Gone Too Far! - Into Film

Review

An upbeat, witty comedy set in the heart of East London, follows the tale of Peckham raised teenager Yemi (played by Malachi Kirby) and his newly arriving brother from Nigeria, Ikudayis. Tensions arise when social, cultural norms and ideologies clash between the two as they are forced to spend the day together in search of Okra. Yemi must confront local bullies; his own African heritage as well as trying to woo the girl of his dreams. 

Writer Bola Agbaje does a masterful job of presenting a modern day Shakespearean comedy in the form of a film with articulately three dimensional characters. Combined with hilariously fast paced and cracking dialogue leaving you with splitting sides; the writer’s ambition and passion for her culture is clear through her vision and insight into the cultural clash between migrants and life shaped by London city.

Agbaje presents a breath of fresh air in the very often stiff world of British social realism films, by mixing social commentary with that of playful comedy regarding race and ethnicity that can be relatable to anyone. Though the film is about the life of Africans living in East London, and draws upon this cultural identity to generate humour, it will leave any moviegoer wiping tears of laughter from their cheeks. 

Except, does the film actually challenge the stereotypes regarding the African culture of Londoners? By drawing on certain stereotypes of the culture as comedic relief, even I felt slightly ashamed laughing at some of these stereotypes to the point where I was left questioning if this strategy actually perpetuates stereotypes and reinforce the ignorance and hatred shown by some of the characters. 

Yet one can only wonder if Agbaje wishes to reinforce the ideology that such ignorance and hatred can only be dealt with in one way; laughter.

Debate

"This house believes that films featuring ethnic minorities should only be produced by those who have the ethnic identity being represented."

In most cases of debates, I can honestly say that a lot of the time I am able to easily make my mind up and take a side, yet not with this controversial topic which has left me quite undecided.

In fact, on the proposition's side, I can see the reasoning behind it very clearly; ethnic minorities are being misrepresented in one of the biggest industries of the entertainment sector in the world. This misrepresentation should be controlled in a way for the greater good by reducing the amount of ignorance and hate crimes such as racism amongst society. This would be evident as the people making the films regarding ethnic minorities will be the people that hold the same ethnic identity and therefore can make the most ethnically accurate portrayal of the minorities without creating any misrepresentation. It can be argued that this mentality is the same as how in society it is unacceptable to use the n-word yet many of the black community use it as slang as they themselves are actually black and can understand that they do not mean any harm when using it. 

However, that same mentality can very easily be seen as perpetuating the exact same stereotypes that ethnic minorities are fighting against. By creating this mentality of “they are black and therefore can use the n word whilst others cannot” is a backwards way of thinking. It is quite literally the same thing if it was to come down to “they are black so only they must be able to accurately understand black culture”. This is something that I completely disagree with, culture should be shared amongst the masses willingly and openly in order to create diversity but also break down the negative stigma of racism and ignorance. Furthermore, if we solely want to create media about ethnic minorities at the hands of those with the respective ethnic identity, then what happens when those exact same people actually end up perpetuating negative stereotypes even further? Citizen Khan, a TV show which is based around a Pakistani man living in England with his family is riddled with many stereotypes that are used to create comedy but can be seen as negative representation of the Pakistani community. Yet it was made by a man born in England to a Pakistani migrant and he actually identifies as a Pakistani. If we then do not think this is right and wish to create representations of ethnic minorities with only a specific representation in mind; then that goes against everything that democracy stands for.

I honestly believe that film and television is a form of art and art should always be used to creatively express however we feel like. Yet I also believe that misrepresentation is wrong and ethnic minorities should be minorities at all and should be in equal levels of power and representations as any other ethnicity. Alas, I am neither a fool nor a dreamer as I understand that a world without the latter is and always will be a dream indeed.