Familial unfamiliarity: Reading family spaces in New Generation Malayalam cinema

Abstract

Spatiality and the spatial turn in cultural studies and media theory have critically influenced academic dialogues and the analysis of texts in contemporary discourses. In this context, the paper attempts to apply the discourse of spatiality to read into the family spaces in the New Generation Malayalam film narratives, holding the view that diegetic spaces in these films, directly and indirectly, attempt at foregrounding and subverting the normalisation of reproductive heteronormativity which had resulted in the gen-dered storytelling practices. To engage critically with the category of diegetic spatiality, two representational New Generation Malayalam films, Bangalore Days(2014) and Kumbalangi Nights (2019) are explored.