Social representation in Tamil Cinema: Life of fisher folk and challenges.

Abstract

Fishermen are known for their hard work. They are confident enough to face any hostility with courage. Particularly, many distinct features can be seen among the fisher folk with literary and artistic appreciation. Tamil cinema has not failed to capture such fishing community/fisher folk. The fisher folk and the challenges faced by them are structurally visualized in Tamil cinema as a theme, a story and plot. The key intention of this research is to analyze about how the fisher folk is portrayed in Tamil cinema. This study is intended to identify the dialect variation of fisherman/unique jargons of fisherman, distinct features of fisher folk as depicted in the Tamil films and to demonstrate the obstacles, background of the challenges faced by them and to find out the reasons for the portrayal of them in Tamil cinema and the solutions for them. Tamil films which reflect the particular society have been used as the primary data of this study and film criticisms, books, research books, articles and research articles related to the theme of this study have been employed as secondary data. Comparative and Content analysis have been used to demonstrate the life of the fisher folk and the challenges faced by them and Tamil films are occupied as a source for this study through Content analysis. These studies will help to understand the life of the fisher folk and indicate the way to find out the solutions for their challenges.