Proceeding of International Conference on Contemporary Management - 2016 (ICCM-2016), pp 312-320 REPRESENTATION OF TAMILS IN POST WAR SINHALA MOVIES: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MOVIES PRODUCED DURING 2010- 2012 Sivapriya.S ABSTRACT An exciting aspect of inter cultural communication is the communication processes through which one culture's perceptions of another culture are created and recreated. From a Symbolic Interactions perspective, the perceptions one culture has of another are constructed through interaction with and about the target culture. Media messages are primary sources of messages that shape one culture's perceptions of another. The existing literature insists that dominant culture often try to maintain their role as powerful and superiors among the subordinate cultures. This study uses content analysis of Sinhala movies to explore the ways in which Tamils are represented in the post war Sinhala movies and to analyze how those images contribute to the development of cultural perceptions about Tamils in Sri Lanka. The quantitative data collected through content analysis were further analyzed using qualitative approaches. The results indicate that Tamils are portrayed as cruel soldiers who are very strong about their mission and even kill their own corps for their mission, minority characters who depend on Sinhalese for their survival, depended who could be rescued by the army, emotionally weak and violent. Overall, the findings prove that Sri Lankan Sinhala war movies produced during the post war period develop a negative perception about Tamils in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Inter- cultural communication, Symbolic interactionism, Sinhala movies 1. INTRODUCTION visual medium as it can be utilized as a Cinema is one of the most important dominant tool of propaganda. Almost all instruments of political power. In the course Countries use its cinema industry to of its history, cinema would be a space of propagate their ideologies to their own escape for the people, for instance during the people and others. harsh times of the great depression in the As cited by Fuat (2005), Robert Gregg United States twenty-six million persons proposes that, films help us to understand were going to movies each week in America “valuable windows to the reality of (Fuat, 2005). Cinema is a powerful audio- international relations” (p.01.). According to Department of Languages and Communication Studies, Trincomalee Campus, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. [email protected] 312 him films are ideological in that they reflect In the early days, movies were shot in the their producer's perspectives. Weber (2001) local studios and most of them were insists that films are instruments through religious or historical movies. The most which certain world views are naturalized in veteran director Lester James Pieris started the popular culture and they offer valuable to bring the characters out from the studio insights about the connection between the and made the characters closer to the village popular and political (p.09). The relation man. His films were neo-realistic films and between film and power works in quite a dealt with the social issues. This made a complex way. significant change in the Sri Lankan film industry. The following directors of Lester Films not only affect the social structure, but James Pieris started to shot movies about also the other areas related to the society, for people, their life, culture and their agonies. instance, sports, education, technology, family values, culture and so forth all. As The early Sri Lankan films did not portray cited by Khan et al (2011), Whitney explains the local ethnic war directly. Most of them that media is a vital part of the state's power depicted the consequences of war. Hence, structure. In its practical application, it is the films produced during the civil war more valuable than military (p.04.). period in Sri Lanka were mostly about the impacts of war. At this juncture, the growth In any conflict environment, the audio- of information technology let the film visual medium, in particular cinema is makers to portray the real war as it is. Film utilized as a dominant tool of propaganda. makers began to portray the war, aerial Cinema that is directly sponsored by the attacks, bomb blasts, killings, and casualties State invariably bears the voice of the in their movies. Prasanna Vithanage, Bennet State.In the case of Sri Lankan civil war, the R a t h n a y a k e , A s o k a H a n d a g a m a , country uses its cinema industry to Somarathna Dissanayake and many others propagate its ideologies. started to picturize the war and its consequences. Sri Lankan film industry has inaugurated in 1947 with the film “Kadawunu “Kalu Sudu saha Alu”, “Sarungale” (1979), Poranduwa” produced by S.M.Nayagam “Koti Waligaya” (1986), “Golu Muhuthe for Chithrakala Move Tone. Sri Lankan Kunatuwak” (1991), “Pura Hanta Sinhala cinema has achieved the Kaluwara” (1998), “Saroja” (2000), “Ira International recognition because of certain Madiyama” (2005), Prabhakaran (2008), veteran directors. Lester James Pieris, “Alimankada” (2009), “Ira Hanta Yata” Dharmasena Pathiraja, Dharmasiri (2010), Selvam (2011), Maatha (2012), Bandaranayake, Prasanna Vithanage are Prathiroo (2012), Ini Awan (2012) and some of them. “Sulaga enu Pinisa” (banned) are some of 313 the Sinhala language films which represent Lanka. Sri Lankan Sinhala film industry has the local war. begun to produce many films related to the country's civil war after the legal end of the These films are centered on several themes, ethnic war. One of the reasons is the open some films depict the consequences of the space to invest more money in a war free war among the Sinhala society, where as zone and the other is the ideological changes some others are about the romantic in the minds of the people. relationship between a Sinhala boy and a Tamil girl or Tamil boy and a Sinhala girl and Alimankada (2009), Ira Hada Yata (2010), how the war affects their life. “Saroja” is Selvam (2011), Maatha (2012), Prathiroo about two children, a Sinhala girl and a (2012), and Ini Awan (2012) are produced Tamil girl and it portrays how the war affects and screened during the post- war period. these children's lifestyle, and how they Even though they have been produced in the perceive the war. Ira Madiyama tells the life post- war period, these films also contain of three persons amidst the war, a soldier battle scenes and the cruel war. These films who witnesses his sister as a prostitute in also portray Sri Lankan Tamils. So it should town, a Muslim man who circumcised to be investigated that how the Sri Lankan displace from his home town, and a young Sinhala films portray the Sri Lankan Tamils woman who searches her husband in the in the post- war period? Whether in a battle zone. Pura Hanta Kaluwara is about positive way or negative way? the agony of a blind father who gets to know about his one and only soldier son's death. Hence, this study attempts to examine the All these movies are Sinhala language portrayals of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sinhala movies and talk about the war from the movies produced in the post- war period. perspective of Sinhalese community. Sri Lankan films are usually made in Sinhala 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Language, the language of the majority Italian revolutionary Antonio Gramsci Sinhala people. The status of Tamil cinema introduced the term hegemony to describe in Sri Lanka is a depressing one. There is no the dominance of one social class over Tamil film industry to speak of. Hence, there others. Mass media often portray the events is no film medium in Sri Lanka to portray the which are taking place in real world and civil war from the perspective of minority provides a platform for dialogue and debate Tamils. on issues which can generate social changes. As cited by Khan et al. (2011), Phillip argues Sri Lankan government officially declared that, “regardless of what is actually the end of the armed war in May, 2009. The happening, it is the media's interpretation of period from May, 2009 to now is being that event that shapes our attitudes, values considered as the post- war period in Sri 314 and perceptions about the world and about their role as powerful and superiors among our culture” (p.04.). the subordinate social groups. They use the cinema as a medium to disseminate this Srividya Ramasubramanian, in her study on ideology. Films often take the side of the the portrayal of India in films produced by majorities. the west, insisted that the stereotypical portrayals are not the reflections of personal There are fewer studies on Sinhala movies. preferences of media content but seem to be The purpose of this study is to analyze the a part of the larger societal meanings and image of Tamils in post war Sinhala movies. myths existing among the peoples of one Tamils are the minorities and the Sinhalese culture about the peoples of a minority are the majorities of the country. The culture. Existence of such shared cultural research questions are designed to examine stereotypes as opposed to individual how the dominant group see and depict the stereotypical beliefs makes it easier for minorities in their creations. people in power to discriminate out groups in ways that are legitimized by social 2.1 Objective institutions, and eventually leading to To examine the portrayals of Sri Lankan institutional prejudice (Ramasubramanian, Tamils in Sri Lankan Sinhala war movies 2005). produced during the post war period in Sri Lanka. As insisted by Fernando (2009), when there are inter-state wars and ethnic tensions 2.2 Research Question occurs, the media in the country should carry How Sri Lankan Sinhala war movies the responsibility of performing greater produced during the post- war period portray ethnic tolerance, among the citizens, and call the Sri Lankan Tamils? for openness and acceptance towards multiculturalism.