Eco-feminism in a Selection of Satyajit Ray's films: Nature Empathises Women's Sexual Frustration

Abstract

This essay will examine how the women's relation with the surroundings in a selection of Satyajit Ray's films has been informed by eco-feminism as the eponymous mountain influences the daughter's  rejection of her suitor selected by her domineering father in Kanchenjunga, the bare denuded country side reciprocates with disembodied and disoriented Daya sitting in her temple in  Devi  (The Goddess) and the fire at night during communal riots towards the end of the movie is equated with the condition of Bimola that finally positioned her neither at home not in the world of her time in Ghare Baire (The Home and the World). Ray's cinematography uses nature to validate certain feelings typically expressed by her sex positive women. Viewing these films from eco-feminist perspective is particularly interesting because the dominant thread of the narratives conveyed through dialogue sometimes markedly conflicts with what we see: visuals that strongly suggest the frustration both Bimala and Daya stand in their affair with men, and that what kept them fascinated with them is passion intrinsically related with and impacted by nature encompassing them. The empathetic natural background cleverly used by Ray adheres closely to the view that industrialized civilization benefited only the powerful, enabling sexual exploitation of the powerless. This talk is timely due to the recent international debates about Thunberg's activism and the threat of global climate change.