Tina Pan
In the film of Masala, the postmodern elements are used in a
way to shorten the distance between the great masses and the complex relationship
between the Indian diaspora and the immigrants and the local whites. In
the very genuine Indian culture located in Toronto, the identity of these
Indian descendents or immigrants tends to have several choices. This fact
also complicates the choices among various social positions such as that
of a bourgeois or that of a working class. The very surrealistic or parodic
insertions on western popular cultural or artistic forms can indicate some
modes of thinking as to the reception of western culture to the first generation
of diaspora and the second. For example, the musical and the production
of the TV program in the beginning give us a chance to the variety and
the possibility of merging different kinds of art forms from different
cultures in one film. It can be some kind of a warning as well that we
can not overlook altogether in the optimism of postmodern plurality. Media
in this work extends the limited space of the Indian immigrants, and it
also echoes the conditions implanted in the colonized homes back in India.
It is a double or second colonization of western-style TV programs or films.
Although, India has the biggest film industry in the world, the populace
can not avoid being controlled by the invasions of the commercially superior
and technically advancing media such as television.
The couple is the focus of the action. Their participation in a musical
is significant in that a ridiculing effect of the sheer worship of the
American Broadway production is achieved. Of course, it can also mean to
add to the serious theme some merry elements. Except from extending and
expanding the space and possibility in contrast with the drab and dull
immigrant life in a foreign country, the use of these media can be very
powerful in its implications, like what I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Does this mimic or parody produce some fictitious side effect in the drawing
near the audience? I can understand the burlesque potential in this kind
of parody or re-adoption of western art forms, but I do doubt the significations
of the demonstrations. To rise a bit above the discussion of this dubiousness,
the combination of these art forms exactly reflect the urban conditions
of these characters. In the space and social surroundings, they are faced
with all kinds of information and imposition of different media. The post-
industrial products must work against or for the identification with a
variety of cultures. The airplanes fly over the city dwellers every day,
but here it is very interestingly used as a metaphor pointing both to the
traumatic experience of Krishna and to the haunting idea of being in an
one-or-the-other position. The positive influence of the media is the way
it can be manipulated or shaped into the ideal tool for communication,
even one with one¡¦s past and inner cultural identity. The
grandma¡¦s contact with Krishna the god shows the glimpse
of hope and possible extension and communication with the unknown and perhaps
with the uncontrollable factors in urban life. The media also endows an
ability of imagination on the characters. The model of airplane and the
magic videotape are the extreme cases where postmodern technology and the
people in it can work in the barren and dried-up state.
Like its self-reflexive character, the film can be limited in the sense
that a lot of stereotypes are also transmitted through the images as the
negative impact can be implied along with the western media. These types
of the Indian cultures must take the risk of being misinterpreted and generalized
or simplified in the representation of two-dimensional media. However,
it is inevitable and strategic eventually that all post-colonial or third
world countries have to opt for the modern techniques in developing and
re-affirming the national or cultural identity.
In Rude, we come to testify a more ambiguous reference to immigrant
cultures and issues of the positioning of these younger diasporas. With
the religious allusions behind the context of the film, it is still a story
happening in a post-modern metropolis. Very artfully, the background of
the religious or folk belief can be displayed in the graffiti or frescoes
backdropping the majority of scenes. The content of these paintings are
relevant to the biblical apocalyptic connotations and thus linked to the
time of the event and the comment and tone of the DJ. The form of the art
plays a realistic role in the urban problems of the marginals. Without
any escape into an outer space, the enclosed atmosphere created by the
camera is very well correspondent to the ¡§no-way-out¡¨
situation or mindset of the characters. These characters though being in
a city established previously by WASPs, they have to confront the multi-fold
problems of their survival as a descendent of immigrants and as the marginals.
In this perspective, all of the three films somehow lead us to the exploration
of the same question. How are the younger generations dealing with the
inner and the outer diaspora that they are associated with or branded with?
The panning of the radio station where Rude was seated is the manifestation
of her omnipotent and godlike power. Her comment or incitement becomes
the very media (voice) that penetrates the life of all the characters.
Its symbolic influence is so great that the actions are under its control
and then come to a certain realization or compromise in the course of the
film. Unlike images embodied in the graffiti and the camcorder, the voice
of Rude
directs the course of the film, just like the mystique movement of the
sun over the city of Toronto and somehow urges the changes of the characters,
either on the inner or the external actions. The technologies in this film
serve as the tool of inner meditation and self-criticism. Also, it has
the portending function. It directs the conflicts of the episodes and the
examinations of each character and finally the accumulation and convergence
of the climaxes. It is interesting to consider the overpowering status
of media in the film.
In contrast, Biname¡¦s Eldorado deals with these
technologies a lot diversely. The DJ in the film is both a commentator
and an active participator in the everyday life. His words reflect a certain
reality of city life and the qualms of the youngsters must have in surviving.
Working along with the montaged images of cars and the soundeffect of industrial
stage of urban development, this penetration of voice/media does achieve
to wrap up the episodic trait of the film. Actually, being a part of diaspora
or the city nomads, the dramatic acting of the DJ also takes the role of
being challenged and sabotaged later with the changes of the characters.
I can detect the counteraction or back-to-simplicity attempt in this movie,
be it intentional or coincidental. The complexity of postmodern elements
is so strong and commanding at first that the characters start to seek
some simple interactions and less standardized or stereotypical city encounters.
They try to leap out of the modes of human associations. Again, they become
individuals wandering in the realm and influence of the city and its media.
The architecture as the concrete part of the city reflects the bodily growth
of these characters. They can not avoid the contact with these concrete
elements, nor the penetrating voice of the city. The images and the sounds
are everywhere. The machines and the sounds they produce are so imposing
and influential that sometimes the characters can not escape from the power
of the city. When we discussed the film and the importance of media in
it for our group report, we question the equivocal role of these postmodern
media, especially that of the DJ and radio programs. The space it creates
is not another space extended through hyper-reality; instead, it excavates
downward in the vertical manner to let introspection happen within the
characters and their coincidental interactions. With the display of all
kinds of possibilities offered by media, the director seems to focus on
one last resort to which the lost spirits of the city can go to¡Xthat
is a space out of the reach of the post-modern loss of reality. Only in
the inner irrelative can they find the solid reconstruction and learn to
establish human bond without being controlled by the external imposition
or factors of the environment. All the same, there remains the doubt of
the symbiotic relations between the urban environment and the characters.
Though they intend to live outside or without the influence or impart of
those outer elements, they must deal with them and even work within them
every day. Their itineraries signify their intent of co-existing with these
threats and attempt to live with them. The last scene symbolizes the real
projection into the past and the future, and the vista produced by the
railway track gives the depth and alternatives other than the present style
of life.
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