Valentine’s Day is almost here and nothing can be more closely related to the day than cinema. Most youngsters try to replicate the love shown in cinema in real life and it is absolutely necessary for filmmakers to ensure that they are very careful when handling such subjects. Cinema often romanticises circumstances which women in real life find threatening. Here’s a look at some common ‘love’ situations in movies which are actually ‘not so good’ for women in real life.
Stalking:
Most Tamil cinemas always have the hero following the heroine wherever she goes until she finally gives in and says yes. There are several movies that have glorified stalking as the way to a woman’s heart.
In most of the love movies, only the romantic side of the hero is shown while stalking, but the fear of the heroine goes missing. In real life stalking leads to several problems and there are incidents where women have been murdered due to stalking.
Abduction:
Though such scenes are considerably reduced now, there was a time when abducting a woman was shown as a sign of love. Romanticising such traumatic incident is deeply problematic. Such scenes do not care about the women’s consent. In most of the movies, the audience are forced to sympathise with the abductor than the victim.
Impersonation:
Most of the times this passes off as humour. In real life most women cannot be fooled that easily, but this does not stop men from approaching women hiding their true identity. We have come across several news articles where both men and women have done multiple marriages hiding their true identity. In real life, impersonation is also used as a love tool to blackmail and get money from the victim.
Controlling behaviour:
Controlling behaviour is a sign of a toxic relationship, whoever exhibits it. In man-woman relationships, where men are often more physically powerful than women, it can progress to violence quickly. Many women end up getting caught in a cycle of abuse. Right from how a woman should dress and how she should behave in a relationship are all controlling factors which are easily portrayed in movies. Even possessive behaviour is represented as love on screen all the time.
Abortion:
Abortion in India can be legally performed on various grounds till 20 weeks of a pregnancy and after that in exceptional circumstances. Considering how little responsibility men take for preventing a pregnancy in real life relationships, blaming women for making a legal choice is nothing but hypocrisy. A woman may want an abortion for various reasons – from rape to just not being ready for it – and considering the toll pregnancy and childbirth take on her body, denying a woman this right cannot be considered an act of love by any stretch of imagination. However in most movies abortion is consider a sin.
