The Little Syria Show

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delve into the complexity of the colonized identity. Both short films focus on the experiences of immigrants, Pakistani and British Muslims for The Long Goodbye and Syrians for The Little Syria Show, and the struggles of surviving in a society that seemingly stands for the opportunity to pursue success but is at risk of one’s freedoms and life. Both short films highlight how the Western imperial empires profited off, and created the basis of their empires, of the physical labor of the very population they continue to systematically oppress and “other” at every given opportunity. The Little Syria Show emphasizes the immigrant dream of success more than The Long Goodbye, with the former painting a picture of a bustling Little Syria neighborhood …show more content…
The juxtaposition of starting with preparations for a wedding to the gruesome deaths and capture of all the family members enables The Long Goodbye to capture the fear and anxiety that defines being a Brown immigrant and a Muslim in a country where your skin tone and religion determines how much freedom you truly have. The suggestion that Ahmed’s character and his family expected such an execution (The Long Goodbye, 4:40-4:50) further emphasizes how the Brown immigrant and British Muslim are hyper-aware of their position and their “otherness” in the social hierarchy. Both shows, being different mediums, offer unique ways to represent the immigrant and Muslim struggle. The Little Syria Show is interactive and employs Syrian instruments and music, influenced by aspects of different cultures like hip-hop, immersing the audience in what the culturally diverse Little Syria neighborhood must have looked like and stressing the need to keep traditions …show more content…
I personally liked The Long Goodbye more than The Little Syria Show. As Naglaa Hassan argues, the use of hip-hop to transcend boundaries and engage a wide audience with the politics behind the Muslima and immigrant experience is powerful; both Omar Offendum and Riz Ahmed did a beautiful job with their respective works. But I found Ahemed’s piece to be more effective in conveying the experience, with the delivery of his speech in which you can hear raw pain, anger, frustration, and fear. After watching The Long Goodbye, I sat for a few moments processing his words. I was particularly enraptured by his comment “And my ancestor’s Indian, but India was not for us” (9:40), which made me reflect on my family’s ancestry. My parents never really told my siblings and me about Partition, aside from a few immediate family members who were either lost or murdered. But, apparently, long before Partition, our family ancestry can be traced back to Persia, where our family tribe was known as
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