*This is continuation of "Figurative representation in “The World Unseen”: An analysis of Charactonym, Metonymy and Imagery".
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The World Unseen is a 2008 historical drama film written and
directed by Shamim Sarif,
adapted from her own novel of the same title. The film is set in 1950s Cape
Town, South Africa during the beginning of apartheid.
The World Unseen is critically acclaimed and has received
warm reception, winning numerous awards in various film festivals around the
globe. It was released in 2008/2009.
Read synopsis here:
THE STUDY
The film The World Unseen is chosen for this study because
of its richness in figurative representation. The study is removed from the
novel, which the film is based on.
At its core, one of the themes of the film is love. It makes
a number of statements about love: love blossoming in very difficult
circumstance, love transcending racial barrier, forbidden love, familial love,
parental love and the struggles of love.
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FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATION IN THE WORLD UNSEEN
Interpretation of figurative language and representation is
subjective and always based on several factors. The figurative representations
discussed here are based on my own interpretation (the list is not exhaustive):
1. Symbol
2. Motif
3. Paradox
4. Allegory
A symbol is an object, person, situation, word, idea or
action which has a literal meaning in the story and at the same time,
represents something other than itself.
Symbol
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Analysis
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1. The two policemen, De Witt and Stewart
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They represent the authority and law – tough, oppressive
and make sure that people follow certain order, no matter how discriminative
the order is. Perhaps Stewart, the gentler one, is to show that the law is
actually well-meaning and not harsh, but he is not less oppressive than De
Witt.
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2. The sunrise at 00:10:54
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Symbolises a new day and new beginning for Miriam (and her
family) living in the countryside.
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3. The “Location Café”
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A place where people of all races are welcome – they can
gather, hang out and eat, even the Whites (Madeline). It symbolises freedom
and acceptance where everyone is equal.
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4. The passing of dark clouds at 00:48:24
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This is after Omar hits Miriam the night before. So, the
passing of dark clouds could symbolise that his anger has left him and now he
regrets hitting his wife. It’s a new day and new beginning after the crisis.
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2. Motif
A motif is when a word, phrase, image or idea is repeated
throughout a work. It could be used to establish mood, to support the theme,
foreshadowing or for other purposes.
Motif
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Analysis
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1. Tea/drinking of tea
 |
Tea appears many times throughout the story – tea is
always present at the café, there’s always tea around when Grandmother
appears, Miriam drinks tea before delivering the baby, Miriam and Amina drink
tea together at midnight when both couldn’t sleep, Amina offers her father
tea when he comes to visit, and Sadru tells his guests that Farah can make
them tea. Tea is an important element in the Indian culture (and also South
African). So, its repetition reinforces the cultural theme of the film.
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2. Working women
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I personally think that the term “working women” is
redundant, because a woman is always working: as a mother, she does
housework; as a single woman she helps her parents with housework. However,
in the Indian culture, women are not supposed to work outside the house,
because the mentality is, it connotes too much freedom and independence not
suitable for women. The issue of “work” and how it is looked upon with much
disdain appears several times, such as when Grandmother first arrives and she
is shocked to hear that Amina is at work; at the match-making dinner, when
Grandmother tries to downplay Amina’s working by saying that she works but
she knows her place is at home; when Amina goes to Miriam’s shop to offer her
a job as a cook at her café, but Miriam refused at first because she
acknowledges her place is at home with her husband and children; and when
Miriam has a talk with her husband about her working, and he gets angry when
she still wants to work even when he tells her she can’t.
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3. The vastness of the landscape in the countryside
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While Amina and her café, her parents, and Sadru’s family
are in Cape Town, Omar’s family relocated to the countryside. The audience
gets to see several times the vastness of the plain, with rolling mountains
in the distance. Perhaps it symbolises loneliness in some characters, such as
Miriam and Amina; how it is desolate, isolated and far from the rest of the world.
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4. The question of marriage
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Being married and raising a family is a big deal in the
Indian culture for women at the time. Marriage is sacred to most Indians and
is considered to endure beyond death. So, the question of being married pops
up very often when Amina is on screen – with her Grandmother trying to
arrange her marriage with Young Ali, Miriam asking Amina why she is not
married, Miriam asking Amina what she would do when she gets married because
she can’t cook, and Miriam telling Amina how her marriage was arranged and
that she came to South Africa after she got married.
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5. The question of son
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Similar to the Chinese culture, a son in a family is
important in the Indian culture for many reasons. For example, as a son, he
is to be the head of the family when the father passes away; he is also the
only one who can light the fire at his parents’ cremation; and he inherits
all his parents’ possession when they die, even his wife’s. So, having a son
is significant both religiously and non-religiously. The question of son
appears several times – during the match-making dinner when Young Ali asks
Amina if she wants only boys, and how Grandmother retorts “What rubbish!
Everybody wants a boy!” when Amina says “What would make you think I want boys
at all?”; how Begum is tricked into letting go of her son at the train
station (“prized-possession”); and when Mrs. Benjamin announces the arrival
of the new baby, Omar asks if it is a boy.
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6. The sunset/sunrise
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Perhaps used symbolically to refer to end of an episode of
trouble (sunset) and a new beginning/hope (sunrise), both sunset and sunrise
are used several times in the film. They could also be used to show
progression of time (as metonymy).
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7. The children going/returning to school
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Miriam’s three children are seldom on screen. The
school-going ones are always either going to or returning from school. Thus,
the audience gets a sense that while Miriam is devoted to her family, her
children are not always there with her, in addition to a husband who doesn’t
really talk to her. So, she is really alone in her world.
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3. Paradox
A paradox is a contradiction that is somehow true. It can
take a form of oxymoron, overstatement or understatement. It can also blend
into irony.
Paradox
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Analysis
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1. At 00:14:55, in her attempt to persuade her son to
return to India, Grandmother comments that the problem with Africa is that
“there are too many black people”.
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It’s Africa; of course there are many Africans there. It’s
the land of Africans where the Blacks are the natives. However, it is in
their homeland that they are oppressed and discriminated against by the
minority White community. They are not at welcome in their own home.
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2. Grandmother wants Amina to get married to complete her
as a woman.
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Amina is happy with her life as it is. Perhaps she doesn’t
feel complete in the way that Grandmother intends for her, but she doesn’t
plan to find a man and get married to fill in the gap.
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3. At 00:16:15, Amina tells her mother that she wants to
go inside just “like this”; “Mum, this is who I am.”
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And Amina appears at the dinner wearing salwar kurta
(without the dupatta), a pink one, at that.
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4. Allegory
Allegory is something that has a second meaning, usually by
endowing characters, objects or events with symbolic significance.
Allegory
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Analysis
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1. Jacob and Madeline’s love story
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It shows that although it’s clichéd that love knows no
boundary, this love affair does. In the setting of the story, their love is
constrained and punishable by the law. It shows us that some things just
cannot happen when the circumstance doesn’t allow for it to happen.
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2. The road accident at 00:45:17, where a white man hits
an African man
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This accident signifies two things:
1. How
insignificant and worthless the lives of the Africans are in the eyes of the
minority Whites in South Africa at the time.
2. Miriam’s attempt at helping the African man – she goes out alone in the dark looking for him and
when she finds him, tries to give him a blanket – shows that she is making
small steps to change and not be accepting of how things already are at that
time; that you mind your own business, that your place is at home, that you
obey your husband no matter what, and that Africans are not worth anything.
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CONCLUSION
Figurative representation is a very good way to give
auxiliary meaning, idea or feeling in a motion picture. I personally think that
the film The World Unseen has achieved that tremendously well.
REFERENCES
Shamim Sarif.
(2008). Director’s commentary: The World Unseen DVD. Enlightenment Productions: London.
Wikipedia. (2011). Stylistic Devices: Figurative Language.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylistic_device
in October 2011.
Buy the NOVEL "The World Unseen":
Buy the AUDIOBOOK "The World Unseen":
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