Gender Vulnerability and Resistance in Selected Malayalam Movies The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey

Abstract

The insidious trauma of intimate partner violence affects women in the global context. This study intends to analyse the intimate partner violence and resistance of women in the select Malayalam movies The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (2022). Previous literature encapsulates the exploitation of women under patriarchal dominance in the global context. The research gap that the study wants to explore is the element of self-defence instinct and endurance in women to question the atrocity of domestic violence and patriarchal terrorism. In pursuing the argument, the authors discuss the daughters-in-law’s ability to resist gender stereotypes through silence and separation to enhance their autonomy. This study uses a detailed qualitative textual analysis method to underscore the rising voice of female characters against the dominance of hetero-patriarchal society in the select Malayalam movies The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (2022). As an analytical framework, the researchers draw upon Evan Stark’s theory of Coercive Control and Hagelin’s Concept of Resistant Vulnerability to demonstrate the gender disparities and power politics of patriarchy in familial relations. The results underline the resistance of the daughters-in-law to the coerciveness of the patriarchy through agency. This article limits its focus only on the suppression of educated married women, especially daughters-in-law, and not on other female characters who are suffering under patriarchy.