From Assimilation to Resistance: Body, Identity and Intersectionality in Ghoul (2018)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.645

Keywords:

identity; power; intersectionality; body; women; religion.

Abstract

This paper critically examines the intersections of gender, religion, and social politics through the character of Nida Rahim in the Indian Netflix miniseries Ghoul (2018). Through the protagonist, it analyzes a struggle for bodily autonomy and identity in a dictatorial State, problematized further by the subtext of supernatural invasion. A close reading of the text with the theoretical backing of Foucauldian analyses of power and identity, Edward Said’s Orientalism, and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality, reveals the series’ attempt at proposing resistance to the authoritarian powers through the media representation and portrayals. The recognition and the acceptance of power imbalances, and a gradual resistance to generalized and prejudiced perceptions for various sections of the State population, form the core of the series. The paper analyzes the processes of assimilation in a militarized State and the dangers it poses against one’s individual and collective identity. 

Author Biographies

Bhavya Sinha, Christ (Deemed to be University) Delhi NCR, India

Bhavya Sinha (1998) is a PhD research scholar in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at Christ University, Delhi-NCR, India. She is a postgraduate from the University of Delhi, and her academic interests pertain to Cinema and Literature Studies, Postcolonial Studies, and Visual Studies. Her current research topic broadly explores Bollywood horror films, posthumanism, body-horror, and body politics. She is also interested in reading and writing poetry and has an original collection of poems published in her name. Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1663-1644.

Aditi Dirghangi, Christ (Deemed to be University) Delhi NCR, India

Aditi Dirghangi (1990) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi-NCR Campus, India. She earned her PhD in English Literature from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela, where her research focused on feminist retellings of Hindu mythology, specifically exploring the marginalization and silencing of female figures in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Her academic interests include Mythology Studies, Indian Writing in English, Postcolonial Theory, and Comparative Literature. She has presented her work at several national and international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed edited volumes and conference proceedings. Her scholarship engages with questions of voice, identity, and representation in literary and cultural narratives. She is currently involved in interdisciplinary projects that intersect literature, gender studies, and cultural history.

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Published

27.11.2025

How to Cite

Sinha, B., & Dirghangi, A. (2025). From Assimilation to Resistance: Body, Identity and Intersectionality in Ghoul (2018). AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (38). https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.645

Issue

No. 38 (2025): Issue No. 38, October 2025 – Main Topic: Bodily Autonomy and Identity Politics: Feminist Approaches in the Era of Global Political Changes

Section

MAIN TOPIC: Bodily Autonomy and Identity Politics: Feminist Approaches in the Era of Global Political Changes

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