In the Spin Cycle
First a link to share regarding some troubling developments (germane to our course) in the world outside: we're still a good many weeks away from visiting Northern Ireland in our readings, but there have been a couple distressing acts of violence just outside of Belfast in the past week that have people a bit nervous (again) about the still tenuous peace there. Splinter groups of the IRA have claimed responsibility. Here is the New York Times article and another one from the Belfast Telegraph (with links to various "related articles").
Secondly, I wanted to create a thread in order to give you additional opportunities to comment on My Beautiful Laundrette; perhaps Sara and Miranda even have a couple more unused questions in their queue to toss into the mix. My thoughts these days always seem to be associational, as I'm trying to find overlap (in themes, images, questions, etc.) between the film and some of our other texts. To that end, I guess I was struck again by issues and images related to housing (those cramped basement rooms in The Lonely Londoners perhaps converse with Johnny's "lodgings" as a squatter in the film (it was striking watching him climb up a rope to get into his derelict room), with Omar's father's rather cramped, dirty, lonely room, with the apparent homelessness of the skinhead gang, and juxtaposed with the big, richly-appointed homes of some of the immigrant community). The film also seems to contribute meaningfully to our recent discussions of masculinity (via Wide Sargasso Sea, Trumpet, James Bond, etc.): Kureishi is clearly interested in invoking and assessing different forms of masculinity (Johnny and Omar, most obviously, but then juxtapose them with the heterosexual, patriarchal masculinity of Omar's family (Omar's father, about Omar; "I'm not sure if his penis is in working order"; Nasser, to Omar: "Your penis works, doesn't it?")). By defying heterosexist norms, the film makes redefined masculinity an important part of the anti-racism energies.
And the women? What did you think about Tania's role in the film? Does Kureishi stumble a bit with feminist issues in this screenplay/film, I wonder?
Finally, of course, the big one (at least for me), the next addition to our growing catalog of alternative/subversives spaces: the laundrette itself. It's a venue not merely for washing clothes, but for transgressive sexualities, for illicit romances (Nasser and Rachel, Johnny and Omar), for dancing, for music, for multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational mixing. There's the spin cycle idea, I guess. It's so interesting to note the use of glass and reflections in all those scenes, too, both in terms of superimposed identities (Omar's face overlaying Johnny's) and in terms of the distinction between the space of intercultural celebration and the more threatening world outside the windows (watching the gang assault Salim's car via the soundproofing of the window view, e.g.). It joins St. Pancras Hall (aka Saltfish Hall) in The Lonely Londoners, the jazz clubs and the bedroom of Joss and Millie in Trumpet, the dance floor in Chadha's film "I'm British But...", the Shandaar Cafe and the Club Hot Wax (still to come) in The Satanic Verses.
Yikes, didn't mean to go on so long! I hope y'all have more scenes and observations to throw in with my fabric softener and permanent press ...
Secondly, I wanted to create a thread in order to give you additional opportunities to comment on My Beautiful Laundrette; perhaps Sara and Miranda even have a couple more unused questions in their queue to toss into the mix. My thoughts these days always seem to be associational, as I'm trying to find overlap (in themes, images, questions, etc.) between the film and some of our other texts. To that end, I guess I was struck again by issues and images related to housing (those cramped basement rooms in The Lonely Londoners perhaps converse with Johnny's "lodgings" as a squatter in the film (it was striking watching him climb up a rope to get into his derelict room), with Omar's father's rather cramped, dirty, lonely room, with the apparent homelessness of the skinhead gang, and juxtaposed with the big, richly-appointed homes of some of the immigrant community). The film also seems to contribute meaningfully to our recent discussions of masculinity (via Wide Sargasso Sea, Trumpet, James Bond, etc.): Kureishi is clearly interested in invoking and assessing different forms of masculinity (Johnny and Omar, most obviously, but then juxtapose them with the heterosexual, patriarchal masculinity of Omar's family (Omar's father, about Omar; "I'm not sure if his penis is in working order"; Nasser, to Omar: "Your penis works, doesn't it?")). By defying heterosexist norms, the film makes redefined masculinity an important part of the anti-racism energies.
And the women? What did you think about Tania's role in the film? Does Kureishi stumble a bit with feminist issues in this screenplay/film, I wonder?
Finally, of course, the big one (at least for me), the next addition to our growing catalog of alternative/subversives spaces: the laundrette itself. It's a venue not merely for washing clothes, but for transgressive sexualities, for illicit romances (Nasser and Rachel, Johnny and Omar), for dancing, for music, for multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational mixing. There's the spin cycle idea, I guess. It's so interesting to note the use of glass and reflections in all those scenes, too, both in terms of superimposed identities (Omar's face overlaying Johnny's) and in terms of the distinction between the space of intercultural celebration and the more threatening world outside the windows (watching the gang assault Salim's car via the soundproofing of the window view, e.g.). It joins St. Pancras Hall (aka Saltfish Hall) in The Lonely Londoners, the jazz clubs and the bedroom of Joss and Millie in Trumpet, the dance floor in Chadha's film "I'm British But...", the Shandaar Cafe and the Club Hot Wax (still to come) in The Satanic Verses.
Yikes, didn't mean to go on so long! I hope y'all have more scenes and observations to throw in with my fabric softener and permanent press ...
posted by Eric at 8:34 PM
1 Comments:
One of the images I've been interested in, both in Wide Sargasso Sea and this film, is, like you said, the mirror. Nearly every room in 'My Beautiful Laundrette' had a mirror or a window (which is reflective in the dark). Wide Sargasso sea also made very pointed references to mirrors throughout. Either Annette looking in the mirror, mirrors on the bureau's, or just the water in the monestary where the girls wash. Originally I thought of mirrors as a symbol for identity, but the more I think about it, the more they seem to be symbols of mimicry. Reflections can be inaccurate,discolored, or warped, not the true image of a person. In Omar's case, he's not really a true Pakistani, although the skinheads and his family keep calling him one; but he's not really an Englishman like he seems to be trying to be. Antoinette in Sargasso is the same. She's stuck mimicking two cultures, but she doesn't have a firm identity in either of them. It strikes me as interesting that in the Laundrette, Omar and Johnny fuse into one person through the mirror, finding their personal strengths through one another. Antoinette is always separated from her reflection, such as in the incident with Tia after the house burning. Only when she is separated from having a looking glass at all and gets to finish her strange dream does she find herself, and by that point, she can't recognize her own reflection anymore (I believe the 'ghost' in the gilt frame at the end is Antoinette's own reflection in the mirror).
This may just be one long ramble, but I'm trying to make sense of it all...
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