Bollywood, Ghost World, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

Novak spends a great deal of time analyzing the film Ghost World in relation to remediation, cosmopolitanism and Bollywood. Ghost World is essentially a coming of age story about an isolated, cynical teenager who finds searches for comfort and escapism. There's a lot more going on in the film beyond her struggles, or at least the film suggests she's not entirely at fault for her disconnection from people and struggle to identify herself. Her perception of herself is in eternal flux, in accordance with whatever kitschy media she's obsessed with. Her identification with the Jaan Pehechaan Ho clip is a representation of her the mimetic quality of her existence and cosmopolitan status (even though she lives in a small suburban town). Enid is able to "imagine being a part of all of this stuff" (43) from the confinement of her bedroom, which is decked out in physical representations of self. She claims objects and art forms as part of her very being, even if she doesn't know how she feels about them. 

 "Much of Clowe's work revolves around broad critiques of contemporary popular aesthetics and consumerism, foregrounding the alienation of everyday life in late capitalism. He parodies record collectors and other 'knowledgeable' consumers as overgrown teenagers who cannot break free from their love-hate relationship with the commodity form of media" (46). Bollywood, obsessed with popular global aesthetics and excess, presents itself as a film form that is inseparable from the "weird trashy excess of media circulation" (42). Connection to commodity and popular culture are what make Bollywood films a vehicle for heteronormative, materialistic narratives such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The musical numbers are flashy and catchy because of excess (scenery, costume, lyrics). The main song includes repeating phrases that literally circulate in your head. Many of the costumes are American aesthetics, and the blend of English and Hindu portray the globalism of late capitalism. Ghost World acknowledges these representations within Bollywood, and suggests a culturally conscious collective of "everyone paying attention" (46). Identification is increasingly related to popular aesthetics and media, and the pastiche of Bollywood is akin to the formations of personality people experience through media.