(no subject)

[alexeye]

this is my last full week before classes start, and my fall schedule goes into full swing. i'm not sure how long i'll be able to keep up with the 3 jobs + class thing, but i'm going to try and hold out at least through september.

this week, i'm trying to get all of my preliminary thesis stuff together - starting my bibliography and my filmography, and drafting my main ideas for submission in the first week of class. i've ordered some more books from amazon, but my subject matter is really new, so i'm going to have to be really creative in finding sources.

i'm not really sure what i'm getting myself into. am i crazy? i'm writing about a culture that i have little contact with, and i can't speak the primary language. i think it would be really, really wise to concentrate on the south asian diaspora, because despite my outsider status, at least i speak the damn language.

gulp.

Comments

[blue-lotus.livejournal.com]

Are you writing about Hindi films?

[alexeye.livejournal.com]

yup. well, sorta. right now i'm pretty sure i'll concentrate on how films relate to culture in the south asian diaspora. i'm not sure if i'll write about how filmmakers make the transition between india and the western world (mira nair, shekar kapur), or how south asians function in essentially western films (my son the fanatic, bend it like beckham). and there's a wealth of material about diasporic desire within hindi films.

as you can see, i'm having trouble narrowing down.

[blue-lotus.livejournal.com]

The first topic sounds really interesting to me. Plus you could write a lot about Deepa Mehta

[alexeye.livejournal.com]

totally. i could even write about that dumbass m. night shyamalan, if i could ever find a copy of his first film, praying with anger. i saw it in high school, but it's not out on DVD or VHS.

[tabristheangel.livejournal.com]

it's the old question/impossibility (well, as old at least as post-colonial studies is) of reaching into alien cultures and attempting to take an objective look around. what you have on your side, though, is that the subject of cross-cultural and diasporic studies in hindi film is rather uncharted territory. therefore you can work without much of the limiting structure imposed by other writers concentrating on the same subject matter. yeah, you're certainly not indian (or 'of' that culture in any way) but if you tread carefully and do your work thoroughly and well i really think you can construct a fascinating, novel, and culturally accurate thesis. you can do it!