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Musical ‘Contact Zones’ in Gurinder Chadha’s Cinema

UNIVERSITY OF NAPLES L'ORIENTALE , sguarracino{at}unior.it; serena.guarracino{at}gmail.com

This article explores strategies of cultural representation in the production of Gurinder Chadha, a British director of Sikh origin. Chadha’s work is located in what Marie Louise Pratt defines as ‘contact zones’, negotiating between US, European and Indian audiences. The result is a directing style that puts together ‘East’ and ‘West’, Bollywood and Hollywood, in an in-between space that has been radically reconfigured through hybridization. This happens in particular through her use of music and soundtrack, from the documentary I’m British but ... (1990), up to the recent Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Bride and Prejudice (2004). Here, many and diverse musical languages are put together through the representational strategies of parody and kitsch, deconstructing the idea of cultural identity in the very gesture that creates it.

Key Words: Gurinder Chadha • contact zone • cut ’n’ mix • popular culture • post-feminist masquerade • South Asian diaspora

European Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4, 373-390 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1350506809342620


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