East is East

Title of a play by Ayub Khan Din, first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996. Title of a movie written by Ayub Khan Din, directed by Damien O'Donnel, released in 1999. The title is taken from "The Ballad Of East And West" by Rudyard Kipling (1889).

Plot

The film is set in Salford in 1971 and deals with the Khan family, whose father, "George" (is this his real name? could someone check?), aims at preserving religious traditions, whereas most of the others in the family try to lead secular lives.

George feels unable to accept this, which especially becomes clear after the oldest son Nazir leaves the family. No one is allowed to talk about him and all the photos of him disappear. Sajid, the youngest son, turns out not to be circumcised, which George wants to change – against Sajid's will. Moreover, he arranges two further marriages with two not very attractive daughters of a Pakistani family for his sons Abdul and Tariq. Tariq, however, destroys the wedding clothes and George finds Maneer with the torn clothes, which results in George's violent behaviour towards his family so that he finally leaves the house. With the hope, however, that George will change.

Postcolonial discourse

The binary oppositions 'East' and 'West' were constructed during the time of colonisation. According to Kipling's poem, however, “there is neither East nor West“ (l. 3). Using the terms 'East' and 'West' as binary oppositions goes back to the Western perception of the East as “Other“ or “exotic“. By defining the East as such a “contrasting image“ (Said 2) a justification of colonial attempts was made. "East is East" breaks these ethnic stereotypes and therefore rewrites the time of colonisation as a postcolonial discourse. Although George sticks to 'his own' traditions he has already assimilated to the British culture, as he has married Ella, a British woman with Irish roots.

References

Kipling, Rudyard. Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Inclusive Edition, 1885-1932. “The Ballad of East and West” London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1933. [pages??]

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books, 1991.

Sander, Daniel. “Klischee ist Klischee“. Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/der-film-west-is-west-als-nachfolger-von-east-is-east-startet-a-838650.html (accessed June 25, 2017).