11/8/22 Mississippi Masala- ~1:45 Okelo scolds Jay about saying something that could harm his family. Jay (Meena’s father) doesn’t want to leave Uganda since he thinks of it as his home. “Africa is for Africans… Black Africans.” This is talking about how outsiders reside in countries that aren’t originally “their’s.” It looks like he’s back from being taken in (imprisonment?). Okelo is a close friend of Jay and his family. They seem to get along with the citizens (close friends), but they are still forced to leave. ~8:00 Jay and his family getting kicked out affects everyone that isn’t Black that lives there. There’s also untranslated dialogue in Swahili, just like how Gran Torino had untranslated dialogue, but it’s mainly to say farewell in this scene. Tensions between Jay and Okelo are present from their earlier argument. ~11:20 Ugandan police pick Jay’s wife to exit the bus to interrogate her. They also try to instill fear into her by pointing their gun. Feels like a power trip after the new government came into power. ~17:35 White man yells at Demetrius for ramming his pick up truck, but didn’t realize Demetrius was rammed first. He may have realized, but still targeted the Black man. Despite Meena causing the accident, she doesn’t seem to be a part of the argument. She exchanges information with Demetrius, but the White guy doesn’t yell at her. ~22:00 “This man cleans my carpets,” talking about Demetrius. Seems like they are on friendly terms to think he can talk his way out of being sued. ~23:30 Demetrius scolds his brother Dex after he seems to be fooling around. Dex refers White people as “Crackers,” and Demetrius scolds him about making excuses. Demetrius seems to have the mindset that if he works hard he can get out of certain situations. ~25:55 “He’s the good one.” Probably referring to Dex as the “bad one.” Very racist statement said, probably the reason for Dex’s usage of certain words. ~28:30 “You can be dark and have money or you can be fair and have no money, but you can’t be dark and have no money.” Colorism/racism is present. Foreshadowing the racial tensions later on in the movie with Meena and Demetrius? They were talking about some guy named Harry. Meena’s mother seems to approve of Harry, probably due to his money and/or skin color. ~30:00 Meena seems to fit in with the other minorities while Harry seems to have trouble with it. Meena runs into Demetrius at the party. Demetrius then asks Meena to dance after getting ignored by his ex(?) Alicia. Seemingly to make her jealous. ~39:00 “He was the champion defender of black, but the same Blacks kicked him out.” Jay says cruelty has no color. Meena is curious about Okelo and Jay. ~43:00 “Black, brown, yellow, Mexican, Puerto Rican, all the same as long as you’re not White, means you are colored.” The person saying this seems to be kind of tone death? Acting like all POC experiences are the same, when they aren’t. Discrimination comes at differing levels. “All of us POC must stick together.” He seems to think about unity between POC, but I don’t know if this is just because he wants something (not wanting for Demetrius to sue). ~1:05:00 Jay gets called to Uganda in regards to his lawsuit. ~1:14:28 Flashback into the past where they see the public message of kicking Asians out of Uganda. They talk about the divide in economic status, and how they won’t allow their child (mainly daughters) to have an interracial marriage. ~1:17:00 Meena gets caught by Jay. A fight breaks out. “Get away from our women,” “United we stay, divided we fall… Yeah, but if you fall in bed with one of their daughters, your ass is going to swing.” Interracial tensions occur, and Meena gets into an argument with her father.
