The Theory of Relatedness in The Movies Water and a Family Thing

Set in the backdrop of the colonial times, ‘Water’ highlights the life of widows in India. Chuiya a young eight-year-old girl is sent to a widows’ ashram after her husband’s death, as per the norms of the society. Unaware of the fact Chuiya believes that she will be sent back to her home. The story is about a young Kalyani who is a widow of the ashram but wants to remarry. Chuiya finds her social mother in Shakuntala who takes care of her and at the end is successful in sending Chuiya away from the ashram. The other movie I have chosen is called ‘A Family Thing’. When Earl Pilcher’s mother dies, she leaves a letter for him which states that she was not his birth mother. He goes to Chicago looking for his biological family.

David Schneider states that, every society contains some set of ‘norms. ’ The normative system comprises rules, based on which individuals behave, in order to be included within the community. This is evident in ‘Water’, when Kalyani tries to break the norm through remarriage, she is not accepted within the community. These are the “how to do it rules” as Goodenough has stated (1970). These are the rules which actors have to perform without getting influenced by the majority. Hence in the movie ‘Water’ widows (actors) have to be away from fried food; they cannot dress themselves up; they have to spend their lives in isolation in a widow ashram and most importantly, they cannot remarry. These are the normative rules in the Indian context. David Schneider talks about a ‘cultural system’. It is a system of symbols and meanings present in the normative system. Culture sets the stage and normative system decides the role of the characters. Hence, the white sari, shaved head, absence of vermilion are all symbolic representation of the normative rules of widowhood in India as per the movie. This supports David Schneider’s view that the cultural and normative systems overlap in everyday life. These rules may not be the same for every society. We can see this in ‘A Family Thing’, where the cultural context is different (American culture) which showcases the racial divide between ‘black’ and ‘white’. Ray is black and hence initially refused to accept Earl as his half- brother.

David Schneider is of the view that each unit in the system say, mother or father can be defined on the basis of four categories of components, first is pure kinship component, second is age or generation component, third is sex-role component and fourth is class component. There can be other kinds of components as well. Schneider coined the term conglomerate system for the system of these components. The pure kinship component has two defining features- shared bio genetic substance and code of conduct. The intermingling of these two features gives rise to three major kin categories; first is the category of blood relative which is formed when both the features occur together, second is when the code of conduct element occurs alone, and this gives rise to relatives in law and finally when the bio-genetic substance is present alone the category of relatives in nature is formed. Relatives in law falls under the wider category called the order of law. We can draw instances from ‘water’ where the second category of relatives in law can be seen to some extent. The members of the ashram address each other as Didi (sister) despite not having any blood ties which shows absence of bio-genetic substance and the presence of only the codes of conduct element. Thus, they are related to each other socially. In ‘A Family Thing’ the brothers are related to each other biologically. We can find shared bio- genetic substance between them.

The author is of the opinion that family as a social institution falls within the conglomerate system. It has been shown in ‘water’ that Chuiya’s family wants her to spend the rest of her life in the ashram post her husband’s death. This shows that family plays an important role in maintaining the normative rules of a culture.

Janet Carsten observed that in Langkawi, a core component of kinship is blood and food becomes an important component of blood. Food is prepared in the kitchen by the women. Hence women become very important in Langkawi, especially older women. Similarly, in the movie ‘A Family Thing’, Aunt. T, an aged woman plays an important role, in bringing the two brothers together. Janet Carsten says that siblingship plays an important role in Langkawi. She says this can be evidently seen among the older sisters. But among the adult brothers there is lack of cooperation, though they stick to the same belief of siblingship. We can draw instances from the movie, the existence, of a strong siblingship bond between the brothers. Whenever Earl gets into trouble, the elder brother Ray comes to his rescue, first when Earl is carjacked, and in the second instance when Earl becomes bankrupt. Ray also helps Earl get his truck back. In Langkawi, it is believed that by sharing food made in the same hearth, in a single kitchen, in the same house one can become kin. Thus Aunt. T, (Earl’s birth mother’s sister, who acts as a social mother to both Ray and Earl), Ray and Earl all are in the process of ‘becoming kin’ as they live and consume together. In the case of Ray and Earl we can see an overlap of biological and social.

In conclusion, it can be observed that the theory of relatedness can be seen in both the contexts. It can be also be inferred that culture plays a significant role in one’s life.