Summary of Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly and Martin and Yaquinto's Framing Diaspora in Diasporic Cinema: Concepts and Thematic Concerns (as of 11:00 a.m. Monday, Sept 9)

CONTENT

Ally Hallman: “The most obvious diasporic situation I saw in Turtles Can Fly was that of the kids. They do have a village to come home to, but it's on the border of Iraq and Iran [or Turkey?], not quite fully accepted in either country. Sometimes they have to travel a bit to be able to find work, like gathering mines and stacking shells, and if they want to finally be able to reap the rewards of their labor—for example, buying a TV satellite—they have to travel even greater distances. Most of the kids don’t seem to have parents (or any family, really), and some kids, like the ones in Agrin and Hengov’s community, live out of tents so they don’t even really have as much home stability as Satellite’s community does… Ghobadi could have easily replaced Satellite with an adult character as the commander-in-chief of the village, but the movie probably wouldn’t have been nearly as good.”

David: “…the people in the village had privileges that the refugees in the camp didn't have. The three kids that live in the refugee camp live in a very basic tent with no amenities, while the villagers have bicycles, satellites, and television. Also Satellite, a villager in the film, has the means of putting together work groups which it looked like were mostly composed of children living in the camp. This was partly because many of the refugees were orphans whose parents had died in the war. This reminded me of the relationship between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie social classes. It showed how you can be the US and try to imperialize Middle Eastern countries and countries in general to outsource labor, or be a Middle Eastern country with refugees doing the same thing. It shows how the cycle of control between groups across the world are affected by politics and war every day. In the film the numbing theme of Middle Eastern films continues. The girl refugee seems numbed by the fact that she was raped and forced to bear a child that she essentially hates.”

Hina: “…You find out that some of the children are missing limbs because of all the mines that are still left around and that there are various refugees from the ongoing war. What made it even harder to watch was that these were innocent children, they had done nothing wrong. I doubt they could even conceptualize what war actually is. I suppose that was the point: to tell the story of a diaspora through the eyes of the most innocent members, or in this case: victims…. Sympathizing with children is just so easy to do and the fact that the children acted normally just made it worse. Landmines existing were the norm and things like foreign soldiers invading were interesting to them. Looking at the film through American eyes made it all the worse. Americans were the ones fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the first place. To know that we were helping people at the cost of ruining the lives of others was just too much. People were forced to leave their homes and families. They lost everything and it was partially our fault. War is terrible on all fronts, but this movie just showed how bad it is for the people on the other side.”

Heather: “…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…. 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…. 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.”

Loni: “Watching these films as an American citizen I was disheartened. It's horrible that innocent people have been forced to live in violent conditions. I can't help but wonder what if the roles were reversed and we were the one's living with the casualties of an invasion…. The young people seemed to be very mature for their ages. They have been given tough circumstances and are trying to get along on their own or with the help of siblings and other children.”

Kelsey: “In the reading, the author states that diaspora can hurt a group of peoples’ cultural lifestyle and their traditions. It not only displaces them but separates them from a lifestyle they are so accustomed to. These points really relate to the characters in Turtles Can Fly. The characters are not only forced to migrate from town to town but they also had to claim new jobs and lifestyles. They do not eat the same or do the same activities that they did prior to the war. The children collect mines now rather than helping in a field or playing games. The adults spend more time worrying about what the news says than maintaining their villages and livelihoods. The children are forced to take on more responsibilities… I think having a US perspective makes you see them from one of two ways. The first way is that they are barbarians and the second way is that they are helpless and need assistance. I feel a little bit of both when it comes to the film. I feel hostility towards their culture to a small degree because of what some of their people do. However, those characters in the village are the ones that are hurt and destroyed. I feel bad for their struggling when they have done nothing to deserve it.”

Laura: “Refugees are fleeing conflict in their own homelands and seeking reprieve elsewhere. And it was interesting to note that when the village leader meets another Kurdish man he asks him, ‘Are you an Iranian Kurd or an Iraqi Kurd?’ This to me highlighted an important fact that even though these people had a village they were not quite at home in this country and that the Kurdish people have been swept around and separated. But the authors also mention that Diaspora includes the ‘…internationalization of capital and the labor market…’ Satellite has his village children dig up American mines. He doesn’t even want them to bother with mines from other countries. What’s fascinating about this is that even though Satellite has no connections with any Americans in the film he knows that even discarded American mines are worth more than anything his village could produce. This illustrates that Western countries have made certain people economic refugees by forcing them out of the market unless they are willing to deal with the goods of the ‘invaders’ as it were. Also the massive satellite dish the village buys looked eerily similar to dishes I have seen early in the days of satellite television. What one American family could afford to buy, an entire village had to band together to purchase. It was really a shocking image for me to see and one that struck home the idea of this economic diaspora.”

Kelly: “A little girl her brother and what seems to be.. somehow the little girl’s son? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it's possible for a child that young to have a child that old... For instance the toddler was already speaking in sentences so he had to be at least two or three. The girl couldn't have been more than thirteen and honestly looked more to be eleven or twelve. So, in light of these assumptions one could estimate that the young girl could have been no older than ten when she was unfortunately raped and impregnated... On top of all that how did a girl that young give birth in a third world country? Not to mention,…she's a refugee….

Gabby: “…as the movie progressed and I saw how terribly she treated the young boy, I couldn't help but think that perhaps it was best if she just ended her miserable life. That’s a really harsh thought, I know, but until the end of the film, we do not even know why she is so terrible to this child whom we think is her little brother. I think the diasporic situation that plagues this small ‘family’ is that they were forced to leave their original home because 1) their parents were killed, 2) the girl was raped and mothered this young blind child and 3) because they probably felt that they had no other reason to stay. Or probably because it was far too unsafe for them to stay… My identity as a North American also impacts my original opinion of the young mother. In my eyes, I see a young girl who does not want the responsibility of caring for a child that she does not want, while there is an armless boy who does all he can to care from him. I see a young girl who cannot see past the tragedy that has happened to her and is losing her grasp on reality. By the end of the film however, we understand that this is a girl who was raped and now has a reminder of it every day. She is alone and the last thing she wants to care for is a crying, blind child that is a product of her torture. It is hard to understand that at first, because as an American, that is not something we are witness to everyday.”
Jamie: “While watching Turtles Can Fly, a main element that stuck out to me was the hegemonic ideology that the English language is ‘better’ than any other foreign languages, especially those of the Middle East and Spanish descent. Hegemonic ideologies achieve their dominance through widespread acceptance, which in the case of English has occurred in the global picture. The English language is held with high priority and correlates to success and education. Although these are populated stereotypes, these beliefs have become naturalized in today’s society across the world. In the film Turtles Can Fly, Satellite puts truth behind these ideologies in a very visible way. Throughout the film, Satellite is the primary English-speaker in his entire village; this is largely the reason for his popularity in the community. With the English language, Satellite is able to go to town and barter with other people to gain success, or in their case buy a satellite. The reason for purchasing this piece of equipment is to watch the news in the United States to figure out when the war will begin. Satellite is once again placed on a pedestal higher than anyone else in his village because he is the only person who can translate the English – and even with his ‘power’ of speaking and understanding English, he denies many people that information. A typical ‘American’ some people would say; abusing power just for the sake of having it over everyone else. This idea of English dominance and dependency on the United States for information highlights a key point in the article “Framing Diaspora in Diasporic Cinema: Concepts and Thematic Concerns” written by Michael T. Martin and Marilyn Yaquinto. The article states, “Conversely, diasporas mask complex forms of dependency and hegemony, especially for poor migrants and their descendants who negotiate worlds constructed by others.”

Chris: “I personally was disturbed after watching such a neglectful mother…. what it seems like the director is trying to show is that even through all of these changes the people still have their own personal problems and that these splitting and molding of two different societies can have a detrimental effect on people.”

Jessica: “[Agrin] had to ask for things to get by – ask for rope, ask for good water, etc. She was not spoken-to directly, though spoken about by the home-town villagers. She and her little family were outsiders with no home to return to because their home had been brutalized by soldiers. Even though the amputated brother was helpful to the village children in finding minds, he still was the underdog who couldn't be trusted at first as Satellite ostracizes him from the group. When the girl is pursued by Satellite, she goes home to ask her brother when they can leave. After being raped, she seems to resent male attention and definitely resents her role as caregiver to her bastard child. Had she been like Satellite who had a home, she may have had more help for this child she didn't ask for, but she couldn't bear it and winds up jumping off a cliff after leaving her son in a mine field [and ultimately drowning him in the pond]. An obvious distinction is that the diasporic peoples try to make do with what they have, but ultimately are left with such a tragic life that some cannot bear it…. I couldn't relate directly as I don't think of myself as a diasporic person. The first time the film shows Satellite’s best friend as having a deformed leg from a mine explosion is shocking and unexpected. The boy is so capable, so happy, as we see him kiss the cheeks and laugh with the blind son of the diasporic girl…. Ghobadi seemed to want to portray the message of what it is like to live in pre-war conditions in an under-developed country.

Keleigh: “Although the movie is just a representation of what occurred in the weeks before the U.S invaded Iraq, it’s horrible to see the conditions that these people were living in…. The notion of diaspora is prevalent within the film because so many of the children are refugees. Diaspora is often characterized when describing the Jews and how they fled Germany and began life in a different location with different cultures. These refugee children are the same way. They have to adapt to the way of life established by the Iraqis in the village. My North American identity did change the way I viewed the film. As an American, I never want to see the death or pain that my country has caused someone else and yet that is exactly what this film did. Hengov and ‘Satellite’ lost limbs because of American made landmines. I had nothing to do with that but I feel guilty on behalf of my country for causing children that pain and suffering…. I think that Ghobadi’s message was to show that even though Iraq was plagued with poverty, war, and disaster, the people are strong.”

‘Proteus’: “As with the films we have watched previously, Turtles Can Fly implores western nations to think about the lives of the people affected by war. As Martin and Yaquinto state in their article, ‘diasporic cinema deconstructs and challenges hegemonic understandings of national identity as it mediates a re-imagining of the nation from the point of view of the postcolonial subject.’… The children in Turtles Can Fly have formed their own society in order to cope with their situation, even electing a child, Satellite, to be their leader. They keep themselves busy and feel useful in collecting and selling mines and building defenses, making times of war seem normal. The boys have formed a family, and perhaps their own culture, as a response to their relocation. It is interesting to note that this group is made up [almost] entirely of boys, and [one of] the only female character[s] is Agrin. This may be because girls stay with the women of the community, making themselves useful in other ways, or that girls in war are held captive or killed by soldiers doing unmentionable things to them. If the latter is true, Agrin is a rarity having escaped.

 

FORM/SYMBOLISM/AUDIENCE

Keleigh: “The music played a big stylistic role in the film because it gave cues as to what the actors were thinking. For instance, when ‘Satellite’ begins to have a crush on Agrin, there are violins playing sweetly in the background. Since the movie was not in English, I did not always pick up on what the characters were feeling but the music certainly helped portray their emotions.”

Ally Hallman: “Another element I thought was crucial to the film was the use of music. If I’m not mistaken, the very first time we ever hear music in the film is when Satellite first begins to pursue Agrin…. When things get really bad between Agrin and the baby, at the part where she’s attempted to abandon him several times now and Hengov goes looking for him, the music suddenly becomes tense and foreboding.”

David: “These films are definitely not selling out to achieve a mainstream audience. The movies are about raising political questions, and also questions about human nature in general. If these movies don't raise questions about the ethical problems of what goes on in the world today, and actions that governments take in order to reach their motivations in present society than there is a major problem.”

‘Proteus’: “This is emphasized in the film by Satellite's fascination with her and the cinematic device of comparing her to a red fish, something given elusive and mysterious qualities throughout. This comparison is derived from the scene from Agrin's past where she is wearing a red sequined dress before she is assumedly raped. This happens in a pool similar to the one that Satellite claims to have red fish. In addition, when Satellite is given the goldfish in a bag from the American's, moments later the bag is filled with blood.”