Post-Colonialism and migration: East is East- The Movie

Synopsiso made in 1999 UK, directed by Damien O’Donnello British household of mixed-ethnicity, father George is Pakistani, mother Ella is

British, have six boys and one girl together, own a fish’n chips shopo Family torn between two fronts: old values/ religion represented by father, and “new”

modern values kids get to know in their all-day-lifeo Father arranges marriage for oldest son, but he runs away, leaving family in shame

and opens up an hat shop in Londono Father plans to re-establish his reputation by arranging marriages for his other two

oldest sonso The whole family act different behind father’s back, not so strict believers in Islam,

except Maneer. Mother supports children in making free choices and becoming happy, living the life they want

o Father still believes he has the control over all family members, wants to force his sons to get married, but at the meeting of the two families everything ends in chaos

o Father has to accept that his children want to live a different life and make their own experience

o Happy but open end, as the viewer does not get to know how the life of the children go on and which choices they make, old or new world?

Themes:

Arranged marriage - tradition in Indian society (Pakistan was former part of India)- marriages planned by parents & other respected family members- has to be considered before marriage: background of families (wealth, social

standing), castes, religion- girl usually should be younger, shorter than her husband- institution of marriage = very important; parents are wiser than their children so they

think they make the better choice- result of wide search by both families, they check for comparability without caring

about emotions - after engagement, at the meeting : both families in the name of God exchange fruits,

clothes as symbol of acceptance- a day is chosen for marriage according to religious almanac, both horoscopes, moon’s

phase etc.- Wedding = conducted according Wedic rites and rituals, girl is given away in holy

ceremony to the boy/man- Divorce is not liked to be seen, in rural areas in India, wife is buried alive next to her

dead husband; when caught cheating: woman can be stoned to death, man has to ask for forgiveness in religious ceremony and gets punishment (paying certain amount to mosque or so)

Position and perfect picture of a wife Monica Ali: Brick Lane (movie)

- young girl married to an old man, she comes from East Pakistan ( rural), he is from London

- he expected her to be more beautiful, had a better education, but she is better than nothing to him

- Nazneen is disappointed, maybe they could have fallen in love, because he was gentle and caring

example of a convenience marriage without any emotions, she feels betrayed, rejected; he is satisfied half, because he at least has something(!) = unfulfilled expectations

The Gift by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni- Poem, shows what is expected from Asian wives in general- A good woman: should be gentle, caring, respectful to her husband, serving him;

preserves the honour of her own family, has to be quiet, regard her husband as a god, never leaves him

- Speaker of the poem feels pressured, still it is her duty to fulfil these expectations, acts like robot, cannot change the situations nor improve it

young women accept their task to serve a man, because they represent their family in that way, have to respect it, feel empty and sorrow; others were born to serve like preserving the honour of their family, are religious and believe therefore in this dominance-system

Pakistani husband / British wife: rules, different views - East is East shows different way of relationship between Pakistani and British people- George comes from Pakistan, left his 1st wife there, married British Ella in England- George tries to live strictly according to the guidelines of Islam (going to mosque,

praying, eating no pork, drinking no alcohol), but Ella sometimes does not support him

- She knew that she had to accept her subordinate position when marrying George (accept the concision of the boys, learning the language Urdu, that the girl has to mantle herself/ hair etc), but George goes too far with the arranged marriages

- She has a different picture of a family in mind: for her, her children should become happy, do what makes them happy; George wants them to become respectful and believing married Muslims

2 nd Generation and old traditions: both sides of the medal Personal Identity: self-awareness sets us human beings apart from animals- Factors shaping an individual’s personality: some of these are hereditary, other

influences come from environment- Everyone’s personality = unique; aspects of identity are racial, ethnic, national,

regional and class identities- Religious identity determines our moral code in life- Gender identity (how we feel towards our identity as a man or woman) and sexual

identity (who we are interested in sexually)- Doubts about our identity = identity crisis with self-doubts (very destructive, prevent

us from realizing our full- Success in achieving our goals has lot to do with how we perceive ourselves- Identity is not constant (many aspects change through lifetime) & no can be reduced to

just one trait or feature

many factors have to be considered when looking at different cultures and generations

Family Khan and their conflicts

Pakistani culture and Muslim religion

The Khans English people and culture

- very important for him to go to mosque, follow the religious guidelines

- marries his sons to keep family tradition and a good reputation

George - laughs about English culture, thinks they are obscene

- G. isn’t accepted, Fish’n Chips Shop keeper

- Doesn’t want any family members from Pakistan to come over to England

- She is not acceptable as Pakistani wife, freedom-loving

Ella - wants the people to think she’s a polite / respectful wife

- shouldn’t have married a foreigner

- hides from mosque-van, religion is not important for him

- is circumcised, should behave respectful towards father

Sajid - feels integrated in English society, his opinion counts (e.g. Earnest)

- still others don’t accept him, he’s pushed around

- feels too restricted by religion, wants to free herself

- likes the culture, but wants to make free, own choices

Meenah - plays soccer, eats pork, wears school uniform, integrates in society

- likes her personal freedom

- riots against religion and strict father, wants to make own choices in life

Tariq - integrated in society, has a British girl

- has a 2nd different name to integrate in society, is prepared to give up his origin to integrate in society

-doesn’t care about religion Saleem - studies art, instead of engineering, free artist

- “Ghandi”, strict believer Maneer - wants his family to be happy, respects George, but after beating stops respecting

- respects traditions/ father, but family stands above everything

Abdul - works in British job, is respected by everyone

=> Family Khan represents typical problems a mixed family has in certain generations

“My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif KureishiAspect/Topics Parvez Ali

Religion (Islam) Bad memories, avoids all religions

Strong believer, very engaged in religious matters, no exceptions, lives according to 5 pillars of Islam

The West (England) Gives more opportunities, integrates in Western world

Western lifestyle = full of sins, Western people hate people like Ali

“philosophy of life” Enjoy life without hurting others, beauty of living (one life to live), appreciate what you have

“For us the reward will be in paradise”, law of Islam should rule the world, enjoyment is a bottom less pit

Way of life Taxi driver, hides from wife, runs away

Praying 5 times a day, sticking to Koran

Education Didn’t learn a lot in Punjab, wants to give his son possibility to have a better education Parvez had

College, most subjects A

Possible conflicts in multicultural families in Britain

Khan family “My Son the fanatic”1st generation (parents) - G. Tries to hold onto

old traditions/ values- Partly integrated

- integrated, assimilated

- respects his son’s decisions, wants to make him happy

2nd generation (children) - try to integrate, still have to show respect to 1st generation

- like the Western world with it’s free choices/ possibilities

- narrow-minded, radical, fundamentalist, strict/ traditional believer

- no integration

clash of cultures within familiescommunication problemsreversal rolesreligion/ tradition VS. Integration / Western valuesproblems to find identity

Integration (choice) mutual processAssimilation (force) one-sided

wants arranged marriages for George’s sons, teaches children the religion

friends friends

Best friends

Tease each other all the timeIn love

with her

Gay, has own hat shop, dead for his father (flew from arranged marriage)Development from shy to confident

Honest worker, family guy, respectful to father’s wishes

fightBeats him up

Make out

Loves him in a very romantic way, wants to marry him, he refuses

Rebel, libertine Very religious, torn btw. modern/ traditional world

Hopes he’ll be successful (engineer), but in fact studies art, father shouldn’t know

Loves all her children, wants the best for them

Asks for support

Religious, strict dominant man

Youngest of the family, hides beneath his parker, pushed around by everyone

She thinks he is ugly

Only daughter, sometimes boyish attitude

Stereo-typical British woman, helps Ella a lot, cares about kids

- Character Constellation in “East is East”

Married, 2nd

wife, love but struggle for dominance in family

- John Enoch Powell - Grandpa Moorhouse makes commercial for this politician- British politician, conservative- Has strong views according to race, national identity, immigration- Warned audience about uncontrolled immigration: River of Blood-Speech (too many

immigrants, wants them to be send back)- Accused of xenophobia, removed from shadow cabinet- 74% of all Britains agreed to him- was voted into the list of 100 greatest Britains of all time in 2002

Islam in Britain- known in Britain since Middle Ages, 1st large group came 300 years ago (sailors

recruited in India to work for East India Company), port towns- next wave: opening of Sue Canal in 1869: increase of trade demand for men to work

in ports, ships- many immigrants in 1950s /1960s came from India, Pakistan in search of better

material life, lot of them worked in steel/ textiles industries Yorkshire, Lancaster- many planned to bring their families to Britain, others hoped to save money to buy

land in Pakistan and return to families- in 1990s increase in enforced arranged marriages, Pakistani men using their wife’s

status to gain entry to Britain increased from 1.740 in 1995 to 3.510 in 1997- today 1.8million Muslims live in Britain, at least 50% born in UK, Islam: British 2nd

most popular religion, over 600.000 Britain’s Muslims are active in their faith- most British Muslims belong to Sunni tradition of Islam, over 600 mosques in UK, 60

Muslims school- 2001: race riots erupted in “mill and mosque” towns of Oldham, Bradford, Burnley;

after Islamist attacks on 11th September 2001 more than 300 assaults on Muslims in Britain mainly on women

- 2002: poll showed 69% of British Muslims felt strong sense of exclusion, two thirds say relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have deteriorated since 9/11

- Poll shows that there is a strong desire to integrate into British Society, also shows significant generation gap: 41% under 34 who were born in UK said they defined themselves first and foremost as Muslim

- More likely to say that their community was too integrated, Islam particularly appeals to the young

- Integration of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants will be major challenge to multicultural Britain

Islam: a) Sunnite: descendants of all four caliphs can be spiritual leaders of the Sunnites

b) Shi’ite: only descendants of Ali (Muhammad’s son-in-law) can be spiritual leaders of the Shi’ite

Immigration to Britain Young Asians in Britain today- Experience the same types of hostility and discrimination as their parents, but they do

not accept discrimination as inevitable- Face two worlds: Asian world at home, other world of school, community, work- The social and psychological gab between them and their parents widens

- Young Asians; no longer language difficulties, more chance in future to create friendship across ethnic boundaries

- Asian parents and their children have quite different views on leisure, freedom as well as clothes

- Fathers are stricter and disagree, Asian parents feel they have protect their children, girls in particular

Young Asians adopt new culture which is a synthesis of the “old” and the “new”