All,

I did not see the movie "Bride and Prejudice" but I am told it is along the 
same lines as "Bend it
like Beckam" where the Indian girl finds happiness in a romantic relationship 
outside her cultural
group, specifically with a white English boy. Interestingly, the movie was 
directed by
an Indian woman. I think a neo-colonial mentality (self-inflicted) was at work. 
To be happy she
had to be with a white boy, an Indian was not good enough. In "Bride and 
Prejudice", an Indian
woman falls in love with a white boy. We do not see the reverse as if Indian or 
Asian men are not
good enough. This racism in the movies continues today. Bollywood has it own 
racist version where
light-skinned actors & actresses are preferred to dark-skinned ones who usually 
play the villain
roles.

Till recently (about 5-10 years ago), one never saw an Asian man kiss a white 
woman in USA TV soap
operas. It was ok for a white man to kiss an Asian woman, but not the other way 
around. In the
movie "Pelican Brief" (c. 1994), the producer did not want Denzil Washington (a 
black man) to
kiss Julia Roberts (a white woman) as America was not ready for America's 
sweetheart (Julia) to be
kissed by a black man. Interestingly, Denzil has been married with children for 
any number of
years and is a great role model. Julia has been married three times with any 
number of other
publicized romances. For the producer, keeping up the fiction of white 
superiority should never
get in the way of truth.  I also think some Goans are not able to see racism in 
its many forms.

Regards,
George


Reply via email to