There are a lot of novels who have portrayed India during the British colonial rule but one of the most important and prominent work is the masterpiece written by Edward Morgan Forster, A passage to India, considered to be the finest work of all the time. Forster experienced a multifacetted IndiaWhat is imperialism? What is racism?Imperialism is defined by oxford dictionary as “a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means.”. Racism, also called racialism, is, according to the Oxford dictionary, the “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior” but also “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” How British and the British Empire are presented in the movie There are some special film devices that contrast the clash of cultures.
Color is one important tool that shows how British and Indians are separated and different from each other. Throughout the movie, the white color is used in abundance to underlines superiority of those with the skin white and the importance of being a member of the white race. Even from the beginning, on their arrival, the British women are dressed in white clothes and not just a wool-white but a bright-white color. Even their surroundings are white, like the chairs in the club or the tablecloth. During the meeting in the club before the trial starts or in the courtroom, all women and men wear white clothes. We can notice in the movie that Indian men wear white too, for example the clothes Aziz and his friend are wearing at the dinner, but that color is clearly not the same. Their color is more a wool-white, ranging into a light-beige.
These differences marks the line between the two cultures. At her arrival, at the port, Mrs. Turtons was not very impressed by what she saw, about the Indian surroundings and the Indian people. She was bothered by the smell that does not suit to her delicate nose. In contrast to her, the British couple, Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested, who meet in India, were more open and curious to discover their new surroundingsThe way racism is presented in the moviewhich way written by, is a novel that describe the conflict between English and India cultures .Chandrapore is implicitly compared to London and the people are the city so if London is civilization (beautiful and structured), then Chandrapore is ugly and chaotic.
