Poverty among Minority Groups in Developed Countries

Name
Course
Professor
Date
Film and Reading Response
Film: Goodbye Solo (2008)
Reading: Naficy, Hamid. "Situating accented cinema." Transnational Cinema: The film reader 1 (2006).
Goodbye Solo is a 2008 film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. It tells the story of Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané), an African Senegalese immigrant in the USA, and William (Red West), a white man from the US. Solo is a cab driver who meets William as a client in his cab. William wants to be driven to Blowing Rock, a place with forces that make things fly. Solo gets concerned when William does not book a cab back from the Blowing Rock, and he thinks that William wants to commit suicide because he seems depressed. He befriends William and tries to talk him out of committing suicide (Bahrani). The reading "Situated Accented Cinema," written by Hamid Naficy, addresses accented films, which feature people from different backgrounds. Naficy offers an overview of filmmaking in the post-colonial era, third world, and other displaced people living in the Western world. This piece analyzes the film and the reading, comparing their social, cultural, political, and historical issues. It also describes the technical language the film uses to develop its plot.
What are the central arguments made by the films and/or the texts and how do they relate to each other?
The film describes the life of the minority groups in developed countries. These groups include immigrants and blacks, whose ancestral lands are on other continents. The Indians and Mexicans living in the US are minority groups too. Naficy (10) refers to these groups as accented, face various challenges that include poverty, discrimination, and unemployment. Solo lives in a low-class environment and works as a cab driver, a sign of low class. He interviews for a flight attendant, but he is rejected. Nonetheless, he struggles to feed his family and persuade William not to commit suicide. The film addresses the social and economic depressions that William and Solo are going through, but they cannot share because of manhood. Solo goes through hardships but does not open up to William, who also goes through challenges and depression but pretends he does not need help. On the other hand, the central argument for the reading "Accented Films" is the making process of films post-colonial time, third world and immigrants to the Western World. Naficy (15) argues that accented films have gained popularity because most people can relate.
What social, cultural, political, or historical issues are brought into focus in the films and how?
The movie's major socia...