Namesake Movie Paper Essay Example

Bengali language to him, not a common language in America like Spanish or English. Once she becomes pregnant ND is in the hospital, she is shown in a hospital gown that only goes down to about her knees.

She asks the nurse if they have a longer dress. This shows a difference in modesty between Bengali women and American women, In American culture the dress length would be considered totally normal. Once the baby is born and a man comes to get the baby's name for Its birth certificate, the couple does not have a name ready and they must wait for the mother's grandmother to name the baby. This could take months. In American culture the couple usually names the baby right away. They don't let the baby go without being named. In Bengali culture it is totally normal for a child not to be named right away.

The movie later shows the couple having a second child, a baby girl. Later on the movie shows the children grown up in their teenage years. A similarity is shown between the couples son Googol, a Bengali teenager with American teenaged friends all smoking together. This shows that drugs can be a part of any culture. Gogol's aunt later tells him that it is perfectly acceptable for him to fool around with women and have fun as long as he continues o abide by his culture. This shows a double standard between men and women in the Bengali culture.

It would not be socially acceptable for a woman to fool around; they need to be more conservative and loyal Bengali housewives to the men. Gogol's girlfriend

later Is shown In the movie and comes over to his house to meet his parent's and have dinner with the family. In this scene of the movie it shows how affection. It is considered extremely disrespectful if Googol and his girlfriend touch kiss or hold hands in front of his parent's. When his girlfriend first enters and meets is parent's she kisses them both on the cheek, something that is very common and viewed as respectful to do in America where as in their culture, it is way too forward.

In American culture it is normal to see couples touching or kissing or displaying public affection, in Bengali culture this is disrespectful to others around and not acceptable. When the family goes back to India for a while later on in the movie, lots of differences are shown. There is no air conditioning in the house they are staying in, which would be unbearable for a lot of Americans. Food is sold on the streets, which would be found unsanitary in America. At the ending of the movie after the father dies, everyone is wearing white to his funeral.

This is completely different in America because we wear black to funerals. This is shown when Gogol's girlfriend shows up dressed in all black. Because she is the only American there, she is the only person in black instead of in white. There were a lot more differences shown in the movie than similarities. These differences could create miscommunication between the Bengali and American cultures because culturally, things that we Americans could assume to be perfectly acceptable, could be considered extremely disrespectful in Bengali culture.