Both of the films I have studied – My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985) and East is East (Damien O’Donnell, 1999) – explore the ideas of belonging and exclusion, particularly through the themes of sexuality and race. My Beautiful Laundrette is a comedy-drama about the relationship between Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis), a white punk, and Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a second generation Pakistani living in London in the ‘80s. East is East is a comedy-drama that follows the lives of the mixed-race Khan family, which consists of traditional Pakistani patriarch George (Om Puri), his British wife Ella (Linda Bassett), their six sons and only daughter.
In My Beautiful Laundrette the theme of isolation is presented from the first scene through the way in which Johnny is violently thrown out of the house he is squatting in, which also reflects the fact that he is living in poverty. Additionally his and his friends’ punk style acts as a symbolic signifier of the ‘80s and connotes the theme of racism immediately, due to punks’ stereotypically right-wing political outlook. This could be interpreted as suggesting that Johnny has a place where he belongs as that he fits in with a group of friends, but him being evicted could imply that despite his white privilege, he doesn’t belong here either. It could also be suggested that Johnny is excluded from society not only because of his social class, but also because of his homosexuality, which was still somewhat taboo in the 1980s. Then the audience are introduced to Omar, who has taken on his dead mother’s role in the house as shown by him washing and hanging out clothes. The small dingy flat gives the film a claustrophobic feeling, and the constant trains passing in the background act as a morbid reminder of his mother’s suicide, making it seem as though Omar is bordered in by his life.
However his father then finds him a job with his uncle, which could be his path to belonging in London and was also very valuable at a time of economic despair. It is clear from the contrast between Nasser and Salim’s suits and Omar’s jeans and trainers that they are in different classes. This is enforced when Salim at first mistakes Omar for a thief and then later says, “at least you’ll be able to afford a clean shirt, Mrs Thatcher will be happy with me.” Nasser has obviously acquired a sense of belonging in Britain, as reflected in his wealth and glamorous white mistress, Rachel, who acts as his route to acceptance in the white community, whilst Omar’s socialist father, Hussein, resents Britain and its politics, preferring to drink himself into oblivion. This leaves Omar in no-man’s land between staying true to his Pakistani roots and settling down in Britain. The class divide is highlighted further when Nasser and Rachel take Omar to a bar and Nasser says, “Have you ever been to a high class place like this before? I suppose you spend most of your time in your black hole flat,” implying the restrictions placed on Omar due to his financial status.
Another way in which Omar is excluded is because of his sexuality. Throughout the film other characters make innuendos about it, such as Hussein saying, “Fix him up with a nice girl, I’m not sure his penis is in full working order” and Salim instructing him on how to polish a car: “You know how to rub don’t you?” At the time, and even now, it was the hegemonic norm to be straight and Omar’s relatives did not know about his true sexuality, although Johnny hinted at it: “In my experience it’s always worth waiting for Omar.”
Likewise, in East is East, the idea of exclusion due to sexuality is explored through the character of Nazir, who runs out on an arranged marriage in the opening scene of the film and is later found running a successful hat shop with his boyfriend by his younger siblings. George disowns him for having disgraced the family, stating in one point of the film that he has only seven children and removing his photo from the wall, but Ella defends her son in an argument with George: “he may be dead to you but he’s still my son.”
The Khan family are somewhat excluded in society as a whole by their neighbour Mr Moorhouse, a supporter of the controversial right-wing political figure Enoch Powell. However, his grandson Earnest is best friends with the youngest son of the Khan family, Sajid, and his granddaughter Stella is having a secret relationship with Tariq Khan. She expresses her disregard of her grandfather’s racist tendencies by comparing their relationship to that of Romeo and Juliet and saying, “'I’ll never let the colour of your Dad come between us,” which suggests that she sees Tariq as white British, like his mother, rather than Pakistani, like his father. This could be indicative of the way in which Tariq and the other children see themselves as well, particularly as Tariq arguably fits in with British society the most out of all the children: he has a white girlfriend and regularly goes clubbing in secret under the name of Tony to hide his Pakistani roots. This is enforced by Tariq’s reaction when he finds out his dad is planning an arranged marriage for him: “I’m not marrying a fucking Paki!” The use of this derogative term suggests that he resents the Pakistani part of himself, although George argues that Tariq will never belong in England in an argument with him. When Tariq disowns his father’s nationality – “Dad, I’m not Pakistani. I was born here. I speak English, not Urdu.” – George says, “You’re not English, English people will never accept you.”
However, whilst the family may not be accepted in England, it could also be said that they are not accepted by Pakistanis either. When the Shah family come round to arrange the marriages of Tariq and Abdul and their two daughters, they show obvious distaste for the Khans, referring to them as a “jungly family of half-breeds”, and Ella as “a disgrace”. This implies that, like Omar in My Beautiful Laundrette, as second generational Pakistanis, the Khan children are torn between British and Asian cultures.
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