Shannon Evans 11/26/10

DMS 213: Immigration and Film Alba Jaramillo

“Mississippi Masala:”

Distinguishing Culture, Exile, Race, Stereotype, and Hybridity in Film

Mira Nair’s “Mississippi Masala” is not your typical Hollywood portrayal of

multicultural minorities. Within the last century its proven difficult to find a film with accurate

portrayals of different ethnicities, and cultures without stereotyping. If attempting to get a grasp

on one culture is hard enough Nair’s film manages to present a multitude of different cultures

without overly generalizing or stereotyping. In addition to breaking out of the norm by more

accurately representing minorities Nair also is enlightening on many other concepts. Some things

that come to surface are the difficulties multi-racial relationships face, the comparison of exile

through different generations, and Mina showing an absence of culture. Mina is also a very good

representation of hybridity. A topic many minorities can find similarity in is how their cultures

have become the outnumbered in the first place. Imperialism and slavery has caused the

displacement of both Indians, and Africans. The British colonization of India and Africa is

ultimately the reason why Uganda is Jay, Kinnu, and Mina’s home. America enslaving Africans

is assumed to be the reason of why Demetrius is an African American. Jay and his family are

criticized and often misunderstood (both in Uganda and America) for their African heritage

because they are Indian by race. Demetrius has experienced racism in America by the white

majority, and other minorities (The Indians after he has sex with Mina). It just goes to show that

you can be a minority and face hostility even in someplace you consider your own home. Nair

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has succeeded in implementing topics that are usually foreign to mainstream audiences in

Hollywood cinema.

Through the use of sound, imagery, symbolism, and flashback the movie gains a greater

sense of realism and importance. Music is not synthesized in a studio specifically for the film;

rather it sticks with the roots of the film’s meaning by using both traditional African hymns, and

jazzy southern soul. Music is also important in trying to get a deeper meaning of the plotline.

Nair strategically has Jay, Kinnu, and Mina walk past the Ugandan school children singing

“Asians, from our beautiful country, Farewell farewell to our beautiful land. Thanks be to our

good general Idi Amin For bringing wealth back to our nation land.” In her article “At the

Crossroads of Two Empires: Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala and the Limits of Hybridity”

Urmila Seshagiri expands on this by saying “The Indians' forced departure from Uganda ironizes

the song's sentimental lyrics: Jay's heartbroken sobbing, Kinnu's sorrowful goodbye to Okelo,

and Mina's fluent Swahili all indicate that the Indian characters' hearts are very much Ugandan.”

The differences in the music show the mixing of cultures, but the lyrics of the hymns show the

deeper political undertones of inequality.

Imagery is another tool Nair uses to increase the effectiveness of her film. The scenes

shown in the movie are both aesthetically pleasing (especially the scenes in Uganda), and very

realistic. Realism is also present during the flashback at the beginning of the film. One of the

most effective and emotional moments within “Mississippi Masala” is Jay facing the realization

that even his lifelong best friend Okelo thinks he should leave, and then having to pack up his

family and very few belonging and make the sad and scary trip out of Uganda. The flashback is

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central to fully understanding the Diaspora of the Indian- Africans, and Jay’s new sense of

homelessness. If one were to juxtapose Jay’s family with the traditional Indian families in

America it is clear to see the pivotal differences their Ugandan background has created. Since

Uganda is Jay and Kinnu’s home they lack the American dream motivation to create and start a

new successful life. This is only one thing the traditional Indians criticize them about. One more

tool Mira uses to strengthen the films messages is her use of symbolism. One symbol/ another

flashback of the film are Mina’s connection/connotation to “Happy Birthday.” It holds painful

memories for her ever since her birthday in Uganda where her questions were ignored and no

one wished her Happy Birthday because they were too worried to notice. After the sexual scene

between Mina and Demetrius, Mina tells him to wish her a Happy Birthday. This could be

interpreted that to masque her bad memories she wants Demetrius whom she feels loving and

happy toward to create a new happier one in its replacement.

The relationship that develops between Mina and Demetrius is possible because of

Mina’s displacement and sense of homelessness. Unlike Jay who feels an overwhelming pull

back to Uganda, Mina reflects on her childhood there but ultimately chooses to not go back with

her father, and continue to be accepting of her lack of one culture. This can have both its

advantages and disadvantages. Mina’s cultural hybridity affects her of course, but it is not seen

as black and white on whether it is positive or negative, it is just different for her. There are

negatives to not having one culture like never feeling bonded with people and not feeling at

home anywhere but the advantages can also help her embrace differences. One advantage is

never being too critical of another culture. Without one culture influencing your outlooks one

can develop an appreciation for other people’s differences, and find it easier to accept others. For

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example; when Mina started her relationship with Demetrius the other Indians were appalled, but

she barely batted an eye. It also allows for spontaneity; she can let the world be her home not one

country. Salman Rushdie touches upon this idea in his writings “Imaginary Homelands.” He says

“Of all the many elephant traps lying ahead of us the largest and most dangerous pitfall

would be the adoption of a ghetto mentality. To forget that there is a world beyond the

community to which we belong, to confine ourselves within narrowly defined cultural

frontiers, would be, I believe to go voluntarily into that form of internal exile which in

South Africa is called the ‘Homeland.”(19).

Therefore Mina’s lack of culture can give her the advantage to perceive the world with an open

mind. Since she is accepting she is preventing herself from ever experiencing what Rushdie calls

“Internal exile.”

It is ironic that Rushdie brings up exile because it is also a very important idea that is

represented in the film not once but twice. The generational difference between Jay’s exile vs.

Demetrius’s exile only supports Jay’s position that no progression of time will completely banish

racism. Nair’s narrative questions different ideologies on multi racial relationships. Some accept

it (mostly the younger generation) some don't (Mina’s Indian community) and some are in

between (Mina’s parents). It seems that there is hope in the middle of the film when Demetrius is

confronted by Anil’s uncle. Anil’s uncle is very nice to Demetrius and feigns that he believes

they are equal by saying “Black, brown, yellow, Mexican, Puerto-Rican – all the same. As long

as you’re not white it means you’re colored… all of us people of color must stick together.” But

later on when the Indian community finds out Demetrius and Mina are together they are

extremely prejudice and brutal to Demetrius. It is so bad that they ruin Demetrius’s name and

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business. He is basically exiled from his community; his home. In Charles Lees article

“Mississippi Masala: Breaking Hollywood’s Asian Stereotypes” he understands the initial

attempt at equality like thinking. He says “The immediate message seems to be what Masala

initially indicates: unity among minorities is necessary because all minorities are ‘black’ in their

oppression.” This concept doesn’t seem so bad, but unfortunately the treatment of Demetrius and

Mina after their relationship is uncovered proves that equality even between minorities seems

unreachable. Tyrone tells Demetrius “You’d better leave those fucking foreigners alone, they’re

nothing but trouble. ‘United we stand, divided we fall,’ ain’t that a bitch. ‘And if you’re caught

in bed with one of their daughters, your ass is going to swing.” If this continues to be the truth,

the rebels who break these prejudice ideologies and continue to interact with people of different

cultures, or races will inevitably face exile.

Although prejudice is a sad truth of the past and present it is refreshing to see that

“Mississippi Masala” could break the tradition of being prejudice itself by using more realistic

depictions of the different cultures. Stereotyping is so often used in Hollywood produced films

that it becomes almost unnoticeable to the audience. Charles Lee is very passionate about Asian

stereotyping in movies; he congratulates Nair’s filmmaking by expressing

"Intertwined with the development of the love story is an examination of the Indian

community. Under Nair’s direction, Asians are actually real people, free of the elusive,

mysterious quality so prevalent in the stereotype. At Anil’s wedding ceremony, for

instance, against the background of traditional rites and sitar music, beyond the bindi

marks and women’s saris, are the other realities of the community: friends gossiping,

little kids playing cops and robbers, faces whose expressions range from anticipation to

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utter boredom. The details are small, but they add dimension to a community whose

principle exposure in American cinema has been as intensely religious.”

Nair being an Indian herself probably knows the culture very well, but she also manages to

represents both Ugandans, and African Americans respectively. Nair is spot on when it comes to

comparing and contrasting two vastly different cultural groups.

Throughout “Mississippi Masala” Nair continuously challenges one to think deeper by

bringing up many themes that are sometimes difficult to comprehend. Many of the issues in the

film are left at somewhat of a stand still. There was of course mild resolutions (Jay holding

Ugandan child, while writing to Kinnu “Home is where the heart is, and my heart is with you”,

and Mina and Demetrius in their own ethnic clothes dancing joyfully in a cotton field) at the end

but it seems the deeper questions of the film are yet to be answered. Even in real life it is hard to

come up with any realistic solutions to racism, exile, and homelessness. Therefore the ending of

the film might seem unresolved, but these issues are all ongoing even now. Maybe there is no

resolve for the film until more resolutions are reached in reality. Hopefully cultures and races

everywhere will begin to make strides with acceptance, and equality. This acceptance is what

will propel less exile, alienation, stereotyping, and racism. One day hybridity, multi racial

relationships and multicultural persons will be embraced. Films like “Mississippi Masala” are

making that day seem not as distant in its arrival.

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Works Cited

Lee, Charles. "Mississippi Masala: Breaking Hollywood’s Asian Stereotypes." Yisei Magazine

Spring 1992. Yisei Magazine. Web. 25 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.hcs.harvard.edu.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/~yisei/issues/spring_92/ys92_9.html>.

Mississippi Masala. Dir. Mira Nair. Prod. Mira Nair. By Sooni Taraporevala and L.,.

Subramaniam. Perf. Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, and

Sharmila Tagore. Samuel Goldwyn Co., 1991.

Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981-1991. London: Granta,

1991.

Seshagiri, Urmila. "At the Crossroads of Two Empires: Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala and the

Limits of Hybridity." Journal of Asian American Studies 6.2 (2003): 177-98. John

Hopkins University Press, 2004. Web. 25 Nov. 2010.

<http://muse.jhu.edu.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/journals/journal_of_asian_american_studies/v0

06/6.2seshagiri.html>.