Queer National Romance and Diasporic Identity: An Analysis of Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette and Mikko Makela’s A Moment in the Reeds

Abstract

One of the greatest concerns of today’s world is working out a solution to the problem of identity. We can witness the growing conflicts between communities, religion, culture and ethnicity in the name of autochthonous identity. In such a conflict-ridden world the identity of the diasporic community forces us to rethink the monolithic concept of ‘self’ and identity. The idea of home, sexuality and marriage are reconsidered giving it a new definition. In the same manner, the idea of love and romance is subverted from the traditional view. The two films under consideration - My Beautiful Laundrette and Moment in the Reeds, discuss the problem of identity, problems of adjustments and the problem of sexual identity in a homophobic world. It also shows how the traditional view of romance is subverted by the growing national roman between the native and the immigrants, which again is queered by the homosexual romance between an immigrant and a native.

The final part of the paper tries to indicate how the homosexual couples have to negotiate their presence in a heteronormative patriarchal society.

 “Sexual topics of any kind are avoided in a polite conversation in India, and any talk concerning homosexuality is taboo”.

                                                            (Devi, The World of Homosexuals “Preface”)