The suffocating immigrant household
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The house of an immigrant is one that is embedded within the framework of tradition and orthodoxy. The air is laden with the guilt of being detached from the motherland and her culture, and the only form of repentance is forcefully imbibing her suffocating values into the children. Escaping from this house, then, means to escape into the world of the white, a world of freedom, liberation and fresh air.
This is the image Sara Ahmad creates in her interpretation of Bend it Like Beckham. She criticises the depiction of a ‘culture clash’ as simply an interaction between two differing cultures, for this understanding of the phenomenon fails to capture the inherently unequal planes on which the two cultures exist. She points out that while the migrant’s culture is one that is “given or possessed” (Ahmad, 134) western culture is seen as the pinnacle of freedom- one where you can be whoever you want to be.
I think this depiction of the strict brown parents also fails to capture the nuances of an immigrant household and the complex intergenerational experiences within it, something I think the interview with Nitin Sawhney’s parents does perfectly. The inner monologue of an immigrant parent is a battle between wanting their personal experiences to be recognised and understood by their children, and knowing that their children are happy. Orthodoxy and conservatism can be acknowledged, but does it have to be at the cost of erasing the lived experiences and internal battles of the previous generation? Can the experiences of both generations not co-exist without demonising one over the other?