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My Beautiful Laundrette: Character Analysis: Rachel, Tania And Other Women

729 Words3 Pages
Rachel, Tania and other women in My Beautiful Laundrette The film portrays a section of society at a breaking point; the traditional boundaries collide with liberal boundlessness. Among dominant changes, there was an extensive shift in perceiving women. I have chosen the following characters from My Beautiful Laundrette to demonstrate the differences and correlations between them – as individuals and as well as what they represent for the society of their era: Tania’s mother, Rachel and Tania. ¨We’re nothing /in England/ without money,¨ a deduction can be made from this statement: women do not make money and are thus worthless. Hauntingly this has been an opinion of an excessive number of people. What is in today’s Westernized Europe unimaginable was (and is, more commonly than we would like to accept) a norm. The listed characters share similarities: they do not provide for themselves and are bound to their caretakers, or more often known as, husbands. Tania’s mother belongs to the first wave of immigrants who came to England looking for prosperity. Her main occupation is to stay in the background (clothed in traditional garment, which emphasizes their legacy), and not to get to involved with anything more than entertaining the guests. She stays quiet when not asked to speak, rarely leaves the house and obeys her husband’s decisions. Quite early in the storyline she overhears a conversation about her partner’s affair, which does not stimulate her to stand up for herself.
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