The World Before Her The documentary The World Before Her, created by Nisha Pahuja and premiered on PBS on September 16, 2013 , is about girls growing up in India. It shows the contrasting values ​​of tradition and modernity in the country. It tells the stories of these girls and their values ​​from two very different perspectives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first perspective is a group of teenage girls participating in the Miss India beauty pageant. The documentary follows them throughout their training for the pageant, which includes weeks spent together and learning to walk, talk and alter their bodies through exercises and surgeries to make them look better. This part of the film is incredibly shocking, as it includes procedures such as lightening the skin to appear whiter and administering forced Botox injections. It culminates in showing the actual Miss India pageant and the reactions of the girl who wins and those who don't. This perspective in the film focuses on the new influence of Western culture in India. The other girls in the film are the opposite end of the spectrum. Although like beauty pageants, they are in a kind of boot camp, this camp is training them to effectively protect their religion and traditional culture by teaching them to fight. They learn Hindu fundamentalist principles and are taught to resist other cultures and religions, especially Christianity and Islam. The girls in these camps range from very young to almost adults, and it is shocking to see their complete confidence in the rightness of the war they are being trained for. At the end of the film, they are shown during the "graduation" ceremony, marching through the streets armed with weapons. This perspective focuses on the traditional aspects of Indian culture. What makes this film interesting, beyond the shock value of both of these groups' extreme views, is that it doesn't seem to support either way of thinking. While most documentaries seem to give a message about which side is the “right” one, this one instead seems to show how exaggerated both perspectives are. Beauty pageant girls are too focused on Western values ​​and ignore the important parts of their lives to look good. On the other hand, girls in the militant Hindu camp are too radically rooted in their culture to recognize the values ​​of the modern age. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Customize Essay This film is incredibly thought-provoking, which helped it win the World Documentary Competition Award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Because of its unbiased vision, this would be a great documentary to watch in class. Hopefully it would cause discussion because people would form an opinion on whether one side was more correct, but it would also be easy to argue either way with both sides' issues..