The 2007 film Brick Lane is a an excellent piece of film describing the life of a young Bangladeshi woman named Nazneem as she searches for her place in a world full of conflict. More importantly, Brick Lane represents a text that is important to the ongoing dialogue of feminism and film. One of the most important ideas to consider when evaluating film is 'reflection theory', the idea that a filmic text "reflects" how society treats women. This is usually utilized in the criticism of the female stereotype in mainstream media, pornography, advertising and of course, filmic text. Applying this to Brick Lane we get something interesting. Instead of a stereotypically flat central character, we get a well established and emotionally broad woman. While many films portrayals of women involve the use of women as objects to rescued or won over by male protagonists, Brick Lane builds it's story and it's "view" on the life of young Nazneem. Male figures in her story are also full of emotional depth. Here middle aged husband Chanu is a conflicted character, struggling to cope with his position at his job, negative feelings towards Bangaladeshis in London that he feels the repercussions of, his daughter's desires to assimilate into British society, and his own self consciousness about Nazneem's relationship with her sister. Outside of the context of feminist film, Brick Lane can be considered an excellent portrayal of a families struggle together, because Brick Lane doesn't just assign emotional importance to the lead character, it builds the characters as individuals and allows them to interplay to fulfill the plot. In a feminist perspective however, Brick Lane represents a very progressive text, portraying a realistic picture of a period of one woman's life and the events that take place in it with an almost documentary like sense of realism. Instead of using the female lead an image, it uses her as as a deep character with complex emotions and problems. We could possibly attribute this excellent perspective of a female character to the female directorship of Sarah Gavron.
Brick Lane shatters the mirror
The 2007 film Brick Lane is a an excellent piece of film describing the life of a young Bangladeshi woman named Nazneem as she searches for her place in a world full of conflict. More importantly, Brick Lane represents a text that is important to the ongoing dialogue of feminism and film. One of the most important ideas to consider when evaluating film is 'reflection theory', the idea that a filmic text "reflects" how society treats women. This is usually utilized in the criticism of the female stereotype in mainstream media, pornography, advertising and of course, filmic text. Applying this to Brick Lane we get something interesting. Instead of a stereotypically flat central character, we get a well established and emotionally broad woman. While many films portrayals of women involve the use of women as objects to rescued or won over by male protagonists, Brick Lane builds it's story and it's "view" on the life of young Nazneem. Male figures in her story are also full of emotional depth. Here middle aged husband Chanu is a conflicted character, struggling to cope with his position at his job, negative feelings towards Bangaladeshis in London that he feels the repercussions of, his daughter's desires to assimilate into British society, and his own self consciousness about Nazneem's relationship with her sister. Outside of the context of feminist film, Brick Lane can be considered an excellent portrayal of a families struggle together, because Brick Lane doesn't just assign emotional importance to the lead character, it builds the characters as individuals and allows them to interplay to fulfill the plot. In a feminist perspective however, Brick Lane represents a very progressive text, portraying a realistic picture of a period of one woman's life and the events that take place in it with an almost documentary like sense of realism. Instead of using the female lead an image, it uses her as as a deep character with complex emotions and problems. We could possibly attribute this excellent perspective of a female character to the female directorship of Sarah Gavron.
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