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, on 25 June 1975. Civil liberties and personal freedom were curbed, using the constitutional powers under Article 352 of the Indian Constitution. Creativity faced the biggest casualty during the Emergency until it was withdrawn on 21 March 1977. The Southern state of Kerala being the most politically conscious and creatively corrective population, its own cinema in the Malayalam language was ineffective in its immediate response to the event. However, traces of resistance can be found in this crisis, and they are often demonstrated in tactical ways to escape the omnipotence of a censorship system. This article argues that Malayalam cinema categorically avoided representing the historical authenticity of the Emergency, on the contrary, it adopted a strategic disavowal to depoliticize it by manipulating narratives that do not identify themselves as a constructive form of resistance. Such a discourse is a new form of apolitical resistance that continues to be a characteristic of modern states sustained by political order and cultural hegemony. The spatial and temporal dimensionality of this recalcitrance was reflected in the Emergency cinema of Malayalam as ideological, personalized, and allegorical texts of narrative modes. This paper historically explores these modes as well as the role, responsibility, and status of Malayalam cinema during the political crisis of the Emergency.Item Forbidden spectacles of a bygone era: an analysis of Malayalam cinema’s soft-porn noon-show culture(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The cultural paradigms of the soft-porn era in Malayalam cinema had an emancipatory quality where the sensationalized body of the ‘bombshell’ starlets captivated the voyeuristic perceptions of regional spectators.* The celebration of these films by a suburban audience constructed a new public space for the realization of carnal desires and taboo fantasies. This article investigates how the soft-porn noon-shows contributed to a unique cultural experience of film-viewing in Kerala in the late 1990s that challenged the cultural elitism associated with regional cinema. It investigates the role of the audience in defining the historical significance of the noon-show theatres, together with their origin, popularity and fall in the larger narrative of the evolutionary metamorphosis of Malayalam cinema. The softcore phenomenon was an organic subversion of the hegemonic ideology of cinema, which has been used by upper-class cultural powers to maintain their moral presuppositions.Item Sports narratives and historical nationalism: re-visiting the context and use of field hockey in Chak De! India(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.Indian cinema is known for its dramatic narratives that celebrate emotionally elevated visual spectacles through which people from different sociocultural backgrounds come across popular domains of cultural practices, social norms and historical realities that unify them. Field hockey belongs to the popular realm of sports in India which is part of the country’s national identity. India’s participation and success in field hockey at the Olympic Games make it one of the country’s most successful international sports. Indian film narratives about field hockey help to create public discourse about how the sport has historically played a role in shaping national pride and identity in India. Hockey evokes nationalism by symbolizing historical achievements, unity, and cultural identity, inspiring pride and patriotism through the portrayal of heroes, national symbols, and emotional narratives in media and public discourse. The film Chak De! India portrays Indian hockey as a patriotic unifying national narrative and as an empowering discourse that can upend traditional gender stereotypes. It delineates that hockey not only acts as a sports game for entertainment but is an indicator of nationalistic significance and cultural identity that elevates the emotional realm of Indians through the notion of patriotism.Item The western gaze in RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” and the global appeal of Indian musicals(2025) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The global popularity of the award-winning song-dance “Naatu Naatu” from the South Indian film RRR (2022) lies in its vibrant spectacle that intertwines cultural history, political themes, and gender expressions within the framework of Indian musicals. Using textual analysis, this paper investigates how the semiotic and performative aspects of “Naatu Naatu” created a new cultural appeal in the West by representing the postcolonial and nationalist Indian subject in an ultra-modern post-globalized environment. It reveals how the dance sequence’s entertainment value can overshadow its deeper cultural significance, illustrating the tension between global appeal and cultural authenticity.Item Mothers of the South: power, suffering, and identity in maternal narratives of South Indian cinema(2025) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The representation of motherhood in Indian cinema is often based on conventional gender norms, its ideology and performance aligning with the traditional patrifocal social structures where women are marginalised and oppressed. This paper dissects the portrayals of motherhood in South Indian cinema that intersect with various identities in which such representations redefine the concept of motherhood with diverse socio-cultural, regional, and personal identities. It examines how motherhood representations in South Indian cinema, with a special focus on two pan-Indian blockbuster movie series: Bahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017); K.G.F: Chapter 1 (2018) and K.G.F: Chapter 2 (2022) glorify the suffering of the mother and fundamentally elevate the mother’s role as a commanding and influential force, contributing significantly to the heroic stature of hypermasculine protagonists. It also explores Malayalam cinema, the film industry based in the State of Kerala, to understand how select films represent the mother as an emotionally vulnerable and transformative character. This study delves into cinematic examples that illustrate the evolving nature of matrescence, examining how South Indian filmmakers navigate the complex web of intersecting identities to present multifaceted maternal cultural narratives.Item Can data visualization storytelling in energy communication campaigns ingrain farmers’ intentions to use agrivoltaic system? Evidence from global south(2025) Raza, Syed Hassan; Ogadimma, Emenyeonu C.; Abdullah, Zulhamri; Khan, Shumaila; Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Jamil, Sadia; Malik, Aqdas; Alkhowaiter, Mohammed; Khan, Sajid UllahPurpose Innovative technologies pave the way to address alarming global climate issues. Among these technologies is the expansion of renewable and clean energy in farming, which aims to meet the global cheap energy demand and, at the same time, replace fossil fuels. In pursuant to this, agrivoltaic technology is an innovation that provides sustainable and low-cost production solutions to diminish the adversities associated with climate change and global warming. However, farmers from developing nations remain unacquainted or unenthusiastic about adopting such sustainable technologies. Therefore, in response to these key challenges related to climate change, this study aims to provide the utility of communication resources to inspire climate-friendly behaviors among farmers. Design/methodology/approach This study used a cross-sectional field survey method for data collection from 992 farmers. Findings The results verified that using data visualization storytelling in communication campaigns could significantly enhance farmers’ public understanding of adopting renewable technologies. Research limitations/implications Theoretically, results highlighted the importance of communication strategies in a downward spiral of ongoing challenges of optimal climate protection, counteracting rebound effects and reducing carbon emissions. Practical implications The novel contribution of this research by examining the data visualization storytelling in climate and energy communication campaigns paved the way for social marketers to develop a straightforward and user-friendly platform for implementing innovative renewable technologies. Originality/value This research underpinned a novel approach that remains understudied to understand how data visualization storytelling supports renewable technology adoption. Furthermore, it addressed the timely call for research on how data visualization storytelling can assist in achieving UNSD goals 12 and 13 by promoting renewable technologies among the farmers from the neglected area of the Global South.Item Representing Anthropocene trauma: disaster narratives of the Bhopal gas tragedy in Indian cinema(2025) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Lim, Yiru; Lye, Kit YingThis chapter addresses the evolving genre of disaster adaptations as engaging spectacles of popular cinema. It contextualizes South Asian disasters in the Anthropocene and examines how the representation of trauma and violence defines the notion of disaster through which cinematic interventions blend fiction and reality. This study examines the infamous Bhopal gas tragedy in India in 1984, one of the worst industrial disasters in the world, as a cinematic text representing the cultural, environmental, and historical dimensions of the regional spaces in shaping the perception of an Anthropogenic disaster. It explores whether such adaptations are effective in educating the masses about the problems associated with environmental disasters that are imminent threats to the future.Item Indian television and the rise of the local: televised realities of localized sociocultural experience(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Reza, S. M. Shameem; Roy, Ratan KumarThis chapter explores the idea that the influence of television on the localized public provides new pathways for the 'local' to emerge out of traditional contexts to new grounds of modernity. The visibility of the localized subjects on the television screen and their individual participation in popular programmes distinguishes the television public from earlier forms of interactions in the form of socialization and collective viewing. The current chapter critically approaches the notion of 'localized sociocultural experience' through the analysis of "televised realities" on Indian television. It argues that Indian reality television thrives on the emotional revenue of middle-class aspirations and the commodification of local poverty culture.Item The Yakshi syndrome in Indian popular culture: representation of possessed female bodies in Indian cinema(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Pelea, Cringuta IrinaYakshi (यक्षिणी in Hindi) spirit possession is a unique culture-bound syndrome rooted in Indian popular imagination where a possessed female body is perceived as a manifestation of desires and fears associated with communities defined by local myths, religious superstitions, and regional fantasies. This chapter uses the popular folklorist cultural text of yakshi in Indian cinema to analyze how the visual representation of possessed bodies reinforces culturally specific pathological conditions of female subjugation. It specifically focuses on the cultural text of yakshi in Malayalam cinema, a South Indian regional film industry where stories visualize the female body within a morally conservative cultural past and patriarchal structure that use the phenomenon of spirit possession to mask somatic and psychological symptoms related to the mental health of women. The yakshi possession is symptomatic of a folk illness and collective hysteria that destroys identity and agency by entrapping the female self in cultural imagination where she is reduced to a deviant stock figure. Superstitious cultural practices of exorcism and black magic are performed by men to ritualistically redeem the corrupted soul of the yakshi-woman to make the female body human again.Item Diaspora dilemmas and deadlocks: the Indian immigration flux and struggled survival in Canada(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Rajan, S. IrudayaThe diverse and complex experiences of the Indian diaspora in Canada are defined by a range of social, political, and cultural parameters. This chapter examines how the recent dramatic increase in the rate of Indian immigration to Canada has intensified challenges related to identity crises, acculturation, discrimination, and racism. It argues that the concept of Indianness unites culturally distinct sub-groups to shape the diasporic community’s existence. Pro-immigration policies often serve political agendas, influenced by Eurocentric biases. The reality of Indian life in Canada restructures transnational Indianness and diasporic existence, and the discourse of immigration plays a significant role in the construction of popular beliefs, which are often misconceptions based on falsehood.Item Transgressions of the less dead: necropolitics of the subaltern in South Indian cinema(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Borrione, Francesca; Macpherson, Heather J.India, a land of rich cultural diversity with long histories of systemic oppression, is known for decades of conflicts in the name of colonialism, nationalism, caste-based discrimination, communal wars, and terrorism. The social structure of the Indian landscape has been historically defined by the caste system where individuals are segregated both physically and psychologically on the basis of their hierarchical position in the imaginary graded caste scale. People who were identified as the lower-castes were the “untouchables” or Dalits for whom social interaction with the upper-castes (commonly Brahmins) was a socially punishable offense. The evil of untouchability haunts the past as well as its modern continuities in the Indian public sphere. Popular culture views the subaltern identity of Dalits through stereotypical angles and discourses of the dominant culture 1 . The invasion of European powers created a colonial discourse of authoritarianism that nourished hegemonic sensibilities toward indigenous communities and their subaltern identities. The social and historical backwardness as an aftermath of this oppressiveness remained and has often been reinforced within the fabric of social consciousness.Item To reign in hell: David Fincher’s enclosed worlds of transgression(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Mickus, FrancisDavid Fincher’s films often unfold in a dark environment in which characters confront situations and realities that challenge their idealized perceptions of the world. As a provocateur who likes to exploit the perversions that define humanity, Fincher constantly creates scenarios in his films that are meant to be uncomfortable for the audience. 1 The notion of imminent danger, manifesting in various forms, frequently imperils the very survival of his characters, as abrupt shifts in their perceived reality thrust them into challenging predicaments that ultimately shape their fates. Crossing the boundaries that define collective morality constructs and their materialistic effects on reality, the director’s narrative style is associated with the establishment of barriers that symbolically represent the inexplicable bitter realities of life in their most brutal and unforgiving form. His films juxtapose the classical signs of morality with modern structural institutions to contrast the differences between good and evil, and what is hidden under such a surface layer of representations is a much deeper insight into the uncertainty of the human condition.Item Sacrilegious sisters: the sanctification of nunhood in Malayalam cinema(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Harmes, Marcus K.; Harmes, Meredith A.This chapter delves into the unique portrayal of nunhood in the context of Malayalam cinema, highlighting differences from Western perceptions rooted in Christianity. It contends that the way Malayalees perceive nuns is deeply influenced by cultural norms that promote the subjugation of women through narratives centered on male authority. The concept of nunhood emphasizes chastity, austerity, and devotion– moral elements that reflect the dynamics of male-female relationships in Indian society. By analyzing films that depict nuns conforming to submissive gender roles, this study critically examines how nuns who challenge societal norms and gender stereotypes in response to exploitation create a new discourse of “nunsploitation” in the Indian public sphere. The representation of reformed spiritual femininity on-screen mirrors the real-life transformation of nuns into “new nuns,” who are more aware of their sexuality and are willing to question institutional misogyny within both religion and culture.Item Bollywood, mobility and partition politics: representation of displaced Muslims in films on Indo-Pak partition(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Sreekumar, Rohini; Trandafoiu, RuxandraThe ultimate horror of history is not the persistent fear that it is bound to repeat itself but the very unfathomable nature of the temporal and spatial coordinates that constitute its existence as an incomprehensible form of knowledge. The discontinuous and disrupted notion of history is a self-negation of certainty and any opposite activity to place the reality of events in the historical timeline has farreaching consequences. Such a discourse of history is an extension of the violence perpetuated through the fragmented memories of our collective consciousness. India, entwining the webs of its complex and traumatic past, exemplifies this perception of history, not just the narrativization of the past embellished by the ambience of nostalgia but a vortex of uncertainty through which the present finds its meaning. The historical significance of ‘Indianness’ perplexed in the literary and cinematic forms is a product of the ‘historical violence’ that literally erupted from the day when India as a nation came into existence, and is subliminally rerepresented through the spectacles of artistic imaginations. The event known as the Indo-Pak Partition or the independence of India/Pakistan was a ‘seismic political transformation’ conjoining the regional identities into the larger geographical narrative of cinema which mutated the linguistic and cultural elements along the way of emerging migratory patterns (Vasudevan 2010). The epistemological, artistical, ethical, cultural, and political modes of ‘being’ stuck in between the binary border politics emanating from the Partition are precisely historical and this is the vantage point where one must start scrutinizing the inveterate discourses of India.Item Disruptive desires and creative transgressions in Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Hodge, Matthew; Barkman, Adam; Sanna, AntonioJulie Taymor’s career as a stage director, filmmaker, and costume designer has demonstrated the many possibilities of artistic adaptations that visualize characters, situations, emotions, and reality as a whole in new ways. Her works deconstruct classic texts and creative worlds to bring an altered visual experience through which she challenges the relationship between creation, adaptation, and perception. Taymor’s investigations seek to extract what an artistic work contains and imagine how it can be presented using different mediums. Whether it is adapting dramas for the stage, directing films, or staging operas, she finds her own versions by incorporating elements and art forms that reinvent a fresh way of telling a story.Item The truth lies in-between: mind engineering in the 2020-21 Indian farmers' protest(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Shei, Chris; Schnell, JamesOffers an illuminating perspective on the role of social media in shaping narratives during the 2020-2021 Indian Farmers' Protest. It uncovers the interplay of identity, nationalism, and communication technologies, exploring how they led to the polarization of public opinion and a realm of misinformation.Item Transnational spaces of digital activism: online protests, hashtag culture, and hysteria in Indian digital spaces(2024) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.; Yadav, Deepali; Kadavath, Vipin K.This chapter explores how digital activism has expanded to new horizons of political action that allowed a transnational mode of interactivity and communication, enhancing quick, decentralized, and massive reactions from globally connected digital local spaces. It examines the role of the hashtag in the democratic process of India to understand how the emergence of new transnational spaces of digital activism defines political and social protests in digital India. Factors such as inexperience and identity politics intervene in such demonstrations, leading to new problems of political polarization and conflicts. Using the dissemination of unfalsifiable data and emotional appeal, massive forms of digital movements theorize agenda-setting and collective hysteria. In contemporary digital India, a new form of digital activism has taken over the traditional democratic forms of protest, indicating that the public will no longer need experienced and authoritative politicians to dictate how to protest.Item ‘What will the lawyers say?’: Australian newsroom perspectives on journalism ethics and naming criminal suspects in a digital world(2024) Lillebuen, Steve; Lidberg, JohanThis article examines journalism ethics and identifying criminal suspects in Australian news coverage. This study builds off our previous research, which established that naming is so commonplace, it is occurring on a daily basis in the state of Victoria, even in cases with little public interest justification. A survey of 410 Australian news media professionals, as well as twelve semi-structured interviews, found journalists believe naming is an ethical decision, but it is not high on their agenda with naming treated as their default position. Media lawyers play a key role in newsroom naming practices with the legal strongly influencing what is deemed ethical. These findings are significant because it is the first empirical data from Australia and the findings are in stark contrast with news reporting practices in other countries. This article argues for stronger ethical guidelines in a digital news media environment where naming is now global and forever.Item Suspect identified: revisiting naming practices in crime coverage(2016) Lillebuen, Steve; Lidberg, Johan; Chubb, PhilipThis study examines the media's practice of revealing the names of criminal suspects, particularly before charges have been laid. The paper, which uses a content analysis of police stories in two major newspapers in the Australian state of Victoria, shows the practice is commonplace. But as media naming practices extend into online publishing, as observed in this study, unproven police suspicions are given global publicity, causing reputational damage. This paper argues that naming should be considered a significant ethical issue, and one with increasing relevance in the digital age.