Melancholia as an Impediment to the Nation
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In movies like Bend It Like Beckham and East is East, melancholia exists as an impediment to the nation. Specifically, I would like to explore how characters who fail to let go of “lost” objects also fail to contribute to the nation economically. George Khan’s refusal to let go of Islam in East is East turns him into a violent patriarch who abuses his assimilated children for failing to hold onto the same object. The audience recognizes that Islam is already lost, and his refusal to acknowledge it only drives him further into his own melancholy. Mr. Bhamra, by contrast, can ascend his melancholic status by admitting that racism (to the logic of this movie) is a personal hangup that he needs to let go of. In doing so, his daughter is freed from becoming melancholic herself and can integrate into English society by playing football.
One way these two characters differ is in their contribution to England’s economy. Mr. Bhamra is seen wearing his work uniform on multiple occasions, including in his first and last scenes. Without saying anything, the audience is made aware that he is a working citizen. Conversely, Mr. Khan does not seem to be much of a worker at all. In an argument with his English wife (at the 19:45 mark), it is made clear that while he owns the shop that brings their income, it is his wife who runs it, not him. Where the redeemable immigrant economically contributes to the nation, the irredeemable immigrant is portrayed as freeloading off his English wife’s labour.
The only other character we see in a work uniform in Bend It Like Beckham is Pinky, though she does not work as much as she tries to make it seem. In one scene (at 27:33), Pinky is making out with her soon-to-be husband in a car parked outside of an airport. Her flight attendant’s uniform is partially removed, and Indian music plays over the radio. Though this secret liaison is a transgression of her family’s expectations, it nevertheless confirms her ultimate desire: to have a traditional Indian marriage to this man. This is a desire that, as Ahmed explains, is ridiculed by the narrative when compared to Jess’s desires (Ahmed 136). This is represented metaphorically when, in the same scene, a plane zooms by the car. If Jess is like an airplane symbolizing happiness by going “up and away” to freedom (Ahmed 137), then Pinky is the parked car limited by her traditional wants. Added to this is the fact that she indulges in these desires while she is supposed to be working at that same airport. Again, the character whose source of happiness is rooted in their home country's traditions fails to contribute much to their host country's economy.
Pinky and Mr. Khan embody what Mill sees as wrong in the native. To him, they “experience pleasure from the wrong things in the wrong way” and are “in need of redirection” (Ahmed 126). As long as their sources of happiness are linked to the “lost” object that is their home country’s culture, then they impede the nation. Jess and Mr. Bhamra, by contrast, are redeemable contributors (by working as a security officer (?) and playing professional football, respectively) because their sources of happiness are derived from playing sports in an integrated English context. Though I am not certain that these were conscious choices made by the writers of these films, this was just how I interpreted these details within the context of Ahmed’s concept of “melancholic migrants”.
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The contrast between the flying plane and the parked car is especially striking in @saarah_jabar’s post, which is excellent as usual. Sarah Ahmed theorizes a great deal about “being stuck”…I would like to think more about the valence of Pinky’s “stuck-ness” in the film.