Repression and Elevation of Dalit Identity: A Semiotic Analysis of the Film Karnan
Keywords:
Dalit Identity, Semiotics, Repression, Elevation, Tamil cinema, Progressive cinemaAbstract
The film Karnan by Mari Selvaraj narrates the tale of a primal and vehement struggle by a marginalised Dalit community to come out of its repressed state. The characters’ state of being marginalised and the rise of caste pride is revealed through their interaction with the elements, forces and cultural artefacts in their surroundings. The images used in such interactions echoes universal political and artistic ideals and thus makes the narrative politically charged and visually rich. The study attempts to explore the images that represent the repression and eventual elevation of the Dalit identity in the film. For the qualitative analysis, the semiological method from the Barthesian perspective is used to study Mari Selvaraj’s cinematic art in order to go beyond the text or the image which is open to an infinite number of interpretations.
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