By Aparna Divya
Introduction
International Politics has a very wide-ranging scope of study. Diplomacy, diaspora, immigration and environment are a few of its dimensions. However, the dominant theories like realism and liberalism don’t cover these aspects. The role that cinema plays in international politics comes under the soft power domain. Cinema as a tool of “soft power” was shown by Joseph Nye who originated the concept of soft power. He considered popular culture as an effective means to carry out policy implementation. He argued that films carry subtle messages about values which have political impacts. It is a powerful political tool as it uses feelings to form the identities of individuals as well as groups.
So, if we look at the role of cinema it isn’t considered that significant in mainstream international politics. In this essay, I try to bring out how films and political processes impact each other.
Film and International Politics
Film and TV visually as well as mentally stimulates human, it hits deep human consciousness. It represents a popular culture and societal normative structure. The attributes of vision, space and power are reflected through this medium. Visual media interacts with different identity politics time and again. Indian Cinema covers political entities ranging from caste, gender, ethnicity etc. The film is believed to serve as a mechanism for a portrayal of international politics. However, this is a very limited view, it not only covers the interaction of nations but also provides a platform for the “enactment of states”.
International politics is like film, leaders perform like the hyper- masculine protagonist, like President Bush in 2003 did while declaring the completion of US combat operations. The scene was meant to show valorousness, technological superiority etc. It becomes more eventful after American failure in Vietnam in 1960s. Film is considered just a representational medium which shows diplomacy, statecraft etc. Moreover, we argue that popular media is an inherent part of international politics. Film is used to set out various narratives, like in case of international relation state is considered to be already given with no ontological status. But if we look deeply into it, we will understand that it is continually reproduced. The three ideas which we should concern us with while approaching film and international politics are – performance of international politics, spatialisation of political practise and the role of the visual.
Performance of International politics in films means that the existing nation-states, its borders are made by practices like immigration, border patrolling, the of refugees. Films constitute the political world; the state doesn’t pre-exist these performances. The international space where the performance is played out is also important for Critical Geopolitics. Role of visual is about how the geopolitical accounts of the world is shown, some things are more visible than others.
Films forces us to think through the space of international politics be it border, own nation in relation to others all of these are represented and experienced. The two ways in which summarise the relationship between film and international politics is the involvement of agents, processes and sites in the performance of international politics. Second is film of international politics having a materiality.
International politics unfolds through a set of spatial imaginaries and formulations. Any act starts with the vision which one holds of the world – the image in the mind. Like the safe places, dangerous places and also about the people who live there. People form an idea about the shape and location of the world. Space here means which created and are not permanent like nation state, other spaces included like borders and distant others. Third is the performance of popular culture which represents practices. These representations allow criticism and questions our assumptions about the world.
Film and Political Processes
Popular culture and politics have a complicated dynamic. It can be considered for analysing the political processes because it has a mass appeal and it produces and reinforces prejudice about class, caste race etc. Hollywood is used by US to create a visual appearance of its politics and foreign policy. It also helps in fulfilling the aim of its policies and serves as a medium of public diplomacy by propagating the cultural imagery of US as free and open. Hollywood has persuaded people to appreciate the vision of a liberal-capitalist order.
Identity formation, the distinguishing national and international is done through the movies. In the movie “The Namesake”, the couple immigrates to the US who feels out of place there, though the son assimilates there. After a while he feels outsider – ness like his parents, his role revolves around forming different identities throughout his life. Initially he considers himself as American and adorns the lifestyle, later he realises his Indian identity.
Another story which revolves around finding his fundamental identity, the reluctant fundamentalist shows radical changes in the wake of 9/11 attacks. Changez, an upper-class immigrant in US goes through ongoing conflict between the self and the other. It also shows the encounter of cultures of west and the east. It captures American response to 9/11 and its engagement to Muslim world. He feels betrayed in US after 9/11 which has been always welcoming to him. The situation in US forced him to leave his job in New York and return to Pakistan. He teaches in a university and becomes a symbol for anti-Americanism. He analyses the situation in binary that either he could side with America and live there or return to Pakistan.
Cinema works as a potent tool for political communication. Films not only mirror politics but makes the line hazy about what is reality and what is fiction. “The Kashmir files” recently released movie which got support as well as opposition from the society. What we need to keep in mind is the context of production and its reception. It is aimed at circulating a specific discourse. The movie was made tax-free in several states of India, here it is being used as a means of propaganda. It is used for narrative building by political agents by supporting or banning it. It is used for making public discourses around a relevant issue.
Films also create understandings of ourselves and others too. The portrayal of countries, groups and the nature of societal membership plays a major role in forming narratives. The question of caste is a contentious issue in popular culture. The showcasing of dominant culture of India has marginalised caste practices. Thus, cinema is a site where identities and representation are produced. The Indian cinema and nationalist movement started at the same time. The struggle which was aimed at overthrowing the colonial power happened when India was going through transition at social, political, economic fronts. Earlier cinema was employed in developing the social fabric of India as a nation. Nation, nationalism and Patriotism was a constant theme throughout the pre and post- independence cinema. Movies like Mother India (1957), and Raj Kapoor’s films like Chalia, Awara and Shree explored the above themes.
Melodrama a cinematic mode which represents events like partition, holocaust. The events here is imaged and it provides a platform for public mourning. It creates a historic effect, giving a voice for reparation. Movies like Bombay, Fiza, Garam Hawa gives place to emotions and memories that needs to raised out.
In “Article 15” movie caste is shown to be non-existent in the urban spaces, showing it as a social practice which the audience isn’t involved in. It frees the society from the burden of eradicating it. “The Discreet charm of Savarnas” a short film which is a satire on the savarna people who perpetuate casteism. We have several instances where the Hindi movies have stereotyped Dalits, like the dark complexion.
We also need to look at the interaction of cinema industry with politics. In South Indian politics there has been an active involvement of people from their movie industry. Movie industry here is used to gain popularity and votes. After becoming famous they run for elections and get vote because of their amassed popularity. MGR and Jayalalitha are examples of who were earlier associated with film industry and later became successful politicians.
Films act as medium for cultural diplomacy, Jean Renoir’s La Grande is an anti-war movie, war preceded it. It emphasised on cooperation between social classes for humanity. People in movie industry can help with track 2 diplomacy, which involves non state actors who could solve long drawn unsettled issues between countries. Films are pedagogical tool in understanding the international politics for students. It can be used as empirical case studies to make abstract ideas more easy.
Conclusion
On the basis of the foregoing analysis, it is safe to conclude that films play an important role in international politics. Films have an essential role in shaping international identities and power perceptions, from developing specific narratives about specific conflicts to normalising a specific international power system. It would behove IR theories to pay more attention to them, given their representational and formative roles in international politics.
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