Heather Goslin- Turtles Can Fly

In Ghobadi’s Turtles Can Fly, it was obvious that the diasporic situations negatively affected some of the characters’ lives. Because of war and times of trouble, these children had to pick up their belongings and find somewhere else to live. This is traumatic just for an average American teenager, not to mention people who’s lives are in danger. The character Agrin went through way too much misery for a girl that young, and the audience could see it from the beginning. At one point it seemed like she was running from her feelings, not just economic reasons, when she asked her brother if they could leave yet. She was annoyed and did not like it there, so she wanted to leave.

            Like I said in my previous post, we as Americans do not always get to see the anguish we have caused in the lives of people in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. Seeing the truth that most of these people, including children, risk their lives everyday makes me so sad. If the roles were reversed, I could not even imagine how hard it would be just to get through one day.

            In the reading Framing Diaspora in Diasporic Cinema, the authors state that, “diasporic cinema is neither linguistically nor culturally monolithic”. This is very true because all sorts of things, forced or willing can cause diasporic situations. The reading was very interesting and it helped me get a better understanding of diaspora and its use in films.