I came across a very interesting video about objectification of women in bollywood punjbai songs. All Indian punjabi songs have almost the same recipe. First, an international tourist venue for shooting the video like Dubai or Morocco. Second, a very rich Punjabi Raees Boy who spends money recklessly and third a gold digger girl.
What do you think this portrayal of women specifically in Punjabi songs coming from ? Why are the lyrics in these songs always have lines which shows the extra ordinary wealth of boy using which he is trying to impress the girl?
The video link is attached:
It is no surprise that the Punjabi Bollywood industry portrays women as gold diggers as most of the musical and entertainment content is based on the very concept. Throughout such media content, the men are portrayed as extremely rich, independent, and dominant, whereas women are merely represented as the receivers, deprived and greedy of money, fame, and love. The directors and producers of such media content have highlighted that they include such content explicitly in the lyrics of the songs to attract the audience and receive maximum attention and appraisal. The societal social construct has given rise to such content being produced.
In his interview, one of such famous singers, producers, and directors, Gippy Grewal said that he spent…
you highlighted a good point. Women are constantly portrayed as Gold Diggers and supposed to be seen as eagerly demanding for the attachment or presence of men. Furthermore, the choice and nature of the lyrics opted for these songs are also pathetic. They also mainstream bullying, harassment, and other forms of harassment, demonstrating how terrible such songs maybe. The issue runs rampant inside the production industry. Women were frequently seen asking these guys to bring them costly items, and when they are rejected, they are seen to leave or pout until the items are delivered to them, giving them the label of "gold digger."
The main reason why I think ordinary wealth of boys is portrayed is because the singers are men themselves and it is widely known how men have a rising ego so it could be assumed that men would want to act as the superior character. The girls are represented as being dependent on the men which is the singer themselves. Singers in the music videos tend to be the main character in Bollywood songs hence they have a lot of influence on the videography as well. In fact, a lot of content creators have also made videos on gold diggers featuring women and using them to attract audience.
Punjabi songs tend to portray women as either "damsel in distress" or "gold diggers". the latter is a recurring theme in popular Punjabi songs and revolve around how men can afford the lavish lifestyle while women are often asking these men to buy them expensive things, and if they are refused, they are shown to leave them or would sulk until those things are given to them, thus earning the "gold digger" tag.
Throughout the song 'Naah' by Harrdy Sandhu, the list of demands the girl makes is shown to be extensive (including shoes, earrings, etc) and the song continues to state how she cannot be kept happy without those items.
This is linked to Simone de Beauvoir's view of…
To answer the question you posed, I think it's a highly harmful narrative for media sources to espouse because it does two things: putting women in binaries of representation, and villainizing them by making them seem ingenuous. But in the same vein, I'd like to add to your argument that Pakistani media especially tends to represent women in a range of restricted roles, the gold-digger being one of them. One other such representation is that of the "good woman/bad woman" dichotomy, where one woman is shown to be the best a girl can be, according to Pakistani societal standards (basically quiet, obedient, modest, etc), and the other is shown to be her opposite, and thus, bad (a really good example…