That, in combination with the portrait of the white American woman in the Namesake makes me wonder if Mira Nair has quite a stereotypical image of western females, especially those that who get involved with Asian men.
Yes she does...however both these films were based on books where the male lead has a white American girl. In the Namesake however, there was a future between Gogol and Maxine and it could've worked if Maxine was more clued up. Also Gogol's sister married a white guy and it was accepted by the family, so there was no issues there. For Changez, there would've been problems, like the part he indicated if she would convert - for the kind of person like Erica, Islam would've restricted her and I doubt it would've worked.
I think a lot of Muslims see Western women as just "girls to have some fun with" and Muslim women as "women to have a serious relationship with later in life".
Like alot of men, they want sex. They see western women as more promiscuous, who would be willing to do anything in bed and who can be easily influenced to convert should the issue of marriage arise. However, these same men would beat up or even kill their own sisters if they date men, especially those who are non-muslim. They wouldn't allow muslim women to date non-muslims because they want all muslim women to be virgins when they marry them. This is dispite the fact that the muslim man would most likely have lost his virginity to a non-muslim western woman, the practice of double-standards is pretty much accepted in their communities. I don't know how it would feel for a muslim woman to find out her husband had prior sexual affairs with western momen, when they wern't allowed.
Don't get me wrong, I love the way she presents strong Asian women, but when it comes to western women, it feels quite fabricated.
You know Mira Nair's best films are those dealing with the Indian community. She excels at that - Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake but when it comes to western films like Amelia, Vanity Fair, The Perez Family she isn't as clued up or experienced and just makes a mess. Another Indian-origin female director, Gurinder Chadha has a much better grasp of showing western women in films like "Angus, thongs..." What's cooking, and of course Bend it like Beckham. I think it's because she is British-born and bred (so is a westerner herself), whereas Nair is Indian-born and bred - so Nair is still viewing westerners as an outsider with possible prejudices she may not be aware of.
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theprettybetty
11 years ago
Like alot of men, they want sex. They see western women as more promiscuous, who would be willing to do anything in bed and who can be easily influenced to convert should the issue of marriage arise. However, these same men would beat up or even kill their own sisters if they date men, especially those who are non-muslim. They wouldn't allow muslim women to date non-muslims because they want all muslim women to be virgins when they marry them. This is dispite the fact that the muslim man would most likely have lost his virginity to a non-muslim western woman, the practice of double-standards is pretty much accepted in their communities. I don't know how it would feel for a muslim woman to find out her husband had prior sexual affairs with western momen, when they wern't allowed.
Thank you... Plain and simple...
****
I am not having people witness my
life.It's bad enough that I have to see it.
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