From: "Roger McNamara" <rogerglenmc-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: "Cotton Mary"
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 23:39:06 PDT




    I read Loretta's letter a week back regarding 'Cotton Mary', the 
Merchant Ivory film but was too busy to reply then. The film reflects the 
accepted view of the Anglo-Indians- a community striving to be considered 
British, who in turn of course give up all responsibility after having 
nurtured it (as they are half breeds, partly British and Indian).While the 
film seems to be a dialogue between the British and the Anglo-Indians, it 
fails to take account of the response of the Indians to the Anglo-Indian 
community. Does Merchants/Jafferys silence in this context imply that even 
as far as 1957, ten years after independance, the Indians did'nt have a view 
on the subject or are the Indians silent because to the Anglo-Indian, the 
Indian is a nobody.
     The view that runs through the movie- the Anglo-Indian striving to be 
considered British and pining for the days of the Raj, might be considered 
stereo-typical yet in all honesty I feel that it is true. This I can affirm 
from experience as I know plenty of Anglo-Indians, especially those who are 
middle-aged who consider the days of the British Raj to have been the 
heydays for the Anglo-Indians.
    What I did find suprising in the movie was the social status of the 
Anglo-Indian played by Madhur Jaffery. I've never seen the Anglo-Indian 
community been represented by an ayah(a very inferior maid servant) for  
I've always known that the majority during the British Raj and the immediate 
post Raj period to have been in the middle class. Is the accent and the 
social behaviour of the character played by Jaffery in consistence with the 
lower class Anglo-Indians? It certainly isn't a reflection of the 
middle-class Anglo-Indians that I know of. However as the movie is set in 
Kerela could Jaffrey be reflecting the Anglo-Indians there, who Frank 
Anthony called 'firangees' who were extremely Indian in their habits and 
customs unlike the Anglo-Indians in the rest of India.
   I hope to get some feedback from what I've written, especially from you 
Loretta since you first expressed interest in this topic.

                                               Roger
                                            ( rogerglenmc-AT-hotmail.com )

>From: Loretta Mijares <lqm2678-AT-is.nyu.edu>
>Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: "Cotton Mary"
>Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 15:04:51 -0400
>
>Are there any critical response out there to the new Merchant Ivory film
>"Cotton Mary"? It's set in India in 1957, and tells the story of an
>"Anglo-Indian" ayah to a British family. Madhur Jaffrey, who plays Cotton
>Mary, also co-directed the film. While it certainly staged a serious
>critique of the legacy of British imperialist attitudes, I was disturbed by
>what seemed to be a complicity in stereotypes about Anglo-indians.  Any
>thoughts?
>
>Loretta Mijares
>English Department
>New York University
>
>
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