The Cost of Modernism

For our Cinema and Society class this week, we discussed Bollywood films and the conflict between tradition versus modernism. In "The Bollywood Reader," Rajinder Dudrah and Jigna Desai argue that the evolution (therefore the inevitable modernism of Indian cinema) is part of the evolution of their culture as well. In essence, Bollywood is so much a part of traditional Indian Cinema that these two concepts is defined as an extension of the other. The authors explain that in sociological terms the idea of erassing or further dividing a country across the chaism of modernism is one that has always been in question. "Arjun Appadurai's famous formulation of 'modern at large', modernity cleansed of the mechanics of georgraphical belonging by the diaspoea ansd the cyrber-neighbourhood, certainly offers the terrain on which this insiderism is acted out." (Appadurai, 1997)

This concept got me thinking of my trip to Mecca for Umrah (pilgrimage) during spring break and the difference I saw from the more traditional description of the Holy Ka'aba (pictured above) from my family. Coincidentally, the same time I was in Mecca, a web-article came out in AlJazeers English on Mecca's removal of Muslim History by expanding the Grand Mosque.

The article writes, "Construction plans to expand the Al-Haram mosque in the holy city of Mecca are underway. The project began in 2011 and and will outfit the mosque with air conditioning, electricity, and a new raised walkway around the Kaaba, or the stone structure that Muslims face during prayer. To make way for the new renovations, parts of the existing space, which include Ottoman-era construction, are being bulldozed over."

The first image above is from 1850 as compared to the image I took while in Mecca. Relating back to the benefits of modernism, definitely an argument can be made that although the benefits sometimes outweigh the costs (in concerns to developing Indian cinema through Bollywood), that certain takes on modernism can be more destructive to history and tradition. To further support my argument, this following video shows the amount of contruction happening to expand the Grand Mosque: