Bride and Prejudice: Color, Caste, and Compromise Within the Paradigm of Arranged Marriage in Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking

With its 2020 reality show/documentary Indian Matchmaking, Netflix is commercializing and capitalizing on a show that fundamentally upholds colorist ideology, caste supremacy, and misogyny, ultimately normalizing these forms of discrimination and obscuring their violent reality. My capstone project analyzes the paradigm of arranged marriage practices that coexist with colorism, casteism, and compromise for women — this historical and sociological background is poised within the framework of Indian Matchmaking to provide context and clarity as to how these prejudices are valued and sustained in modern Indian society. Research indulging in ethnographic accounts of arranged marriage culture in India, the history of casteism and colorism and its intersections with gender and class, and enticing new analyses on Indian Matchmaking within academia are also included for a broader understanding of discriminatory values in practice and the mainstream media as a powerhouse for bringing these culturally-specific standards to light