Max Manning 1010  |  English Coursework – Media – East is East   |        Miss Broadfoot

Media – East is East

Since media, most notably television and film, has become more widespread, it has become one of the most important ways to get ideas and happenings across to people. It is used to show the world, what is happening in it, what has happened in it, and what is going to happen in it. It is quite easy to simply roll out a documentary showing this and that, but to show some issues which have serious meaning in a comedy is especially difficult, but that is what Damien O’Donnell set out to do with East is East.

        The film tells the story of the Khan family, consisting of George, a first generation immigrant to Britain from Pakistan, Ella, his Roman Catholic wife, and their seven mixed race children, Nazir, Abdul, Tariq, Saleem, Maneer, Meenah and Sajid, who are all trying to battle their way into acceptance in the increasingly racist society of the early 1970’s, shown by the rise of the Conservative Party and National Front and the British National Party, and brought up by Ella after Sajid’s circumcision when she says to the, notably Asian doctor “they’re a lot quicker to point the finger when they see they’re a bit foreign”. We learn about George’s hypocritical insistence to force his children to become “proper” Pakistanis, and respect their religion, of course, he has not been too traditional himself by marrying a non-Islamic woman, in a non-arranged marriage. In the second scene, Nazir is getting ready for an arranged marriage, set up by his father. He does not know the girl, but how she looks doesn’t matter, and he flees from the ceremony, later for us to find out he’s gay, and also trying to remove his Pakistani background, calling himself “Nigel”. Tariq is constantly trying to get away from the traditions and life of Pakistanis. His battle is not with acceptance; he manages to get away with being white, his fairer skin and assumed name of “Tony” do that for him, but with his father, trying to make George understand that times have changed – “Dad, I’m not Pakistani. I was born here. I speak English, not Urdu”- and Pakistanis can not stay in themselves any longer, while not listening to his father’s advice. The two never get on, a constant struggle of egos and stubbornness, probably a family trait. Saleem is the supposedly special one out of the children, as he is in college, although not studying engineering as he says, but art, as shown by the supposedly grossly obscene sculpture shown towards the end of the film. George does not recognise the breaking of traditions shown by Meenah and Abdul, both of whom go through the film with little to no condemnation, but Sajid causes concern when it emerges that he has not been circumcised. Maneer is the supposed “good” boy, who appears to be weak and bendable, following his father because he is scared. The latter four may not get into too much trouble, but that certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t part of the arguments between the family and George, which revolve around the traditions of Islam, and all that brings with it.

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        The concept of arranged marriages seems to be one of the largest causes of conflicts. The children believe they have a right to choice, with the spokesperson Tariq the largest supporter of this, shown with his girlfriend Stella and his cavorting in a club. The conflict is portrayed by O’Donnell excellently, not giving any conclusions, but allowing the viewer into the minds of both sides. Living in a western society such as ours, with the upbringing and ideals that we hold in our heads, of ‘equality’ and ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’, we automatically think that arranged marriages are a bad idea, ...

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