2025/07/21 by Enakshi Roy · 7 voices
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Media Studies and Communication
paper · pdf · doi:10.1515/omgc-2025-0012
openalex publication_date 2025/07/21 · openalex created_date 2025/07/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Purpose This study investigates how global television formats are culturally reimagined through streaming-era adaptations by analyzing Four More Shots Please! (FMSP), an Indian adaptation of the American show Sex and the City (SATC). It examines how FMSP localizes narrative and aesthetic elements to reflect Indian sociocultural realities, specifically around gender, sexuality, and postfeminist expression, while considering the enabling role of streaming platforms in shaping transnational remakes. Design/methodology/approach The study employs qualitative thematic analysis of all 30 episodes of FMSP and comparative coding of selected episodes from SATC, using a five-part coding framework comprising the following key dimensions: characters, narrative structure, audiovisual style, space-time structure, and emergent themes. Drawing on the glocalization framework, it maps cross-textual transformations and analyzes how platform infrastructures and sociocultural norms influence adaptation practices. Findings FMSP retains SATC’s core premise – female friendship and autonomy – while reworking it through Indian family structures, linguistic hybridity, and sociopolitical dynamics. Characters such as Damini, Anjana, Umang, and Siddhi are mapped onto SATC’s leads but are recontextualized within Indian discourses of journalism, motherhood, queerness, and body politics. The study identifies two inductive themes – bisexuality and body image – that deepen the adaptation’s engagement with localized gendered struggles. Amazon Prime Video’s creative flexibility enables a postfeminist narrative that is both culturally specific and globally recognizable. Practical implications This study highlights how streaming platforms serve as active agents of glocalization by allowing producers to blend global formats with culturally embedded narratives. It underscores the strategic adaptation choices made to appeal to both domestic and diasporic audiences while leveraging existing intellectual property. Social implications FMSP expands mainstream representation of Indian womanhood by integrating narratives around LGBTQ+ identity, professional autonomy, body image, and familial negotiation. These portrayals challenge traditional gender norms while navigating the complexities of cultural authenticity and aspirational modernity. Originality/value The study contributes to scholarship on media globalization by foregrounding the role of streaming infrastructures in mediating adaptation practices. It extends existing work on transnational television and glocalization by demonstrating how adaptation is shaped not just by cultural proximity, but also by platform logics, audience expectations, and production politics in the Global South.