THE IMAGE OF WOMEN IN KAZAKH CINEMATOGRAPHY: REPRESENTATION, STEREOTYPES, AND SOCIAL IMPACT

Abstract

This paper analyzes the portrayal of women in Kazakh cinematography with the focus on whether their representations reproduce or subvert gender conventions and expectations. In examining these representations, the study is able to examine the effects of such portrayals of gender and identity in cinema on wider Kazakhstani societies. The main theoretical framework for the project will be based upon the principles of the feminist film theory, transnational cinema, Goffman's theory of social image, intersectionality and postcolonialism. The project by using cinema as a mirror of socio-cultural and economic processes happening in Kazakhstan from the soviet period till modern days, will examine changes in women's gender roles from the perspective of changing cultural norms. The purpose of this study is to examine the social representation of women in cinema from both historical and contemporary perspectives, in order to identify and analyze how the social representation of women in cinema has changed in response to changes in society and the use of media to promote gender justice. That's why the main research question guiding this study is as follows: How were women portrayed in Kazakh cinema of different periods, and how did it reflected the prevailing cultural norms and gender roles? The first part of the research question focuses on the representation of Kazakh women in films. Thus, looking at the change in the number of female characters throughout the time, representation of their lives (place of work, study, goals and dreams) but also interactions with other characters, attitudes of other characters towards women characters and the contribution of the female character to the development of the plot. To answer the second part of the question, it is necessary to examine the social representations of women in cinema from both a historical and contemporary perspective in order to capture how these social representations change in tandem with the changes in the social 2 status of women in society. In addition, the role of cinema as a mirror of society and as a critique of the successes and failures of society will also be considered in relation to women's equality.