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The Visitor Film Analysis

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The film The Visitor portrays the unique relationship that forms between a college professor, Walter, and a couple Tarek, from Syria, and Zainab, from Senegal. One way that Tarek connects to his culture is through music. Zainab connects to her culture through her jewelry design. The main conflicts are centered around immigration status and the constant threat of deportation. Throughout the film there are many psychosocial transitions which Golan (1983) mentions in terms of major transitions that occur that can have dramatic and lifelong consequences. Therefore, in order to learn how to handle these changes a person might need alter their internal and external structures so that they can still relate to their environment. Through seeing …show more content…

The intersectionality at the micro level for Tarek and Zainab of their prior experiences and status throughout the film reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro level and are embedded into social structures. Being that Tarek and Zainab are both undocumented immigrants who have both overcome many obstacles to be where they are effects their characters. Tarek and his mother, Mouna left Syria after Tarek’s father was imprisoned for publishing something controversial. On the micro level, Tarek’s and Zainab’s being people of color and immigrants put them at higher risk for intersectionality. At the macro level the systems of privilege and oppression are embedded in social constructs and political policies through racism and nationalism. One might assume that Tarek is arrested because of the factors of intersectionality, specifically that he is a young man of color carrying a large bag. “Racism influences each individual 's sense of identity and his/ her experiences with social privilege...it shapes and constrains interpersonal and intergroup relationships, affecting how people think, feel, view the world, and act” (Miller & Garran, 2007). Although Walter welcomes Tarek and Zanaib, throughout the movie there are several examples of group put downs, stereotypes, myths, and conflicts. For instance, some people might think that a stereotype of immigrants is that

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