Film: The Namesake

Culture Event

        After Tuesday’s class, I went to Hollywood to check out a movie named The Namesake for my culture event assignment. This is a 2007 movie that is directed by Mira Nair and is based on the best-selling novel “The Namesake”. The author of the novel, Jhumpa Lahiri, also appears in the movie and another author of the novel, Sooni Taraporevala, adapted the novel as the movie. The movie was released on March, 2007, but it was limited release in the United States. It has also been shown in the film festival of Toronto and New York.

The Best Selling Novel "The Namesake"

        The film basically describes the story about two new immigrants who are from India and their son’s struggle to adopt the American culture. At the beginning of the movie, Ashoke and Ashima leave their hometown, Calcutta and come to New York City. Because of some mistakes, their American-born son’s nickname, Gogol(It’s an Ukrainian author’s name), becomes his official birth name. The film uses his struggles over his name to talk about the assimilation and culture identity. The film also uses Gogol’s cross-culture experiences to continue the story. Eventually, Gogol falls in love with two women named Maxine and Moushumi. Even though Gogol tries his best to fit in the American culture, his family is not willing to give up their traditional culture. Therefore, when Gogol falls in love, his parents, Ashoke and Ashima, still need to struggle to understand his American perspectives on dating and marriage because they still live with the Indian traditional way even they live in New York. Gogol ultimately gains a better understanding of the individual in India and Indian-American culture.

        The Namesake has been appeared on several critics’ top ten lists of the best films of 2007. While I was watching this movie, I kept asking that if I were an American-born Chinese, would I learn Chinese? And when the movie finishes, my answer is yes because I think I’m still a Chinese even though I was born in the States. I believe while I’m learning the Chinese language and its culture, I will gain a better understanding on it, just like the movie character, Gogol.  This is another good movie that i highly recommand, especially for the international students like me.

The Movie Poster