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Essay / The growth and development of girls in India in The World Before Her, a documentary by Nisha Pahuja
The World Before Her The documentary The World Before Her, created by Nisha Pahuja and premiered on PBS on September 16, 2013, speaks of girls growing up in India. This shows the contradictory values between tradition and modernity in the country. It tells the stories of these girls and their values from two very different perspectives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The first perspective is that of a group of teenage girls participating in the Miss India beauty pageant. The documentary follows them through their training for the pageant, which includes weeks spent staying together and learning to walk, talk and modify their bodies through exercise and surgery to make them more beautiful. This part of the film is incredibly shocking, as it includes procedures such as bleaching the skin to appear whiter and receiving forced Botox injections. The highlight is the screening of the real Miss India pageant and the reactions of the girl who wins and those who don't win. This perspective of the film focuses on the new influence of Western culture in India. The other girls in the film are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Although, like beauty pageants, they take place in a sort of training camp, this camp trains them to effectively protect their religion and traditional culture by teaching them how to fight. They learn fundamentalist Hindu principles and learn to resist other cultures and religions, including Christianity and Islam. The girls in these camps range in age from very young to those on the cusp of adulthood, and it is shocking to see their complete belief in the righteousness of the war for which they are being trained. At the end of the film, they are shown at their "graduation" ceremony, marching through the streets with guns. This perspective focuses on traditional aspects of Indian culture. What makes this film interesting, aside from the shock value of these two groups' extreme views, is that it doesn't seem to support either way of thinking. While most documentaries seem to give a message about which side is "right", this one instead seems to show how both perspectives are exaggerated. Beauty pageant girls are too focused on Western values and ignore important aspects of their lives to appear beautiful. On the other hand, the girls in the Hindu militant camp are too radically rooted in their culture to recognize the values of the modern era. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a custom essay This film is incredibly thought-provoking, leading it to win the World Documentary Competition Award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Because of its unbiased point of view, this would be a very good documentary to watch in class. We hope this will provoke debate as people will form opinions on whether one side is right, but it would also be easy to debate either side of the issues on both sides..