Second Generation - Essay Example

It depicts the Asian community differently from the way we know it. It has themes such as authentic lives of Asians, British Asian underground music and romance amongst teenagers. The writer Neil Biswas wanted to give a picture of Asian community as it really is, as opposed to how it is perceived on TV. The director Jon Sen sought to address the world’s fascination of Bollywood as it has packaged their culture as a fashion with celebration and vigor (Sandhu, 1). With this production, they depict the seriousness of their Hindu and Islam religions, as the West does not understand the seriousness of it.

The epic drama serves to inform and educate its audience, while opening doors to the lives of teenagers in Whitechapel (Sandhu, 1). The main character, Sam, a young boy rapper uses his own money to start up a record label to promote raw talent in the hope that his music will elevate him. His friends however, contact other record labels and turn the music into something commercial. The teenagers in the streets use music to express their feelings of anger and rebellion (Sandhu, 1). The stars in the drama are distinguished actors and actresses, well known to the Asian community and have a list of big productions under their belt.

The drama unlike others is not about problems of assimilation, but of position and influence (Sandhu, 1). The article describes the misleading fallacy that has existed for a long time concerning Asian women. In episode 1 of Second Generation, Heer is depicted as an independent woman living with her fiance as opposed to the Asian home portrayed by other media. She is however forced back into her family life when her father falls into a coma. Heere is Sam Khan’s first love and their romance is rekindled after they reconnect.

The themes of this episode are love and family. In many Asian stories that have been told in the past, the subject of love and romance is always never brought up. Mostly, they shy away from showing such topics and we as the viewer have concluded that it’s not a topic for dinner time discussion (Channel 4). The article describes an area that is not common in Asian programs or dramas. It is safe to say that it is a result of multiculturalism. It gives us an impression of a black neighborhood with the underground music scenes.

Furthermore, there are aspects of multiculturalism that the second-generation teenagers have adopted, different from their predecessors such as music, especially rap (Sandhu, 1). Minority media and diasporic media represent media of a minor community found in a greater region. Their role is to keep the identity of the minority within the new community. Older generations have a problem with recognition as the amalgamation of people and culture fosters aspects such as mixed marriages. Therefore, there is fragmentation of the original culture and a rise of multicultural democracies.

The British Asians of the Second Generation drama have adopted a new culture and place a risk of fading away of their original culture. The author, Eugenia Siaperain in her book, Cultural Diversity and Global Media: The Meditation of Difference looks into media production and the role the internet has played in diasporic communication. The internet has opened up a new world of communication (Sandhu, 1). According to the article, Second generation has tried to describe Asians in their true form.

In episode 1, we see aspects of love and family which are not different from any other