Alternative Cosmopolitanisms in the Metropolis

Abstract

In Stephen Frears’ 2002 film, Dirty Pretty Things, set among illegal and other forms of contingent labor in London, there is a short but significant scene between the two protagonists, the Nigerian Okwe (Chiwetal Ejiofor) and the Turkish Senay (Audrey Tatou), who meet working at the same London hotel and become (platonic) roommates. In this scene, Okwe prepares dinner for the two of them, leading Senay to ask whether “in Africa, it is the man who will cook and clean?” Later, as the two eat their dinner, Okwe wonders about the Muslim Senay’s decision to drink wine, to which she responds that she does “not want to live like [her] mother.” This conversation takes place in the two-room apartment over the top of a grocery store that the two share. This scene—like much of the film—emphasizes the close quarters of metropolitan life for marginalized subjects—whether for legal, racial, or economic reasons. This conversation demonstrates the ongoing negotiation undertaken by Okwe and Senay, brought about by necessity, that leads them to question and challenge both their accepted views of their and others’ cultural origins and their immediate reality.A scene like this demonstrates the complicated and contestatory interactions that characterize the interactions across difference that occur in the metropolitan city’s cramped quarters.