Belonging_Is_a_Complex_Term_That_Describes_Connections_of_Many_Kinds;_to_Family,_Place,_Community,_Faith_and_Nation

‘Belonging is a complex term that describes connections of many kinds; to family, place, community, faith and nation.’ Belonging is a complex term that describes connections of many kinds; to family, place, community, faith and nation. Raimond Gaita, the Unknown Composer and Gurinder Chadha challenge and explore these different ideas and concepts of belonging as well as not belonging through their texts ‘Romulus, my father’, ‘The Fruit Painting’, and ‘Bend it Like Beckham’. All three composers explore and analyse the idea that a person’s identity is shaped by the way they are perceived, and it can therefore have an impact of the way they feel they belong. Family is very important in Romulus’s life. Gaita makes this very clear through the emphasis on his father’s morals and values throughout the memoir. The descriptive language that Gaita uses to describe when his father ‘urged him to find his adopted sisters’ is powerful in that impacts on the audience’s sense to strength the subject matter of the text, allowing the reader to fully believe Romulus’ belief that ‘for brother and sister not to know of each other’s whereabouts, let alone existence, was so profoundly against the order of things’. By knowing about his sisters’ existence and for them to know about his, Gaita understood Romulus’ urge for him to know his whole family. Within Bend it Like Beckham, Chadha also emphasises family and their impact on one’s sense of identity, however for the majority of the film Jesminder’s parents are shown in a negative light as they are against her dreams to play football. Chadha uses the opening scene of the movie to show Jesminder’s daydream of her playing for Manchester United with the crowds’ and professional’s opinion showing that they agree with her choice. It is the lack of colour of the studio set and the close-up of Jesminder’s mother that shows she is against the idea while also showing her anger at the situation. The use of emotion within the mother’s voice as she states “Not at all…she is bringing shame on the family…” when asked whether she is proud of her daughter just adds to the feeling the audience feel is being conveyed to them. Gaita uses representation and symbolism to describe his mother and her feelings about her life in Australia. ‘A dead red gum stood only a hundred metres from the house and became for my mother a symbol of her desolation.’ While he and his father began to understand the barren country and its way of lie, Christine still struggled daily with the life hers became. Chadha uses camera tilted down upon the girls’ football team to cleverly highlight the acceptance and feeling of comfort Jesminder feels in the change room with her teammates as she allows them to help her change for her sister’s wedding when before she refused to let the two mingle. And the colours the Unknown Composer uses in the Fruit Painting, green for life, yellow for friendship and orange for balance, highlight the connection to people and place are important for one to feel comfortable and therefore like they belong in a group. Unknown Composer also cleverly conveys the idea in his painting that while it is possible that someone is physically different in a society that it is also possible for them to be accepted even if they look a little out of place. The use of the cubic fruit hanging on a branch shared within a group of spherical fruits highlights the obvious differences between the fruits, however the Unknown Composer juxtaposes this by positioning the fruits very close together; representing the close connection and relationship they share. Gaita uses the same idea of acceptance when he retells the memories he has of the hippies who lived in the old Catholic church. He uses them as icons to represent the complex ideas and feelings of multiculturalism within Australian. The hippies allowed for Gaita to use them as symbolism for his ideas that all Australians should be treated as Australians, regardless of heritage. The hippies played a big part in making Romulus feel like he belonged in Australian society. Chadha also uses the idea of acceptance of other people’s differences in the closing scene of her film when she uses the symbolism of Jesminder’s father finally getting to play a game of cricket. This is in contrast to when he wanted to play cricket when he first turned up to England and they made fun of his turban and sent him packing. The Unknown Composers successfully shows that the cubic and spherical two-and-a-bit fruits are part of a bigger picture but are still an important factor in the composer’s challenging concept of not belonging because of looks. Nations often go through this when multiculturalism comes into play. Chadha and Gaita also use this idea in their texts. Chadha uses good use of camera angles and vector lines when Jesminder is told to “swear by Babaji” so her parents know she isn’t lying. The camera tilts up, emphasising that Babaji is important to both Jesminder and her father, while the audience follows the lines of the painting of Babaji’s eyes to the two Bhamras. Whereas Gaita uses his eulogy at his father’s funeral and the emotive language that came with it to reveal that even with a strong sense of morality and good intentions one can still find difficulties fitting into societies. It represents that it’s difficult for everyone to find a true sense of belonging; Romulus kept his strong set of European belies and sense of identity while trying to fit in and assimilate into Australian society. The term ‘belonging’ is complex in that it describes a person’s connections of many kinds, to family, place, community, faith and nation. It can be seen that the concepts of belonging and not belonging explored within the texts allow the audience to see how the way someone is perceived has an impact on their identity, and therefore also has an impact on the way they feel they belong in those groups. Bibliography Raimond Gaita - 'Romulus, My Father' Unknown Composer - 'Fruit Painting' Gurinder Chadha - 'Bend it Like Beckham'