Textual Analysis for the Motion Picture: Brick Lane
The motion picture I am going to analyse is Brick Lane which was initially released on the 16th November 2007 ; The film was directed by British director Sarah Gavron, the film was also adapted from the novel of the same name written by Monica Ali. The genre of Brick Lane is a drama although its sub-genre could be classed as a Southern Asian drama as the characters starring in the film are of Southern Asian descent. The story starts with an adolescent Nazneen who was living in bliss with her mother and younger sister back home in her native Bangladesh, we then see her mother commit suicide which leads to Nazneen's father offers her for an arranged marriage to a much older man who she has never met due to this she relocates to London's East end to settle down with her husband in the 1980's, Many years later Nazneen still tied down to her forced marriage is still dreams of being back in her native Bangladesh with her younger sister instead of being trapped industrial London, her emotionless husband still lacks basic emotion towards her and his only priority is stepping up in the social ladder and becoming successful although his dream comes crashing down when he becomes unemployed and ultimately becomes a Cab Driver although to make ends meet Nazneen too follows a trait of by doing what the other women in the council houses do: she buys a sewing machine and takes in piecework, finishing blue jeans. This leads Nazneen to meet Karim, the young handsome delivery man who delivers unfinished jeans, their once professional relationship turns intimate where they fall in love and have sexual intercourse two feelings Nazneen has longed for. Although their intimate relationship halts as Chanu, Nazneen's husband finally listens to his dear wife's desire to return back to her native Bangladesh but due to Nazneen finally finding and seeking true love it appears that she doesn't want to relocate back to her native Bangladeshi seeing as she's found love in Karim, in this time the infamous 9/11 terror attacks take place which sees increased hostility towards Muslims which Chanu felt threatened by and he remained determined to migrate with his settled family back home.
The decision was bestowed upon Nazneen to either leave Chanu and her lacklustre emotionless marriage for Karim who has/can fulfil her lifelong desires with but Nazneen amicable decides to stay in her lacklustre marriage and ends her secret relationship with Karim; the new restored equilibrium sees Chanu leave his western influenced family behind in London whilst he returns back to his native Bangladesh whilst Nazneen and Karim go their separate ways and decide not to pursue their once intimate relationship but we see a cycle in the synopsis with Nazneen feeling free and happy with her kids in London.
I feel that Levi Strauss binary oppositions are restricted/freedom I've come to the conclusion of those oppositions as at the start of the film whilst Nazneen was without any stress a constraints she seemed more open to share her feelings and her personality was more welcoming compared to when she first moved to London to start her new life her personality was extremely reclusive as a result of the struggle of adapting to her new surroundings and lifestyle something she never expected to live; another opposition is Love and Lust as one of the films topics focus' upon the love and affection shown between characters, throughout the film we see what Nazneen desires in terms of affections from a spouse as we continue to see the effects of lust and lack of affection shown by her husband; it's evident how both the male characters in her life differ on the spectrum of love and affections .
It is apparent that the narrative throughout the film is a closed narrative as it contains a beginning, middle and end also I feel that the film did not open ended in preparation for a sequel if it was made; The narrative is restricted omniscient seeing as the audience are informed on every event that takes place during the film through soliloquies and normal conversation between two characters.
In terms of the representation of characters when it comes to multiple conventions for starters the behaviour between characters is interesting as we see a stereotypical issue within the southern Asian community at the beginning of the film with an arranged marriage and a lacklustre marriage all of which are hegemonic representations along with the way of speaking as the starring characters are of Bangladeshi descent, the older generation tend to speak Bengali the majority of the time but whilst around the younger generation there are multiple dialogues in broken English although the younger generation tend to speak predominantly more English and very little Bengali although this could represent how over v the period that time has changed, the younger generation have been westernized opposed to the older generation who still continue to retain their cultural roots. As this is a southern Asian drama the clothing from the characters are influenced via religion and generations, Nazneen tends to wear sari's and the majority of the time she tends to wear a headscarf and also lack of make-up worn in conjunction of Nazneen showing faith in her strict Muslim religion; these conventions represent her significance in Bangladeshi culture and in the film. Nazneen's daughters have been born and raised in a western society meaning that their views differ compared to the older generation, both of them show their faith in their religion but tend to wear considerable more amounts of makeup compared to their mother, they both do not permanently wear headscarves and their fashion sense is totally western influenced.
The costumes contribute to the representation of ethnicity as we see two generations of the same family who share the same faith, the older generation who were brought up in their native Bangladesh tend to wear Saari's and Shalwaar Khameez' and are more religious compared to the younger generation who have been brought up in a western society tend to share different ideologies and beliefs, this equates to representation of ethnicity being explored via two different approaches the younger & older generation.
The representation of ethnicity in Brick Lane is combined between a negative and stereotypical perceptions as the writer makes out that women are chosen from their native homeland and are sent to an unfamiliar location to marry a spouse usually older than them and are forced to remain in wedlock with a spouse they lack any emotion or love towards him, albeit this tradition does take place frequently in southern Asian culture. Islamaphobia is another issue raised once the 9/11 terror attacks takes place in the film, attitudes towards Muslims living in the predominantly Bangladeshi community are hostile and are at breaking point between racist socialist parties.
The synopsis of Brick Lane is typical to the social drama genre as although the film is focused around Southern Asian community we see issues such as Love - Real Love & Lust; We see the full extent of Woman's ideology on an arranged marriage and what they require from a spouse if they were not forced into wedlock, Which leads the led female character to pursue a relationship from someone who isn't her husband and becomes entangled in the whirlwind romance that she's always required; it's a traditional southern Asian love story.
The non-diegetic sounds used within Brick Lane tend to be soundtracks that derive from “Bollywood” and are applicable to the characters seen in the motion picture; the diegetic sounds used are applicable to the storyline; we see an insight into the local community with Nazneen repeatedly walking down the local market where we’re enabled to hear the sounds of the vibrant community on every occasion; the news report of the 9/11 terror attacks. The editing throughout the film is adapted to normal life with no erratic actions, although a montage is seen throughout the motion picture whilst Nazneen is reminded of her native Bangladesh via a letter sent from her sister which forces Nazneen to read aloud and produce illustrations and or when Nazneen issues a soliloquy and a montage of images from her imagination are produced; which is a typical convention of a social drama deriving of Southern Asian themes in this instance where Nazneen has been forced into an arranged marriage and she has had to relocate to foreign environment and she is desperately missing her native land. Furthermore the mise-en-scene has multiple relevance's to the genre for example: setting is typical to the theme of arranged marriage, a spouse is forced to marry another spouse who they stereotypically know nothing about and in some cases are made to re-locate to facilitate their forced marriage. At the beginning of the film the film is set in Bangladesh with Nazneen and her family but as time progresses Nazneen is forced to relocate to an industrial East London where at first she is unsettled. The props used in Brick lane vary from Shalwaar Khameez that are traditional clothing within the Southern Asian community, A sewing machine acquired from a local loan shark to provide Nazneen with work that'll begin to assist the family income both of which are just a handful of props that are associated with a social drama which relates to everyday life. Lighting in the motion picture differs throughout the film seeing as Nazneen's mood when she first immigrates from Bangladesh is quite dark, secretive and reclusive all seen with the low level lighting within the council flat that she was often seen in alone whilst her family where at work and school respectively; Although artificial light was later used as she became adapted to her new surroundings.
