Josh Dockser
Paper #5 – Mississippi Masala
Carol Wilkinson
4/18/09
A Love Filled Barbeque
Love at first sight. Many dispute the existence of such a concept. They claim that no one can truly love someone the very first time that they encounter them. They say that at first sight there can be only lust not love. They say that it takes time to get to know someone and love their personality as well as their appearance in order for what a couple has to be deemed love. In Mississippi Masala, the relationship between Demetrius and Mina is full of love, but was this love at first sight or did their love develop from time spent together? In order to determine this, certain pivotal scenes in the movie need to be analyzed including the first time that each of them saw the other, the early scenes when they spend time together, and the scenes when they actually start to physically show their love. These scenes, and the ways that they act around each other, lead to the conclusion that their relationship didn’t begin with love at first sight for either of them, but in fact they fell in love at the barbeque at Demetrius’ house.
The first time that Mina and Demetrius see each other is when Mina crashes her car into the back of Demetrius’ van. In many other movies or books, this would be exactly the kind of random event that would lead to a love at first sight situation between the two people involved in the crash. However, this movie doesn’t allow that to happen. Mina and Demetrius merely exchange their insurance information, which is no more significant than exchanging greetings. They say fewer than ten words to each other, none of which were any more tender that Demetrius saying “you alright?” Someone could argue that this question into her health and the way he seemed to look at her could indicate that he was piqued by her appearance though not much more than that. There’s no way that he could love her and her personality based on the fact that she just...