EAST IS EAST

Director: Damien O'DonnellWriter: Ayub Khan-Din (play)(1999)

BEGINNING The first scene we see in east is east is highly important as it depicts a family from diverse and broken stereotypes.

A Christian parade is happening along the streets in Manchester which is a traditional thing to find, however because of the Khan’s upbringing in such a British environment, the children join in with this, with the acceptable of their mother who is white but has to hide from their father who is a traditional Pakistani does not approve in his children being cultured in a British environment.

Set during 1971 in the area of Salford, George Khan is trying to keep his traditional values by raising six boys and one girl seems to be a impossible task by their surroundings and his confused British wife.

The main problem in which George tries to change his children who see themselves as British and then get angry that their father does no understand his plans. This is highlighted towards the beginning of the film where the children are all eating pork meat but have to hide this from their father, or having a relationship with white girls.

And here is where the breakdown of stereotypes normally depicting Pakistani and British culture becomes clearer to its audience. His son Saleem (Chris Bisson) is studying art but lies to his father, pretending to study engineering, his daughter, Meena (Archie Panjabi) is a tomboy who enjoys soccer and when the eldest son Nazir (Ian Aspinall) rejects an arranged marriage and his father disowns him. But, despite the disaster of losing one son to his unbending beliefs, George moves forward with plans to marry off Tariq (Jimi Mistry) and Abdul (Raji James) to passive

EATING MEAT SCENE In this scene the kids are all at home eating bacon and sausages which are clearly shown to be a religious animal to their faith in which they are not allowed to eat, however as half Christians they take a liking to having this meat in their diet, however not with the acceptance of their father. The use of the low angle focused on their oldest son which is religious shows how he is looking down on them as bad Muslims.

Fast cuts are now used to show the worry and panic as there dad is moments away from the house and they all rush around trying to clear the air and get rid of the meat, this also then suggest that there are further events which are going to be bad and they may get caught later on.

CIRCUMCISED SCENE it is quite important that George is raising an issue that his son has not been circumcised. This reflects his views and is the first sign that he is a very religious Muslim. George uses Pidgin English which is very funny and shows that he has taken parts of the Pakistani dialect and merged it with English. Also George uses euphemisms instead of explicit terms which make it amusing like 'stupy.' There is almost a sense of 'Schadenfreude' for the audience as George, who is usually violent in his control of the family, is struggling to speak fluently. This is funny as it makes it seem as if he is hanging somewhere in between the two cultures. Another stage direction shows George's relationship with his wife.

The fact that his wife’s friend is always around and this doesn't seem to bother George, also shows his adaptation to the British culture in where everything isn’t as private and closed off as it used to be.

CLOSING SCENE This draws a whole new level of conflict and beliefs as all of his sons sate that they do not want to be involved In an arrange marriage, as this scene they all have each others backs and tell George how they are really feeling for once. George uses his violence again to hit his wife however this is stopped by his children defending her which is deemed unacceptable in their faith.

He then starts swearing and using taboo language which suggests how he is giving up the act of being the good Muslim father and has lashed out on his family instead. His daughter then states ‘Are you happy now dad? Is this what you wanted?’ and this is emphasised by a high angle shot to show the differences in power between he characters and how the female is scared of her father. This links back into their religion as women are often looked down upon. The film ends with the mother and father making up in their shop where the dad says his famous quote ‘I’ll have half a cup of tea’. This highlights how he is part of two religions and is never going to be a full dedicated Muslim as his life differs from the norm greatly.