Mississippi Masala (Film Review)

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Melissa Smith Sociology of Film Mississippi Masala 1. The film Mississippi Masala is about an Indian family who is forced to relocate to the United States and start their life over. They had previously lived in Uganda and were forced out when a new ruler took charge. They settled in a small town in Mississippi and took jobs in motels and a liquor store. When they lived in Uganda, Jay who was the patriarch of the family was a lawyer and the family was fairly wealthy and had become accustomed to a higher standard of living. When they reached Mississippi, they hooked up with some relatives they had living there and that made the transition a little bit easier on them. The other adjusting the family had to do was to the lower standard of living and the jobs they had to take. Jay had the biggest problem with this. You could tell that even many years later he could still not let go of his life in Uganda. His whole life is consumed with getting back his life in Uganda. He spends most of his time fighting with the government to get back the property that he lost. Mena, his 24 year old daughter, came to the United States when she was about 6 years old. She is more Americanized that her family would like. She does not have much of an accent. Her skin is very dark and could be mistaken for Hispanic. She has a job cleaning rooms for the motel her family runs. Mena shows how well she has adjusted in one scene where she is dancing in a club with other people her age and she fits in quite well. Is the family happier here or in Uganda differs on which family member you look at. Jay severely misses his life in Uganda. His job and his lifestyle are two things from Uganda that he can’t let go of. I feel that if he were to stop concentrating so much on getting back the life that he left in Uganda that he could spend more time embracing the life that he now has in Mississippi.

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