Brimming Assertive ‘Secret Selves’: High Time to Reinterpret GBV in Contemporary Indian Media Texts

Depiction of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Indian media texts is a rampant phenomenon dating back to decades. Extensive debate and discourse on this have made the latest approaches to it more subtle. Notwithstanding the real and persistent concerns of GBV, the tendency to have knee-jerk approach to every shade of GBV is under severe pressure to reflect and reinterpret itself. The recurring debate on these aspects, the recent one being the one triggered by the film, Animal, is an imminent sign of the assertive ‘secret selves’ brimming to burst forth. These ‘secret selves’, the emerging vocal section vigorously priding on its individuality, are pregnant with change.

This research paper is an attempt to explore these ‘secret selves’, their presence, identity, traits and agency. The research employs the approach of media content analysis through the theoretical frameworks of post-structuralism and psychoanalysis. Over three decades of post-globalizational cultural conditioning, coupled with the drastic expansion of the middle class and the subsequent higher classes are making the discourse on sexuality a cool one. The research realizes that the conventional perspectives on GBV need to urgently undergo amendments to match the fantastical indulgences of this populace. The research finds that it is big time to create enough room to accommodate all the shades of these tendencies that are baring themselves forth to reclaim every single strand of human agency of individuality.

Keywords: Secret Selves, Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Post-Globalizational Cultural Conditioning, Human Agency, Individuality