Empowering Narratives and Unveiling Realities: Breast Positivity in Cinema Through B32 Muthal 44 Vare
Keywords:
Breasts, media, Identity , Body positivity, InclusivityAbstract
The female body and its performative signifiers of identity were sites of conflicts and subjects of contention throughout history. It acts as a representative surface upon which the discourses and conflicting ideologies of the social context are inscribed. Within the human body, the Breast is a part that is stigmatized and sexualized in multiple ways. Shruthi Sharanayam’s B 32 Muthal 44 Vare (2023) is an exploration of individual experiences and the diverse meanings associated with breasts and it underscores the importance of acknowledging and empathizing with the trauma and violence that individuals may have experienced. This research paper seeks to contribute to a more inclusive and empowering cultural landscape by promoting diverse representations of women's bodies and narratives, challenging societal norms and expectations, and shedding light on the harmful impact of media objectification on women's experiences and self-perceptions.
References
Arya, D. “The woman who cut off her breasts to protest a tax.” BBC News 28 Jul. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2024.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36891356
Berger, J. Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books. 1972. Print.
Beauvoir, S. The Second Sex. Penguin Books. 1949. Print.
Butler, J (1987). Variations on Sex and Gender: Beauvoir, Wittig and Foucault. In Seyla Benhabib & Drucilla
Cornell (eds), Feminism as Critique: essays on the Politics of gender In Late Capitalist Societies (pp 128-142). Cambridge: Polity.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘sex’. Routledge.
Bordo, S. (1993). Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. University of California Press.
Dolezal, L. (2010). The (In)visibile Body: Feminism, Phenominology, and the Case of Cosmetic Surgery. Hypatia,
(2),357-375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40602710.
Mulvey, L. (2009). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Film theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Spivak, G. (2018). In Debi, M, Breast Stories. (pp. xiii) Seagull Books.
Sharanyam, S. (Director). (2023). B 32 Muthal 44 Vare [Film]. KSFDC.
Taneja, Shweta. (2015, February 24). Three Breasts and their Stories. https://shwetawrites.com/breast- stories/traveltales/
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 ISHAL PAITHRKAM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.