Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette, 1985, is about an ambitious Asian-Briton and his male, white lover as they strive for success during Thatcher’s rein by opening up a Laundromat. The main issue that the film focuses on throughout is borders and belonging.
Omar and Johnny share a homosexual relationship, which is looked down upon by both cultures. Omar’s family are from Pakistan, and although most of them enjoy many aspects of the English culture, they are still very family orientated. And Johnny’s past shows him to be very involved with typical skin heads, who definitely wouldn’t take too kindly to his homosexuality. But it is not just their family and friends who discriminate against such a relationship, during the time in which the film was set, gay couples were not accepted and rarely were they flaunted in public. This point is backed-up by the fact Omar and Johnny were subjects of a homophobic attack by a gang of skin heads.
Although in private Johnny and Omar are shown to be very affectionate towards one another, Omar finds it easier showing affection in public and embracing his sexuality, while Johnny is seen to fight it. In the scene where he comforts the injured Johnny, Omar is shown to be teasing a submissive Johnny, who is seen to be pulling away and attempting to keep up his ‘hard man’ image, rather than fall to the stereotype of the typical homosexual.
Johnny shows indications of his homosexuality through his conversation with Salim in the Laundrette; ‘In my experience, it’s always worth waiting for Omo’. Johnny implies that Omar is worth waiting for in regards to his intimate relationship, and does this in the form of a crude joke as he knows Salim is uncomfortable with this kind of relationship. This happens towards the end of the film and is a sign that Johnny is becoming more comfortable with his sexuality.
At the end of the film, the mask of heterosexuality that Omar and Johnny have had to succumb to throughout the film is lifted when they share an intimate kiss outside in broad daylight; this proves that most characters have become more comfortable with each other and their sexuality despite public opinion.
Omar’s family all originate from Pakistan, but his uncle, a successful business man is shown to go against tradition on many occasions; this shows he is split between the two cultures. He has both a loving, traditional Pakistani family at home, but he also has a white mistress of whom he flaunts around in public showing he enjoys the perks of British culture.
Although Nasser, Omar’s uncle, loves British culture, he shows he still has respect for his Pakistani roots, hence he addresses his brother as ‘Bhai jan’, which is also a sign of respect for his sibling, who shows more obligation towards Pakistani tradition.
Nasser states; ‘that country (Pakistan) has been sodomised by religion…its beginning to interfere with the making of money.’ This clearly lets the audience know that Nasser’s primary goal of life is all about money, wealth and affluence. So much so, that he rates it above his original culture and true identity and thinks of Britain as his true home and likens it to ‘heaven’.
A lot of Pakistani’s in Britain were very successful, just like Nasser and co. However multiple acts of violence against Omar and Salim reinforce the prejudice towards Pakistani’s in 1970s London which ultimately led to alienation of other cultures. Also, throughout the film various members of the gang of skin heads use the word ‘Paki’ towards Omar and his family in an aggressive and offensive way, showing the attacks were a direct result of their cultural difference.
To conclude, My Beautiful Laundrette shows each character has a struggle with borders and belonging in various different ways, with the main issues being sexuality and culture.
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