As part of this next blog post I would like to draw our attention to the film “Dirty Pretty Things” which is directed by Stephen Frears. The film as from we have already seen so far centers around an illegal immigrant named Okwe and how he find a terrifying secret involving immigrants within London. First of all I would like to talk about the twist in which Okwe discovers that immigrants are donating their kidneys so as to obtain passports in order to pass themselves off as a citizen of London. I found that it fitted with the theme of identity that is presented in the movie. It effectively shows that London’s immigration laws are so strict to the point that immigrants have to buy their own identity and citizenship so as to become an acceptable member of society.

Another thing I noticed was how smug and self righteous the immigration police look every time they are placed on screen. One moment in particular is when Okwe tells one of them to stop smoking in the hotel lobby and the police just gives him this almost patronizing look and smirk. The same applies to Okwe’s interaction and chemistry with Senor Juan, his boss and the man involved in the organ trade.  I find this interesting because it offers insight into how far a authoritative society has broken down to the point where the higher ups who have some of the control over members of society want to remind those inferior in power that they are sheep and that those with authority are superior and better in any way to them. Their on-screen appearance always seems to suggest that they are going to play a much bigger yet antagonistic role in the later portions of the film.

One of the major questions people seemed to had was why the film opened in the airport and I will suggest that the filmmaker wanted to include this tactic because it inconspicuously establishes Okwe’s character as an immigrant and shows what the theme of the movie revolves around. This is because the airport is the place which illegal immigrants use to arrive to the country but can also use it to escape. It is the source of all the global flows of illegal immigrants and is almost like a transportation hub made solely for them. In fact Stephen Frears makes good use of pretty much all locations in this film to cover the themes and messages of the movie in which he is trying to portray. The hotel serves as a central hub for immigrants to live and rest at, Senay’s workplace serves as an onlook on how work for these types of people is like and Senay’s home is almost like a hiding spot for Okwe. Of course this is merely my personal interpretation of it so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong in any way.

Feel free to comment, let me witness your interpretations and don’t hesitate to add some more points to my blog that you would have wanted me to have typed.

Ok so after finishing the book “What we all long for”, I’ve decided to share my feelings of it in this blog post.

As told within this week’s seminar, many have disliked the characters presented within the book and have openly stated how Brand has appeared to have made them as unlikable as possible. My major gripe with these characters is that they seem immature in a certain way, which is not a very good characterization for someone who is at an age where they would want to go to university. I felt that some of these characters are upset at issues in which they could resolve rather easier yet tend to worsen it because of their outbursts and reactions. Sometimes I felt that their reactions are justified because of their background and problems that they have to deal with at home, but the way they handle these issues just doesn’t resonate well with me. Carla for example had every right to feel anger toward her father for refusing to bail Jamal out of prison and for playing an indirect role in the suicide of her mother. However instead of giving him time to apologize or maybe even scolding him, she proceeds to physically attack him and scour the edge of his car. This man is her father and she needed to treat him with respect. His role in the suicide was more indirect, it was not as if he intended to have her push herself off the building. By attacking him she worsened the situation, causing him to get angry himself. Not to mention, if Nadine was not there she could have seriously injured him. The parents themselves are also worse than the children they had raised. While we as readers could have a group of families that are being unfairly treated by society or deserve some sort of help either because they are poor or in huge poverty, instead we get ones who tend to go out of their way to do outrageous things, sometimes in front of their own children. Jackie’s parents often tend to get into brawls within the Paramount and Carla’s parents argued with each other to the point where they started hurling insults and throwing objects at each other. Perhaps Carla inherited her father’s habit after seeing the two married couples fighting together.

But of course with any book worthy of being published, Brand must have some reason for having these characters act this way. From what I can tell, by creating characters that are often angry at each other Brand is able to show readers the consequences migration can have upon a family. The best example is with Tuyen’ family with the lost of Quy, how their culture is often not appreciated well enough and how her parents have to try to force them to connect with white culture in order to feel human out in the open world. However while this is a good technique to utilize it can sometimes have its own flaws. The most important one is that the characters become unsympathetic towards the readers. Usually the point of a story on migration and the struggles to cope in a world of an entirely different culture is to have readers sympathize with the characters and want them to get out of the situation they are in. However Brand has still managed to create a good story by having these characters have struggles in which you can pretty much forgive them for acting aggressive.