Power Dynamics in Brick Lane: A Cinematic Analysis

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Throughout the movie, there is a consistent switch of power between the husband Chanu and the wife Nazneen. Yet this power is not one dimensional, this means there is no power such as unidirectional. To make it general it can be said that, power can be related to earning money for the household but as we shall see there are other impacts to power. This earning power compose charisma. Therefore, charisma has shifts too along the movie.
Brick Lane is about a woman -Nazneen- who migrate from Bangladesh to Brick Lane, England. Nazneen was forced to marry with a Bangladeshi man -Chanu- who live in England after her mother died. They have two daughters. Older daughter -Shahana- is very aggressive her father because they have culture gaps. As Shahana was born in England and she grows up in English culture not Bangladeshi culture.
In the movie, mostly power relations are seen between Nazneen -who is the main character of the film; a mother, a wife- and Chanu -who is the other main character; a father, a husband-. Nazneen is a regular Bangladeshi housewife. At the beginning of …show more content…

According to Sameer Khatiwada studies showed that in Bangladesh, empowerment of women is increased by female participation in microfinance. Also, this led to increase of decision-making, social acceptance of Bangladeshi woman. ( Khatiwada, 2014) There is a second power switch. It is seen when Nazneen and Chanu were in a meeting which is about Muslim actions. After fall of twin tower people began to see Muslims as terrorists. Therefore, Muslims began to communicate at meetings. When Karim who is Nazneen’s lover speaks about how they should act, Chanu was not agree to that and when he speaks Nazneen is impressed. Therefore, Chanu take his charisma again. Yet Chanu’s charisma and power could not restrain Nazneen to stay at Brick Lane. When she decides to stay at Brick Lane she gains her absolute power and she begins to take

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