Representation of Gender in Pakistani Comedy Dramas

Media in its various forms has become a significant part of everyday social life. It influences both how we see ourselves and the world around us to some extent. At different screens of media, images of men and women are presented in different ways and with different characteristics. Studies have been conducted at large regarding representation of gender in movies and television drama serials. This paper was meant to be an addition to this vast canvas of research through analysis of gender representation in the comedy dramas of Pakistan. According to West and Zimmerman’s theory of ‘doing gender’, gender is performed by the people in their everyday actions and interactions. Keeping in view the concept of doing gender this study analyzed roles of males and females and tried to find out how different characters maintain their gender identities in comedy dramas. Results suggested that the characters were, at many places, observed to be acting contrary to the roles associated to their genders by the society. They did or performed gender to maintain their identities.

Men As Victims of Violence in Partition Fiction

Partition of United Indiain the year 1947 was a phenomenal even to fideological proportion. More than any thing else,it was also a human tragedy resulting in the loss of millions of lives. As people migrated across the newly carved borders,an un precedented wave of ethnic violence destroyed their hopes offinding newer homes. The enormity of the impact of violence on the collectivesocial consciousness of the subcontinent was so much that a whole body of literature emanated which can betermedas“Partition Literature”.Fictional appropriationoftheincidenceofviolencehasbeenarecurrentmotifinnovelsandshort fiction. By that very fact,literary fiction based on partition,acts as one of the greatest reservoirs of the stories of violent events during partition. One of the great estpre occupation of Partition fiction is its engagement withthefigurationofvariedsituationsandcharactersas comingtotermswiththepsychologicalandideologicalrepercussionsofthegreatdivide. It is notsurprising,therefore,thatthefictional representationoftheviolenceproducedduring partitionsuchasmassmurder,arson,rape,mutilationofbodies,andotherviolentactsacross theborder,arecodifiedbygenderedreadings. However,whenitcomestomeasurethe magnitudeandenormityofloss,womenareconsideredtheworstvictimsoftheevent of partition.Inthisregard,thereadingsofpartitionliteraryfictionviewmenexclusivelyasthe activeexecutorsofviolentactsandwomenonlyasthepassivevictims.Inthisdissertation,I arguethattherepresentationofmenasvictimsofviolenceinPartitionfictionhasbeengiven acursoryandperipheral attention.Correspondingly, thisresearchattemptstoreadmenas victimsofviolenceasdepictedinpartitionfiction. Theintroductorychapterofthisresearchpresentsagenealogyofdifferentparadigms ofindigenousmasculinities. ChapterTwocoverstheemergingtheoreticaldebatesinWestern discourseonmasculinityanditsenrichingvalence forlocal andIndianmythology.Therefore, Icontextualizeadiscursiverangeofpatriarchal,mythical,andreligiousidealsinjectedinto theconsciousnessofmen.InChapterThree,Iarguethatmenbecomevictimsofviolence whentheyfeelboundtoanormativesetofmasculineidealsandpractice.Afailuretosuch performativeassignmentsmayleadtowardsthedisqualificationoftheirgenderedpotentials baggingforthemtitlessuchasunmanlyandemasculated.Theycannotescapethe consequencesofoptingoutpatriarchal idealswhichironicallylimittheirlives.Movingfurther inChapterFour,Ideconstructthemythofmalepowerupheldbythepatriarchal representationsoftheIndiansubcontinent;butinrealitydeflatedwithapersistentcolonial Syedaiii presence. ThecolonialreformulationoftheIndianidealsofmasculinitydis-empoweredthe Indianmen. Ascorollarytocolonial redefinitionofnativemaleinChapterFive,Iarguethat duringpartitionthemalebodyalsobecameasiteforsocio-political politics. Henceforth,in ChapterSix,Iconcludethatmenexperiencedtheemotionalandpsychological agonyand distressastheywere displacedduringthetumultuouseventsof1947. Inthisresearch,Ihaveemployed conceptsfromMasculinityStudiesandPostFeminismfortheoreticalanchorage.ThetextsincludenovelsentitledWhattheBody RemembersbyShaunaSingh,TamasbyBhishamSahni,TraintoPakistan,andDelhiby KhushwantSingh,CrackingIndiabyBapsiSidhwa,TheBrokenMirrorbyKrishnaBaldev Vaid,andSleepwalkersbyJoginderPaul.TheworksoftheMasculinists,R.W.Connell,John Beynon,WarrenFarrell,supportedbyJudithButler’sconceptoffluidgender,re-signification, andbodyasasite,endorsedbyFreudandLacan’sconcept offearofcastration,andfinally reinforcedbythetraumatheoriesbyJudithHerman,CathyCaruth,andNandiBhatia,helpthe analysisofdifferent formsofmalevictimization. Therefore,theresearchconcludesthatpartition(literary) fictionshowstheproblematic representationofmen’svictimizationwhichisseldom readforthefearofunveilingthe historical,political,andtheoreticaldiscoursesstrengtheninggenderstereotyping.Byputting anemphasisupontheshallownessoftheconceptofviolentnormativebehaviorinmenanda customarycodeofpatriarchal life,thisresearchexaminesthewaysinwhichthesemen struggletobeabletofulfilltheexpectationsofthesociety.Furthermore,theenforcedmodeof behaviouremasculatestheiridentityasamalegendertherebymakingthemasliableto violenceasanyothergender; afact alsooftenexternalizedbytheirbodiesturningintositesof violence.