Misogyny vs Resistance: Gendered Power Structure in Contemporary Bangladeshi Cinema

This paper explores misogyny and feminist resistance in two contemporary Bangladeshi cinemas by shedding light at its historical foundations and social implications. Using textual and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this exploratory and qualitative study demonstrates that popular Bangladeshi cinemas reproduce gendered power structures with contrasting narratives. Poran shows male dominance through the normalization of possessive masculinity and compulsive love. The cinema promotes hegemonic masculinity by legitimizing male entitlement over female agency and positioning female desire within patriarchal romantic expectations. In contrast, Rehana Maryam Noor centers a female protagonist who actively challenges institutional patriarchy, embodying the feminist killjoy. Through restrained performance, narrative silence, and subjective framing, the cinema disrupts conventional spectatorship and mobilizes an oppositional gaze that resists objectification.