la haine essay
QUESTIONS ON LA HAINE.
Answer FIVE (5) of the following questions. All students must answer questions 8 and 9. Questions should be submitted in hard-copy format, typewritten, double spaced.
1. Explain the significance of the title to the main characters.
2. How are the immigrant families treated in La Haine?
3. Explain the themes of desperation, frustration and loneliness in the film.
4. Explain the significance of the “banlieues†in the film.
5. Analyze one of the central characters in the film.
6. Discuss the role of the police in this film.
7. Discuss the idea that the creation of the “banlieues†was essentially an experiment in failure, designed to get the immigrants to participate in their own demise.
8. How is this cultural misunderstanding expressed in La Haine? Issues of citizenship, immigration, migration and ‘foreignness’ are often imbued with the socio-cultural constructions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ by a particular society. Societies often scapegoat immigrants for a number of societal ills unrelated to the migrant populations in a specific geographical area, issues such as unemployment and economic recession. Also, differences (of language, race, religion) between the migrant populations and the mainstream citizens exacerbate cultural misunderstanding. Show how this applies to La Heine.
9. Nationalism is generally considered to be a political ideology that the notion of a nation built by and shared by people having a common language, race, ethnicity, etc. Another concept of nationalism is to have common “glories in the past, to have a common will in the present, to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more …†Considering either or both of these ideologies of what nationalism is, how do the concepts shape or not shape the cultural capital of the three protagonists in La Haine? In other words, do you feel that the young men can or cannot participate in the process of being a part of the French nation?
