East is East: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:29, 8 January 2018

Title of a play by Ayub Khan Din, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996. Title of a movie written by Ayub Khan Din, directed by Damien O'Donnel, released in 1999. The title is taken from "The Ballad Of East And West" by Rudyard Kipling (1889).

Plot

The film is set in Salford in 1971 and deals with the Khan family, whose father, "George" (is this his real name? could someone check?), aims at preserving religious traditions, whereas most of the others in the family try to lead secular lives.

George feels unable to accept this, which especially becomes clear after the oldest son Nazir leaves the family. No one is allowed to talk about him and all the photos of him disappear. Sajid, the youngest son, turns out not to be circumcised, which George wants to change – against Sajid's will. Moreover, he arranges two further marriages with two not very attractive daughters of a Pakistani family for his sons Abdul and Tariq. Tariq, however, destroys the wedding clothes and George finds Maneer with the torn clothes, which results in George's violent behaviour towards his family so that he finally leaves the house. With the hope, however, that George will change.

Postcolonial discourse

The binary oppositions 'East' and 'West' were constructed during the time of colonisation. According to Kipling's poem, however, “there is neither East nor West“ (l. 3). Using the terms 'East' and 'West' as binary oppositions goes back to the Western perception of the East as “Other“ or “exotic“. By defining the East as such a “contrasting image“ (Said 2) a justification of colonial attempts was made. "East is East" breaks these ethnic stereotypes and therefore rewrites the time of colonisation as a postcolonial discourse. Although George sticks to 'his own' traditions he has already assimilated to the British culture, as he has married Ella, a British woman with Irish roots.

References

Kipling, Rudyard. Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Inclusive Edition, 1885-1932. “The Ballad of East and West” London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1933, 231.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books, 1991.

Sander, Daniel. “Klischee ist Klischee“. Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/der-film-west-is-west-als-nachfolger-von-east-is-east-startet-a-838650.html (accessed June 25, 2017).

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-Title of a play by Ayub Khan Din, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996. Title of a movie written by Ayub Khan Din, directed by Damien O'Donnel, released in 1999. The title is taken from "The Ballad Of East And West" by Rudyard Kipling (1889).
+Title of a play by [[Ayub Khan Din]], first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996. Title of a movie written by Ayub Khan Din, directed by Damien O'Donnel, released in 1999. The title is taken from "The Ballad Of East And West" by [[Rudyard Kipling]] (1889).
+== Plot ==
+The film is set in Salford in 1971 and deals with the Khan family, whose father, "George" (is this his real name? could someone check?), aims at preserving religious traditions, whereas most of the others in the family try to lead secular lives.
+George feels unable to accept this, which especially becomes clear after the oldest son Nazir leaves the family. No one is allowed to talk about him and all the photos of him disappear. Sajid, the youngest son, turns out not to be circumcised, which George wants to change – against Sajid's will. Moreover, he arranges two further marriages with two not very attractive daughters of a Pakistani family for his sons Abdul and Tariq. Tariq, however, destroys the wedding clothes and George finds Maneer with the torn clothes, which results in George's violent behaviour towards his family so that he finally leaves the house. With the hope, however, that George will change.
-== Plot ==
+== Postcolonial discourse ==
-The film is set in Salford in 1971, back then a part of the county Lancashire, a smallish town in Northern England. It deals with the bicultural family Khan. Father George coming from Pakistan and his wife Ella, a Briton with Irish roots, have got six boys and a daughter. Since George aims at conserving the traditions of his home country his children want to conform to the British culture.
+The binary oppositions 'East' and 'West' were constructed during the time of colonisation. According to Kipling's poem, however, “there is neither East nor West“ (l. 3). Using the terms 'East' and 'West' as binary oppositions goes back to the Western perception of the East as “Other“ or “exotic“. By defining the East as such a  “contrasting image“ (Said 2) a justification of colonial attempts was made. "East is East" breaks these ethnic stereotypes and therefore rewrites the time of colonisation as a postcolonial discourse.
+Although George sticks to 'his own' traditions he has already assimilated to the British culture, as he has married Ella, a British woman with Irish roots.
-During a Christian procession the children have to hide from their father observing the parade.
-Nazir, the eldest son, cancels his marriage, which has been arranged by George, because he turns out to be homosexual. As a result, he is expulsed from the family.
-When George realizes that his youngest son Sajid is not circumcised he immediately makes up for it against Sajid's wishes.
-The children discover that George has arranged two further marriages for Abdul and Tariq with two not very attractive daughthers of a rich Pakistani from Bradfordplant. In his anger Tariq secretely destroys the wedding clothes George has bought. The religious Maneer, who has had a conservative attitude up to that moment, tries to hide the damage. However, George find him with the torn clothes and behaves aggressively towards him, especially because Maneer does not want to reveal his brothers.
-Hereby he distances himself from his father and the traditions. Ella wants to protect her son from his father's attacks and steps in between so that George hits her face.
-When the wives to-be visit the Khans' house together with their family the situation escalates even more. It becomes obvious that the Khan children have assimilated themselves to the British culture and the other family indignantly leaves the house.
+== References ==
-During a further conflict between George and Ella he becomes violent again. The children protect their mother and George leaves. He though seems to change his attitude for his family in the end.
+Kipling, Rudyard. ''Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Inclusive Edition, 1885-1932''. “The Ballad of East and West” London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1933, 231.
+Said, Edward W. ''Orientalism''. London: Penguin Books, 1991.
+Sander, Daniel. “Klischee ist Klischee“. Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/der-film-west-is-west-als-nachfolger-von-east-is-east-startet-a-838650.html (accessed June 25, 2017).