One of the cultural movie that I have watched and I will analyze is the film “Love Marriage or arranged marriage.” It is an Indian based film focusing on marriage in regard to the Indian culture and contemporary views and values on the issue. The two different opinions are shown by the two main characters in the film Shivani and Mansi. Mansi is for the idea that arranged marriages are better than love marriages, contrary to what Shivani believes. The film depicts how individuals brought up in the Indian culture are likely to adopt these values even at their adulthood. Through Shivani we understand that the western culture has had a significant influence on other people around the world, with Indians included to a point that they forsake their values and beliefs.
One of the most outstanding issue in the film if the topic on arranged marriages. These type of marriages are arranged by the parents of the couple. They are not allowed to express their freedom of choice and they do not have a say regarding the partner they should have. From the movie, Shivani’s sister Devyan got married to a businessman, which was her parents’ ideas (Vaishnav, 2013). Parents arrange marriages to their children because they believe that the couples have not had sufficient life experiences and they are yet to mature in a way that they can find their suitable partners. They consider that organized marriages will be made on a coherent and local basis than love marriage.
Devyani and her ends up not making a happy family with her husband. It is one of the reasons why Shivani prefers love marriages. The film implicates that most Indian marriages are not based on love. These marriages fail to be based on love because it is adjusted along after marriage. Love is not an essential condition in marriage (Allendorf & Pandian, 2016). Most of the parents arrange these marriages based on factors like education, family and religion. The film shows this through the marriage of Devyani and her husband who the parents thought is a suitable husband because of financial background. The factors are essential in the Indian community to preserve the solidarity of the group, strengthen family relationships and ensure that family resources remain within a particular community.
American culture and the Indian one has another difference on the issue of divorce. In the West, divorce is acceptable while in the Indian community divorce is not a solution. A married couple in India are required to remain and only death should separate them. Indians maintain that one must love the person they are married to, and that love comes after marriage (Allendorf & Pandian, 2016). The western is different as love comes first before marriage.
The two, however, have some things that are common in both cultures. Extramarital affairs are common. Sexuality before marriage is prohibited in both cultures and is highly inappropriate. When a person marries from the western culture they should remain faithful. The Indian community forbids premarital dating, and sex.
In conclusion, culture plays a significant part in the beliefs of the two communities. The personality of people from a community is shaped by the culture and values of that society. Globalization, on the other hand, has had a vital role in influences Indian cultures and they have continuously adopted some of the western values. It is evident from the students who study in the United States who have started resisting the idea of organized marriages.
References
- Allendorf, K., & Pandian, R. (2016). The Decline of Arranged Marriage? Marital Change and Continuity in India. Population And Development Review, 42(3), 435-464. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00149.x
- Vaishnav, J. (2013). Love Marriage Ya Arranged Marriage [Film].
