#ria khan

[iloveboosters]

Priya Kansara as Ria Khan in Polite Society (2023) dir. Nida Manzoor

[obori-reisuke]

👊

[t0asterbra1n]

desi little sister who knows her sibling's fiance is evil but no one believes her until the end trope

[fallenrocket]

One thing I absolutely love about Polite Society is how the fight choreography, score, sound design, cinematography, and more serve both the protagonist and the progression of the plot. All of these elements are the film aren't just cool aesthetic choices. They're reflective of how Ria processes her entire life through the lens of an action movie. It's her life that has smash cuts, slow-mo during her sickest moves, and dramatic close-ups. The score we hear is her own internal soundtrack--I loooooove the scene where the score ramps up with so much tension when Ria learns that Lena and Salim are engaged, only for the music to drop completely as we get the other characters' view of this extra-ass girl's reaction to this news. This movie is Ria's world.

And because Ria is imaginative, obsessive, and dramatic, we don't know how reliable of a narrator she is. I have no idea how much of any given fight in the movie actually happens. Does Kovacs really grab her leg in midair and swing her into the trophy case? Does Lena really smash her face repeatedly into the glass of a framed picture? Do the other wedding guests really become an army of henchpeople for Ria and her allies to take out? Not a clue.

This means that, when Ria suspects that Salim is up to no good and vows to stop him at all costs, it's easy to assume that it's not really true. This could've been a story about a teenage girl with an overactive imagination wanting to "save" her older sister from marriage because she's afraid of losing her. It could've been a story about a teenage girl with big improbable goals refusing to accept that her older sister is getting married, because if Lena "gives up" her dream of being an artist, what does that say about Ria's dream of becoming a stuntwoman? And to be sure, those themes are definitely in the film. But it could've easily been a story where Ria needs to learn that she's created an imaginary threat that she can kick around and beat up because she's scared to face the more grounded reality of the emotions she's experiencing.

The stylistic choices in the film already get us halfway there. We're primed to sympathize with Ria and root for her, but not necessarily to accept her views as objective reality. We see how she magnifies things, cinematizes them, injects everything around her with drama and heightened stakes. And so, speaking for me personally, it's such a trip to realize that Raheela and Salim do have an evil plan, that Ria's distrust in them and over-the-top meddling/snooping pay off. Furthermore, once Ria learns the truth (along with the audience,) her wildly imaginative nature makes it harder for others to believe her and easier for Raheela to undermine her. Of course Ria is just getting carried away again, of course Salim doesn't have a secret lab where he's performing reproductive experiments on potential brides, of course Raheela didn't threaten Ria while she was having her legs waxed. Silly girl!

It's just so masterful, the way almost every element in the film works together--first to let us inside Ria's head and show us who she is, then to misdirect from the twist, and finally to back Ria into a corner as people refuse to believe her. Absolutely chef's kiss!

It's a bummer that we had to wait so long to get season 2 of We Are Lady Parts, but without the long hiatus, I'm not sure we would've gotten Polite Society, so I can live with it.

[liveactionproblematicotd]

Today’s problematic ship is Ria Khan and Lena Khan from Polite Society

Sister/sister incest

Requested by Anonymous

[fictionandescapism]

The thing about brown teenage girl protagonists is that they make me sob every time. Like what do you mean you have all these emotions and you don't know what to do with them and you love so hard but you're doing it all wrong. Please just let me hug you.

[lolotheparasphere]

Post 10 of your fave female characters and what that says about you

[spacephobos]

POLITE SOCIETY

pls pls PLEASE go watch this movie. It's INCREDIBLE.