ABSTRACT
For, while agon is indeed embedded in the word antagonist, it is no less so in the word for that antagonist's rival-the protagonist. In fact, in the ancient theatrical context, the agon was the contest or rhetorical debate that occurred precisely between these two characters: the protos (first) and the anti (against). So, it's hardly only orally inflected audiences like the Americans responding to Shakespeare or the transnational hecklers of movie screens that reflect agonistic qualities. While likely unaware that they were appealing to oral ways of knowing, masala filmmakers nonetheless developed a technical agonism-by way of rapid zooms-in on a protagonist as he verbalizes his pledge, for example, or via a camera circling him with vertiginous speed.
