MEST4 Coursework Blog.: November 2016

Media Text

1. Murdered by my Father (Primary Text)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03nnns9 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/2858bfca-a851-40be-b91c-81fda7e65100

“Imagine that you fell in love with a girl. Imagine she fell in love with you too, but her parents didn't approve of you.”
Murdered by my Father is a short drama movie which is based on a father and his ‘grown up daughter’. Throughout this movie, they are in great battles of where the daughter wants to do something her way but the father would overrule her suggestions and do what he believes is ‘BEST’ for her daughter.
The main representation in this text is of the father in this movie. At the beginning, he is a thoughtful human being as he is raising a girl and boy by himself. However, throughout the text, the audience discovered a change in the characters personality as he becomes very strict and selfish; in the end, he kills his daughter and himself because of the ‘embarrassment’ that was caused in the family.
In the film, Shahzad (one of the main protagonist) used his masculine powers to overrule his children and he was the father. The theory linked to this is Andy Medhurts about stereotypes being a shorthand to identifications. In addition, the reason I think this is because there are already stereotypes such as Asian fathers being strict and therefore, this text is reinforcing the stereotype.
Honour-Based violence
A form of domestic abuse which is perpetrated in the name of so called 'honour'. The honour code which it refers to is set at the discretion of males relatives and women who do not abide by the 'rules' are then punished for bringing shame on the family.

2. Goodness Gracious Me (Secondary Text)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6h0lkq-Sno http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/goodnessgraciousme/

A BBC English-language sketch comedy which was aired from 1996 to 1998.
This text had four main protagonists that were in every single episode of Goodness Gracious Me (Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia).
The show was based on the contrast between the ‘traditional and cultural’ Indian family life and the modern British life; the show would allow the audiences to consume a lot of different Indian stereotypes and how British people live life from an Indian person’s point of view.
One of the most well-known sketches from ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ would be “Going out for an English”. This is a parody of when drunken Indian people would go out to an English restaurant and rather eat the so called ‘English food’. The idea of this had come from white English people. A common stereotype for the white English is that whenever they are drunk, they would go out for an Indian, e.g. a curry etc. And therefore, the writers of ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ got the idea of ‘Going out for an English’.

(Asian Top Gear)

This sketch is based on Top Gear but the Indian parody version. In this sketch, there was Wadia and Ghir who were portrayed as the ‘Panesar’ family. First of all, Panesar is a typical Punjabi surname. Throughout the sketch, it shows various different Asian stereotypes for example, a lot of Asian families own a typical rusty car but despite having a downgraded car, they would complement it to the fullest and act as if that there is not wrong with it.

Going out for an English

· One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu (apart from one of them, who opts for the tastier option of a steak and kidney pie) and ask for 24 plates of chips
· The "Going for an English" sketch is often cited as the first time a white English audience had seen a parody of their own behaviour in Indian restaurants, but the theme had previously been explored by other artists. Rowan Atkinson's "Indian Waiter" sketch, from his 1980s stage tour, for example, directly mocked such behaviour, whilst Alexei Sayle's "Stuff" in the early 1990s included a brief monologue where the residents of New Delhi got drunk and ate steak and kidney pies on a Friday night.
·There is clearly a lot of power in humor and satire and within circuits of South Asian diasporic culture, the sketch comedy "Goodness Gracious Me", based in Britain, is an excellent example of how humor can be mobilized to point out the inconsistencies in cultural appropriation etc.

Other related texts

Mississippi Masala
https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~yisei/issues/spring_92/ys92_9.html
http://tech.mit.edu/V112/N5/masala.05a.html

A films that explores interracial romance between African Americans and Indian Americans in the US.
Despite my investigation being on British Indians, the concept still remains the same thing; as Indian parents that move to foreign countries still, all, have the same values and point of views.
Mina (Sarita Choudhury) is a young Indian woman in her twenties, working for her father Jay (Roshan Seth) who helps manage his nephew Anil’s hotel, while her mother Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) runs a neighborhood liquor store.
When compounded with other stereotypes – e.g., the submissive and exotic female, the passive and weak male – Asians end up as dehumanized, and are rendered less understandable, less real.
A scene in which Mina and her mother are shopping in the market typifies this problem. While the mother speaks in Hindi, Mina responds in English. For a brief moment, we see a generation gap.
In my opinion, this movie did fail to explore in depth the real reasons behind the racial conflicts.

Fitting in with the community

The Main protagonist would be doing things that should be done within her own culture but when she was with her boyfriend (Denzel Washington), she would start to act in another way. For example, she would rap songs with little children within the black community and dance in their culture.

East is East

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166175/quotes
http://akatsoulis.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/east-is-east.html

A 1999 British comedy-drama. It is set in Salford, Lancashire, in 1971, in a mixed-ethnicity British household headed by Pakistani father George (Om Puri) and an English mother, Ella (Linda Bassett).
George Khan was a fish and chip shop owner. (Showing a great contrast as 'fish and chips' is known an English stereotype and it is owned by someone who has moved from a foreign country).
The films begins with the Khan family's preparation for the arranged marriage of their eldest son, Nadir. After his future veil is lifted, only to reveal a beautiful Pakistani women, Nadir runs out of the Mosque. George is ashamed, and though at first it is unknown as to why Nadir fled his wedding, the film later reveals that Nadir is gay. When George was being complimented by a relative on his six sons, George said to the family member that he only has got five sons as one of the (Nadir) has passed away. The fact that George felt ashamed and embarrassed, it is known to be in the Asian community that if a family member did something that was abnormal in their specific culture, it is known to be forbidden. Most of the time, as like what has happened in this movie, the father would no longer talk to that child nor want anything to do with them; this is a typical stereotype in the Asian community.

Key quotes from the movie

Sajid Khan: "Mum! Mum! The Pakis are here!
The movie itself was based in 70s and this was the time where the Asian communities would start to move to England and start living it. When they would movie to England, it was a really hard time for them as they would occasionally be abused racially and by their appearances. As said by Sajid, he used the word 'Paki' which back then, the white community would called all sorts of Asians by since there were new to the community and the white community didn't like the fact that things were suddenly changing.
George Khan : "You bastard bitch. You bring shame on the family
Ella Khan : "No, you should be ashamed, George. Because you're not interested in these kids being happy. You just want to prove to everybody what a great man you are. Because you're ashamed of me, George, and you're ashamed of our kids. And you won't even admit it".

Bend it like Beckham

http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/Bend_It_Like_Beckham.pdf
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286499/quotes

A 2002 romantic sports family and Indian themed comedy drama film which was based on Punjabi Sikhs in London.
Typically, a true Sikh girl should learn at a young age on the things that need to be done when they are sent off and get married. Jess (main protagonist) is an 18 year old girl, who should by now being getting ready to be married. However, she is in love with football and tries to play it as much as possible with her boy-friends in the park. However, one day, a family member spotted her playing and therefore, bought shame onto the family. Mrs Bhamra (Jess' mum) banned her from playing football and started to teach her on things to be doing as a house wife when she gets married; Jess' mum would teach her to cook, iron and much more. However, Jess didn't enjoy it but acted as if she did.
Jess' sister, Pinky, had gotten engaged.
Despite her punishment, it didn't stop her from playing football and at one stage, she got offered to play professionally and took the offer but played it without her parents knowing.
In addition, her good mate Jules was with her once and since Jess is in a Sikh family, typical Sikh parents that have come from India wouldn't want their Sikh daughter to be making friends with anyone but other Sikh girls. Since her sisters fiancés parents saw her with another girl, they thought that just because they were hugging, there were all of a sudden 'lesbians' and therefore called of the wedding, as they thought that this family was an embarrassment and didn't want to have anything to do with them.

This is a clip from Bend it Like Beckham where the girl football team and the coach went clubbing. In an Indian culture, it is typically represented that the Asian parents don't want their children, especially their daughters, to go clubbing (normally they would use the word forbidden). However, Jess went without telling her parents as she wanted to fit in with her friends. This is another stereotype for a normal Asian child, where they just want to fit in with everyone so they don't feel left out in conversations etc.

Quotes

Joe : "Look, Jess. I saw it. She fouled you. She tugged your shirt. You just overreacted, that's all."
Jess : " That's not all. She called me a Paki. But I guess that's something you wouldn't understand ".
Joe : "Jess, I'm Irish. Of course I understand what that feels like".

Stereotypes

The traditional v modern conflict is not just simply shown as an older v young generation dispute. Jess’ sister Pinky is just as traditional in her outlook as her mother - ‘Don’t you want all this?’ she asks Jess on her wedding day, and Mr Bharmra is shown to be sympathetic and understanding of Jess’ point of view (CHALLENGED)

Mrs Bhamra wants Jess to train up to be an house wife (REINFORCES)

Bride and Prejudice

A 2004 romantic drama film which was filmed in three different languages in the movie (English, Hindi and Punjabi).

Based on the movie, Pride and Prejudice.

Linking to Pride and Prejudice, some of the characters names had remained the same.

Set in Amritsar, the story follows Lalita Bakshi, a young woman living with her doting father and helping him run the family farming enterprise; her mother, who is determined to marry off her daughters to respectable and wealthy men; and her three sisters, Jay, Maya, and Lakhi. At a friend's wedding, Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a handsome and wealthy American working in his family's hotel business, who has arrived in Amritsar with his long-time friend, the British-Indian barrister Balraj, and Balraj's sister Kiran.

Quotes

Kiran Bingley : "Watch yourself, Darcy, he's about to transform into the Indian MC Hammer!"

Mr. Kholi : "Such small caterpillars that turned into beautiful butterflies! And so like you ... Madame butterfly".

Slumdog Millionaire

Aftermath of Slumdog Millionaire Actor

My Son the Fanatic

Other different stereotypes

Indians don’t eat rich, spicy, masala curry everyday

Indian cinema is not equal to Bollywood

All Indians don’t live in extended joint families

All educated Indians are not IT Professionals

Asian parents are conservative and strict

Asians have bad English

Asians are mathematics brainpans

First, most modern parents' love their daughters a lot. They might trust them but not the boys chosen by them.

They fear that the boy would not stand strong with their daughter, if he faces opposition from his own parents or relatives. If he leaves their daughter midway, it will be difficult for them to get her settled with someone else.

Our society is still not that broad minded, to accept a girl who has had a boyfriend and has been rejected by him.

Critical Investigation Task #1

Scene 1 - Car journey with Haroon, Shahzad and Hassan

This scene is where the three characters Shahzad (the Father of Salma), Hassan (the younger brother of Salma) and Haroon (the boy which Salma's family want her to get married to) were driving in the van talking to each other about the future. Before the main protagonist's mother had died, she had wanted her to get married to this particular boy, who is a family friend. Haroon (the boy whom the mother wanted her daughter to get married to) was talking to the main protagonists younger brother about how them 2 are meant to be; his father (the main protagonist) didn't say anything to him in the car journey. However, he went into a deep thought of his and most likely thinking of how/when he will get her daughter to marry Haroon. In the following scene, Shahzad and Haroon were working with each other, in their job, and the Shahzad said to Haroon that he will get them two married really soon.
This is a typical stereotype in the Asian community since the audience, especially the teenage Asian girls, believe that they are being controlled by their parents, in this case the father, and therefore they haven't got a say for the outcome even though it will be their life. Linking it to the movie, Shahzad, in this case, is trying to control Salma and therefore Salma doesn't have a say in her own life. In addition, this shows that the young Asian teenage girls have it rough, to some extent, as they may feel that they are being controlled. Even when moving to another country, for example England, Asians don't like to adapt to the English community life style and want to remain as if they were living in India or Pakistan.

Scene 2 - Death Scene
http://hbv-awareness.com/honour-based-violence/

This scene is shown right at the end of the movie. It was taken place after Salma and Shahzad had a really bad argument which led Salma going to her boyfriends house. However, she didn't feel as if she was at 'home' with her boyfriend and wanted to try and make things right with her dad. At this point, Shahzad didn't want to have anything to do with her and only recognised that he had the one son and no one else. Once Salma had got home, it was only her dad at home. At first, she tried to be nice to Shahzad but he kept quiet. Then Salma started to get angry and that's when Shahzad got even more angry and this is when Shahzad started to suffocate his daughter; she died within minutes.
This isn't so much known as a typical stereotype but has happened a lot within the Asian community as an honoured based killing. However, it does show some 'normal' stereotypes, for example showing the power that the male character has. Most of the time, the male character is shown to be more powerful than the female character and has been shown in this movie as the father killed the daughter. In addition, this also shows that the Asian male character is still controlling their daughter but in this case, taking her daughters life away.

Murder of Shafilea Ahmed

Shafilea Ahmed was killed by her parents in September 2003, and her body was found dumped in the Lake District five months later. Her two sisters Alesha and Mevish witnessed the killing along with their brother, but terrified they might be next, they carried the terrible secret with them. The only person Mevish told was her best friend Shahin…
"Mev used to tell me about the violence at home," Shahin tells Cosmopolitan. "But there was always something she couldn't bring herself to say. I told her that if she couldn't say it out loud she should write it down and give it to me instead. She was never really allowed out by herself but one day she texted me and told me she was going into town with her mum. She said they were going to H&M so I went there, and started looking through clothes, keeping my head down. I was looking through a rail when Mev and her mum walked past and as Mev walked past, she dropped a letter on the floor. I picked it up quickly and walked out of the shop as fast as I could."
Shahin couldn't believe it when she got home and read Mev's letter describing Shafil

Honour Based Violence

Honour Based Violence (HBV) is a term used to describe violence committed within the context of the extended family which are motivated by a perceived need to restore standing within the community, which is presumed to have been lost through the behaviour of the victim. Most victims of HBV are women or girls, although men may also be at risk.
Women and girls may lose honour through expressions of autonomy, particularly if this autonomy occurs within the area of sexuality. Men may be targeted either by the family of a woman who they are believed to have ‘dishonoured’, in which case both parties may be at risk, or by their own family if they are believed to be homosexual.

Common triggers for HBV include:
Refusing an arranged marriage
Having a relationship outside the approved group
Loss of virginity
Pregnancy
Spending time without the supervision of a family member
Reporting domestic violence
Attempting to divorce
Pushing for custody of children after divorce
Refusing to divorce when ordered to do so by family members
However, some families may resolve to abuse or kill a member on what would appear to be very trivial grounds. It is important to take clients fears of HBV seriously, even when it seems unlikely. Victims of HBV are more likely to underestimate the risks to their safety than overstate them and even the ‘offence’ seems trivial to you, this does not mean it is trivial to his or her family.

Critical Investigation Task #2

MEST4 Coursework Blog.

Friday 18 November 2016

Critical Investigation tutorial

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Notes and Quotes WORD COUNT (NOT UPDATED) : 3083

Critical Investigation Task #1