Have you ever seen a movie so riveting that you kept thinking about it hours after you walked out of the cinema?
Joyland is one of those movies. Directed by Saim Sadiq, it’s easily one of the best works of art Pakistan has produced.
One of the things I loved about it was how multifaceted some of the characters were. There were no heroes or mustache-twirling villains, and nothing was portrayed as black or white, which makes sense because most things in life aren’t so straightforward either.
But what is the movie about?
Well, it’s about desire, suppression, and despair.
It’s about a bunch of people in a patriarchal household who have had to settle for lives they didn’t want to live.
It’s about a vibrant, young woman who’s surrounded by people who snuff out her fiery spirit.
It’s about a man who isn’t traditionally masculine and is ridiculed for being the way he is.
It’s about a trans starlet trying to rise up in a society that hasn’t given her any room to exist with dignity and peace.
It’s about an old widow who’s reprimanded and judged for wanting to be loved.
It’s about patriarchal norms that force people to either implode or explode.
In two hours, the movie dealt with nuanced themes and complex characters with incredible finesse.
Once the credits rolled and the screen went blank, the glaring lights shone from above. Moviegoers slowly trickled out of their aisles and flowed out of sight.
Meanwhile, I was sitting beside my friend in the auditorium. For a moment, we just stared straight ahead in silence. We were trying to absorb what we had seen. And as we walked toward the exit, our discussions about the characters and themes began. Heck, I’m still thinking about it even though it’s been ten hours since I got home.
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the controversy around the film.
Unfortunately, there’s a ton of it.
Joyland’s debut in Pakistan was tumultuous to say the least. People split into two camps: those for it and those against it.
Swathes of people slandered the movie before it was released. They also urged the government and regulatory bodies to ban it for being “highly objectionable” and “immoral”.
The movie was banned a week before it was set to debut in Pakistan. Luckily, Joyland’s cast, crew and supporters pushed back, and on November 13 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released this statement:
The public outcry helped reverse the ban. A few details were censored and the movie hit theaters on November 18.
But all is not well because Joyland has not enjoyed a nationwide rollout. A few cinemas have even taken it down out of fear of public backlash.
I think local hardliners are repulsed by Joyland because they have misunderstood the message. In the movie, some characters make terrible decisions, but their actions aren’t framed in a positive light. For example, conservatives believe that the movie promotes the idea of extramarital affairs, but that is completely false. Unfortunately, most of these people have formed an opinion without even seeing the content.
Others believe that the movie promotes homosexual relationships (it doesn’t). This baseless opinion has also become a major roadblock to the movie’s rollout in Pakistan (an Islamic country, filled with hardliners, where homosexuality is outlawed).
At the end of the day, Joyland holds up a mirror to society, forcing us to take a hard look at the festering problems towering behind thinly-veiled notions of norms.
There is this one tiny thing that’s bothering me though. In the movie, there’s a wheelchair-bound man who suddenly doesn’t need a wheelchair anymore…? So, yeah, that was weird.
To sum up, Joyland explores desire, gender roles, and identity in Pakistan. In the future, I’d love to see Pakistani media explore the nuances of asexuals and aromantics. These groups are underrepresented in American media, too. I don’t watch much content from other regions, so I can’t say if that’s how things are everywhere else.
If you know of some shows and movies that do touch on these groups in a meaningful way, let me know.
Thanks for reading and be sure to watch Joyland if you are able to.
Cover photo by Valeriia Harbuz
Words with a View 