La Haine: French Colonialism

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Siciliano talks about how La Haine explores the lingering effect of French colonialism. She talks about the the influx of immigrants from colonies to Paris in search of employment after World War Two. Banlieues was introduced to meet the increasing demand for housing shortage. Many of these immigrant are low skilled industrial worker. During the process of French deindustrialization, those workers are unable to find alternative employment. Therefore, these workers and their children become trapped in the banlieues. Siciliano also points out that while many activists seek to fight the system of oppression using a notion of “ a collective French identity”, they fail to realize that to self identify as French for the immigrants is to identify …show more content…

We see the character miss the last train to the banlieues and wonder around the city. They have nowhere to go. They are the outsiders. The schedule of train are designed to trap the people in the banlieues. Siciliano claims that the existence of banlieues polarizes the city and the suburb. She states that La Haine stresses on the subject of neo-racism in France. Unlike traditional racism, Neo-racism targets people who are culturally different rather than those who are biologically different. As a result, poor people are equally likely to experience racism and police brutality. In La Haine, The youth fails to fit in the Urban area due to the cultural differences. Hence, they are alienated and chased by the police. In the scene when a DJ projects his remix though the window, the camera travels out of the window and looks over the housing project. The bird’s eye view of the project creates a sense of claustrophobia, adding to the feeling of isolation and confinement. The separation of the city and the suburb begins with plan to clear poverty from city centers. De-industrialization further creates the distinction between the city and the suburbs. Economical desperation leads to crimes and violence. Sliverstein asserts that the violence will continue, and the condition will be worse if the French government continues to use heavy policing to resolve youth riots instead of applying structural

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