How is the idea of a "border" present in
the narrative of the films you have studied?
By Ria Manzanero
By Ria Manzanero
The idea of a border can be presented in many different ways, however,
when focusing on Asian Cinema, the border in characters life is usually their
religion, race or lack of social acceptance. In ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ (1985,
Stephen Frears) these elements are what make up the films content. Omar is
living in Britain during the time Margret Thatcher was serving as Prime
Minister. There are references throughout the film to this era “He’s on the
dole, like everyone else in Britain”. The film aims to give the audience a
bleak and negative perception of Britain, whilst telling the story of Omar
(Gordon Warnecke), a young man, struggling to earn money and take the role as
mother to his alcoholic, depressed father, after his mum commit suicide.
The film shows how Omar is having a complete identity crisis. His mother
was white and his father Pakistani. This instantly gives his character a racial
“border”, as he is living in Britain, yet obeying by Pakistani religious rules,
implying he is stuck between two very different cultures. His homosexuality
comes as no surprise as the film implies Omar and Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis)
have had a previous relationship. His male lover is also white; this again
makes his life more difficult as the Johnny cannot relate to the problems in
his family, as he doesn’t live by the same cultural beliefs. His sexual
confusion urges him to make irrational decisions, such as asking Tania (Rita
Wolf) to marry him.
This episodic film attempts to show the conflict within Omar’s life,
socially, financially, sexually and racially. This film created much controversy
when released in the 1980’s, and it’s obvious why, as Pakistani people would not
agree with the idea that people within their culture could be homosexual. Due
to this, their relationship within the film was shown as hidden, low angle
shots showing them kissing in the shadows were representations of how people
would look down upon their relationship, forcing them to hide it.
The border of racism was also portrayed throughout the film. Johnny’s
punk friends were characters that strongly displayed this: "One of our
people grovelling to Pakis." This highlights racial segregation between
whites and Asians and how they weren't associated as friends or business
partners. Within this scene, one of the Punk boys has a knife - displaying them
to be angry and controlled by violence as he would consider stabbing his own
friend. The issue of belonging is portrayed by one of the Punk characters, as
he says "Everyone has to belong" – this reiterates Johnny and Omar's
pressure to fit in with what is expected. However, they both don't conform to
social expectations as they are both homosexual and of different races.
Asian British Cinema aims to combine cultures and portray the life of an
Asian living in a typical London environment. Whether it is highlighting
cultural differences, social difficulty to fit in, racial stereotypes, rebel
against religion or a celebration of dual heritages, they all have a
"cultural problem" or "cultural difference" that is
essentially highlighted throughout the film.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002, Gurinder Chadha) is a film that reveals
issues in gender stereotyping as well as religious issues in relation to football.
The film tells the story of a young Asian girls life who finds her passion in
football, once meeting an English girl who plays for a woman’s professional
football team. The border in her life is reflected as she attempts to hide her
hobby of football from her family, who are very traditional. Her religion is pushing
her towards marriage and taking on the roles of the female such as cooking and
cleaning.
As well as her family being against her football passion, the ideas of
feminism are also brought up by Chadha, as there is a questioning of why
football is being played by women. This creates another border in Jesminder’s
life, as she is fighting society’s expectations of football being a male’s
game. Her friends and lover Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) were white,
British/Scottish. This instantly creates another barrier in the characters
life, as she is Asian therefore racially segregated from others in British life.
We see her trying to deny this element of her life by abbreviating her name
from 'Jesminder' to ‘Jess’. This is a semiotic signifier of exactly what her
character represents - a rebel against her Indian culture and an urge to fit in
to a British society.
Another film that portrays borders confidently is ‘East is East’ (1999,
Damien O'Donnell). The film is set during the early 1970's England, a
traditional Pakistani father (Om Puri) finds his family spinning in decidedly
non-traditional directions. His brood consisting of six sons and one daughter
all move in independent-minded directions set off when the eldest son runs away
from home rather than keeping to his fate of an arranged marriage. When the
next two sons also find out that their father has secretly been arranging
marriages for them, they rebel and set off repercussions that force the family
to totally reconsider their family structure.
This film became the first big mainstream success of Asian British film.
It addresses racism, but does not make it a central theme. What almost destroys
the family in this film is not rejection by a Britain that insists on remaining
white but Muslim values. This is something that is often seen in Asian British
Cinema, as British audiences will be able to identify with the differences
between the protagonist’s culture in comparison to British life.
