The webmaster owns a copy of “Second Generation,” a
2-part made for TV movie done by Channel 4 in England. The webmaster decided
to screen
the film at a college classroom in order to see the reaction of different people's towards the film.
During the actual screening of “Second Generation,” twenty
people showed up to watch the film through a big screen projector in the classroom: a professor
on immigration, some members of the South Asian group, and some college kids from my
dorm showed up to watch the movie.
Since this was a "made for TV movie", the webmaster had to use fast forward through the
commercials & the DVD skipped at one point while DVD played the movie through
my labtop. Other than that, the screening of the film was okay. (Click on the following link
to read a review on “Second
Generation”).
Of course, the hardest thing to screening
anything is actually promoting the film. Since the webmaster lives in the freshman
dorms at UC Davis, the webmaster
decided to send out an e-mail
to all the peeps in his dorm (about 60) to just go and watch the film at a classroom the next day.
All of a sudden, one person responded to the e-mail and then the whole dorm was
buzzing (mainly irritate at one person’s e-mail).
The following are e-mails responding to the second e-mail…(There’s
no mention of anyone's name in order to not reveal any identities).
Subject: IMPORTANT NEWS
The South Asian Alliance (SASO) is going to screen a very rare
film from England concerning Second Generation Indians & Pakistanis in
England.
Film: "Second Generation": A film to be screened on Thursday at 7:30
PM.
Reasons to watch the film:
A rare film only seen 5 times in big audiences for film festivals in
San Francisco and New York City.
The movie stars the British/Indian actress (Parminder Nagra)from "Bend
It Like Beckham".
This film deals with how Second Generation Indians are living in
England may help to shed some light to what's going on with South Asians in America
as
well.
Webmaster
How in God's name does this constitute important news? I figure when there
is
a cap locks
IMPORTANT in my mail box, you are going to discuss something about the return
of Jesus or
perhaps the beginning of a third world war. The plight of Indian immigrants in
a
DIFFERENT country is frankly none of my concern, even if it does "shed light" on
what is
going on with south asians. Furthermore, even if we do become aware of the difficulties
going on with south asians, how are we, poor college students, supposed to do
anything
about it Lao? Join the third world forum and write how capitalism and imperialism
are
killing the world? Should we participate in a rally for better living conditions
for
immigrants? Who is going to listen? Who is going to care?
In the future, please don't capitalize IMPORTANT or even use the word if the
subject has
no relevance to the continuation of my education and or the promotion of my welfare.
Am I a cynic or what?
Army Guy
Certainly, we could all semantically debate the "importance" of any
news. Especially when dealing with an instrument as blunt as a list
serve, what is important to some people may not be to others. This
being the case, that some people may not, at first glance, see the
significance of the movie in question, I'd like to take this
opportunity to throw out some of the important facets that I see, off
the top of my head.
First, from the movie's title, "Second Generation," and from its
subject matter, East Indians in England, we can infer that those being
portrayed with be dealing with issues like assimilation into a
mainstream culture, the shedding of their "old" values and rituals
and,
for anyone who is at all interested in history (Alec), this is the
latest chapter in the fall of the British Empire. Think about it, less
that seventy years ago the British were subjugating and enslaving the
Indian people. Now, not even a lifetime later, there is a made-for-TV
documentary about how British culture IN ENGLAND ITSELF is being molded
by East Indians. That's important.
Second, I don't see the implicit pleading for action that you are
reacting to. Watch the movie. Did you contribute to VA groups after you
saw Saving Private Ryan? Did you convert to Christianity after you saw
The Passion? Did you pay it forward after you saw Pay It Forward? No.
Neither did anybody else.
I hope somewhere in there is a good reason to see the movie. Or at
least to forfeit the mayorship of Pessimism Town.
Guy
sometime's it's better to keep our opinions to ourselves... be smart... if
you
dont want
to listen then dont care about it... let it in one ear and out the other... but
dont
complain about it b/c there are more than enough people out there who feel the
same way
you do already... but there are also many more who dont see things in the wrong
way...
and in a country where there's already enough controversy... if everyone was
just a
little more thoughtful of one another and would know when it's best to say something
and
when it's best to keep quiet... we all could just get along a little better
Other Guy
If you feel that a certain piece of information is not for you, as in
it does not
contribute towards your welfare or education, ignore it! By responding to it,
you are
only suggesting that you are somehow affected by it when such is not the case.
Like
someone wise from third floor said, "listen through one ear and discard
through the
other".
Another thing, the only person who should have recieved that complaint email
was the
person who sent it to you, not everyone else in the building...got that! Some
of us are
actually happy that we have the chance to see that movie and learn something
from it.
Please think before you do something...after all...the purpose of any kind
of education is
to make you wiser and smarter.
Gal
Could u guys quit spamming everyone else’s email…Thanks
Other Gal