I’ve been wanting to see this film for over a year now. I was excited to see it pop up on Netflix. It was good, but it could have been great.
The film makes it clear that girls are positioned between two poles: Westernization in the form of beauty pageants and Hindu fundamentalism that positions women as “mothers of the nation”. Some context is given for the latter; Hindu fundamentalists are shown to be dangerous in their hatred for Muslims and Christians. However, the film would benefit from far more historical and cultural context. The beauty queens and pageant organizers talk in English, and are largely lighter skinned while the participants in the Hindu fundamentalist camp for girls are largely darker skinned and from rural communities. More discussion of British colonialism and partition would help audiences contend with the film’s tensions.
I was most drawn to Prachi Trivedi, a 24 year old leader at the girls camp. We see Trivedi wrestling with a desire for leadership in the Hindu fundamentalist movement but constrained by gendered expectations; she’s a militant who’s told to get married and have children, a calling she has no desire for.
Female infanticide deserves more attention too. Two documentary subjects mention that they were “saved” (i.e. allowed to live) and owe their families as a result. Again, Trivedi provides the most poignant discussion of infanticide; she is compelled to do whatever her father wants (including justifying his abuse) because he chose to raise her. I’m still searching for a complex piece on female infanticide. It’s a Girl is too sensationalist, and The World Before Her provides a small mention but no analysis. Like many other parts of the film, it stands as a brief glimpse into gendered insecurity, not unlike the scenes of Hindu fundamentalist attacks on women for drinking in bars or dancing in clubs.
As with any film about the global south, I wonder how Western audiences are taking up the material and using it to further Orientalist, colonialist desires/fears of the “other”. Given that The World Before Her was partially funded by the Canadian government, this is an important question to ask.
transnationalfeminisms202 