“[What happens in the film] can happen in every single suburb of Europe, it is a reality of immigration, which is the slavery of the 21st century, that is happening all over the world” (McCracken 2011). These are the words of, Alejandro González Iñárritu, the director of Biutiful, when asked about the shooting of the film. The severity of the words can come at the reader as shocking but in reality they accurately represent the current reality of the globalized world. The ongoing globalization is visible to us through mechanisms such as the Internet, free trade associations and migration. What, however, is often undermined in the discourse of globalization is the underbelly, the hidden unpleasant part of globalization (Azcona 2015, 10). This
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This boundary change is not as fluid in Iceland, mostly due to the country’s small population and geographic isolation. Therefore, what this essay will focus on is this shift to urban boundaries by asking two primary questions. Firstly, how has the director, Alejandro Iñárritu, reflected this form of cultural interaction in the film, Biutiful? And secondly, basing on the words of Iñárritu from the beginning of this introduction, to what extent is this form of cultural interaction applicable to other European cities? In the first part of this essay, a scene from the film will be put forth and justified why it relates to the theme of urban boundaries. Secondly it will be argued that this shift to urban boundaries is caused by an earlier change in political and economic factors ruling in Europe. Further, a case study relating the film and urban boundaries to current situation will be analyzed and lastly, conclusions will be drawn from the essay’s …show more content…
As cities have developed with increased globalization and opening of economical borders, this case study will analyze the situation in Milan. The justification for choosing Milan is that it is, like Barcelona, both a global city and attractive to migrants who arrive in Italy (Lebuhn 2013, 44). Migrants in Milan connect the term of boundaries to a break in two phases, however, not in the sense of a tangible boundary but the element the ‘known’ city on the one hand and on the other hand, what is considered to be off limits. These off limit places are described as impenetrable spaces and “the imaginary walls of the city” (Marconi and Ostanel 2016, 92). The connection made by the migrants in Milan matches Saskia Sassen’s argument, noted in the earlier paragraph, on global cities and the creation of impenetrable borders. One of these places regarded as off limits to migrants in Milan are police stations (Ibid, 103), making a connection to the ever-present role of migrant legal status in global cities. Arguably, this results in that migrants with an ambiguous legal status will stay away from district state agencies, such as police stations in the case of Milan and the refrainment of the African street vendors in Biutiful to the local police. Additionally, Italy is currently posing strict immigration policies, which include fast deportation methods and steep fines for illegal
This boundary change is not as fluid in Iceland, mostly due to the country’s small population and geographic isolation. Therefore, what this essay will focus on is this shift to urban boundaries by asking two primary questions. Firstly, how has the director, Alejandro Iñárritu, reflected this form of cultural interaction in the film, Biutiful? And secondly, basing on the words of Iñárritu from the beginning of this introduction, to what extent is this form of cultural interaction applicable to other European cities? In the first part of this essay, a scene from the film will be put forth and justified why it relates to the theme of urban boundaries. Secondly it will be argued that this shift to urban boundaries is caused by an earlier change in political and economic factors ruling in Europe. Further, a case study relating the film and urban boundaries to current situation will be analyzed and lastly, conclusions will be drawn from the essay’s …show more content…
As cities have developed with increased globalization and opening of economical borders, this case study will analyze the situation in Milan. The justification for choosing Milan is that it is, like Barcelona, both a global city and attractive to migrants who arrive in Italy (Lebuhn 2013, 44). Migrants in Milan connect the term of boundaries to a break in two phases, however, not in the sense of a tangible boundary but the element the ‘known’ city on the one hand and on the other hand, what is considered to be off limits. These off limit places are described as impenetrable spaces and “the imaginary walls of the city” (Marconi and Ostanel 2016, 92). The connection made by the migrants in Milan matches Saskia Sassen’s argument, noted in the earlier paragraph, on global cities and the creation of impenetrable borders. One of these places regarded as off limits to migrants in Milan are police stations (Ibid, 103), making a connection to the ever-present role of migrant legal status in global cities. Arguably, this results in that migrants with an ambiguous legal status will stay away from district state agencies, such as police stations in the case of Milan and the refrainment of the African street vendors in Biutiful to the local police. Additionally, Italy is currently posing strict immigration policies, which include fast deportation methods and steep fines for illegal