Gender Precarity and Covid-19 Lockdown: A Study on the Malayalam Movie Wolf

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the stringent lockdown that ensued exacerbated the precarity and vulnerability of marginalised sections in India. Confinement and social isolation amplified the pre-existing gender inequalities and structural violence endured by women. Women experienced systematic oppression in the hegemonic male-dominated power system. According to Gledhill (1987), women are frequently positioned within the pandemic narratives as either sexualised bodies that give hope or victims to be saved, which increases their precarity in times of crisis. This study examines the Malayalam lockdown movie Wolf (2021) as a case study of gender precarity, vulnerability and toxic masculinity among upper-middle-class women during the pandemic lockdown in India. It argues that the vulnerability of women in homes has exacerbated in Indian society during the Covid-19 lockdown through violence, either physical or verbal, due to the pre-existing gender precarity. It examines how the narrative structure exhibits a pattern of toxic masculinity where it depicts the patriarchal system as problematic but ultimately reverts to the antiquated notion of feminine weakness and protective manhood. It explores how the narrative representation of the pandemic reinforces and reflects existing societal gender norms and traditional binary stereotypes.