REALITY (RE-)VISITED: CHILDREN OF PROSTITUTES IN BORN INTO BROTHELS

Authors

  • Touhid A. Chowdhury Research Assistant, Chair for English Literature Studies, University of Bamberg, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v2i2.231

Keywords:

documentary, reality, brothels, children, Calcutta

Abstract

The human quest for securing, recording, and preserving memories of reality lead to the invention of motion pictures, which then gave birth to documentary films. Documentary filmmaking has radically evolved in recent years. Capturing reality come into scrutiny as more and more technological development allows the documentary filmmakers to design and articulate reality more subjectively than ever before. Born Into Brothels is a film about real people from the red light districts of Calcutta. Poverty and disease are two common phenomena of the people who live in Sonagachi, Calcutta’s red-light district. Another name of the documentary, Calcutta’s Red Light Kids, skillfully turns audience’s focus on the children of the brothels from Calcutta, which in a way, establishes that this film is about kids and not prostitution. The fact that Born Into Brothels is about children of prostitutes and not about prostitution makes it an intriguing example in analyzing the presented “reality” as well as the filmmakers’ perspectives. This article intends to investigate specific filmic and editorial techniques that documentary filmmakers use in articulating the inevitable reality of society. This article argues that Born Into Brothels tries to invoke humanitarian awareness among the audience and in a broader sense into society.

 

Author Biography

  • Touhid A. Chowdhury, Research Assistant, Chair for English Literature Studies, University of Bamberg, Germany
    Touhid Ahmed Chowdhury is a Research Assistant in the Chair for English Literature Studies department at the University of Bamberg, Germany. He holds a Joint Degree Master’s in English and American Studies from the University of Bamberg, Germany and the University of Graz, Austria. His research interests are mostly on postcolonial literature, migration literature, identity studies, narrative and narratology studies, and South Asian literature and culture.

References

Barnouw, Erik (1993). Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film. Oxford University Press.

Briski, Zana and Ross Kaufman (2004). Director. Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids. Red Light Films.

Curran, Sheila Bernard (2011). Documentary Storytelling: Creative Non-fiction on Screen. Focal Press.

Lacey, Nick (1998). Image and Representation: Key Concepts in Media Studies. Macmillan.

Nichols, Bill (1991). Representing Reality. Indiana UP.

Nichols, Bill (2001/2010a). “How Can We Define Documentary Film?” In: Bill Nichols, ed. Introduction to Documentary. 2nd Edition. Indiana University Press. 1-41.

Nichols, Bill (2001/2010b). “How Can We Differentiate Among Documentaries?: Categories, Models, and the Expository and Poetic Modes of Documentary Film” In: Bill Nichols, ed. Introduction to Documentary. 2nd Edition. Indiana University Press. 142-171.

Monaco, James (1981). Rev. ed. How To Read A Film. Oxford University Press.

Wells, Paul (1996/2003). “The documentary form: personal and social realities.” In: Jill Nelmes, ed. An Introduction to Film Studies. 3rd Edition. Routledge.

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Published

2020-12-14

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Articles

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