Gender-Based Violence in Contemporary Digital Graphic Narratives From India

Abstract

This paper analyzes representations of gender-based violence in recent digital graphic narratives from India. Focusing on rape in Priya’s Shakti (2014) and on acid attacks in the 2016 sequel, Priya’s Mirror, I argue that these two texts attempt to promote gender empowerment in their portrayal of Priya as a positive role model in the fight for gender equality. The texts show that the power to change attitudes resides in human beings but can only be achieved through the intervention of non-human beings and supernatural powers. I situate Priya’s Shakti and Priya’s Mirror in their contemporary context of other digital narratives on gender-based violence to analyze the two didactic narratives as products within the growing field of the digital humanities. Through their easy accessibility online, the narratives feed into the post-2012 Delhi rape “hype” as Priya is marketed as a champion of women’s rights.

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