Renee Wright 20164475
Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America is a document that was shown at the Kingston Reelout film festival. It depicts the lives of four LGBTQ+ refugees beginning with all arriving in the United States. Subhi, a gay Syrian refugee describes how men in Syria were tortured because of their sexual orientation and how he survived multiple encounters with Islamic terrorists. Cheyenne and Mari are a lesbian couple seeking asylum after escaping Angola, where they faced harassment from their neighbours and families. Finally, Junior, a gay man from the Congo who describes the daily struggles of life including being psychically assaulted due to his sexual orientation.
The documentary focuses on the resettlement of these individuals and the struggles they face along the way. Subhi has a very welcoming host family who greatly support him through the resettlement process. He finds his way as an activist for LGBTQ+ refugees and can speak to the United Nations and bring light to the issues that LGBTQ+ members are facing in various parts of the world. It also shows his struggles of being accepted into society, for example when going to meet his boyfriend’s family who was supporters of Trump and his ani-refugee policies, and his struggles with depression. Cheyenne and Mari go through the lengthy process of trying to achieve asylum status. Through this, they are forced to move to many different apartments and are unable to work. Once they finally are approved, they can step into their new lived and pursue their passion for music. Finally, Junior faces many struggles when adjusting to his new life, his challenges include learning English, entering into the workforce, creating a new social circle, the struggles of dating and men wanting to take advantage of his vulnerability. In the end, he can attend community college and live a more stable life. The documentary does a good job of highlighting the struggles that LGBTQ+ refugees face however key aspects of their journey are left out leading to the documentary not providing the audience with a full understanding of the struggles of LGBTQ+ refugees.
The documentary highlighted the intersectionality of the discrimination that LGBTQ+ refugees face. Intersectionality is the framework of looking at how power systems such as gender race and class interact to create different levels of discrimination. These ideas and frameworks help conceptualize the different levels of discrimination that individuals face daily. It allows us to see how people face discrimination from several different areas of their life and how this multi-level discrimination impacts them[1]. Although this concept is often applied to black women is was very evident through the documentary that these individuals were being discriminated through many angles such as being members of the LGBTQ+, coloured, being refugees and not speaking English in Junior’s case. Through the film, it is highlighted how these factors interact to make the process of establishing themselves in the United States very difficult.
One of the large intersections of discrimination that the documentary highlighted was how these individuals were refugees and members of the LGBTQ+ community and therefore different from other refugees. Most refugees come with families whereas these individuals were escaping their families, therefore, they have no established support system arriving in the United States. The lack of a good support system greatly impacts these individuals as poor support systems are linked to a greater risk of depression, alcohol use and weakened brain function. This is because social support helps individuals cope with stress healthily and positively. The difference can be greatly seen between Subhi and Junior. Subhi had a great host who supported him in finding a job, renting an apartment and even inviting him to family events such as thanksgiving. This support allowed him to be successful in his transition. Whereas Junior had next to no support system and you can see he struggles with this through his housing situation, as he is moved around and spends time in a homeless shelter and dating life with other men taking advantage of his vulnerability and no social network.
One thing that I think the documentary could have done a better job at highlighting was the struggle of first getting into the United States. This process can be extremely difficult and stressful for refugees, for example, in the novel the boy of the Beach the author describes her family’s struggles to be approved by the United Nations as a refugee. These struggles include year-long wait times, not being able to communicate with official and not getting the support they need such as adequate food, water, shelter and safe jobs. I feel although the story was following them once they arrived in the United States it could have also shed more light on how difficult the process of leaving their home country is. This would provide the documentary with a more wholistic summary of the struggles of being an LGBTQ+ refugee.
The documentary did a good job of bringing light to a group that is often kept in the dark. The main refugees that are in the spotlight and talked about in the media and daily life are families with children. It helped to break down the normative view of refugees being families with children. This normatively the idea that individuals make judgements and act on these when these judgments are not the case. This shapes society’s ideals and beliefs and makes it very difficult to oppose these ideas. This is our normative view of refugees; normatively is that they are all one distinct group who face all the same struggles as other refugees. However, the documentary does a good job of highlighting that this is not the case. I had personally never thought about how different refuges have different experiences, and this brought to light how each individual has their struggles especially those of the LGBTQ+ community. This also helps with conscious raising, allowing for topics and concepts to become seen issues and individuals to have a better understanding of them.
Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America does a good job of highlighting the intersectionality of the discrimination that the LGBTQ+ refugee community faces and helps to shed light on issues that are often kept in the dark. By doing this they are participating in conscious risings and breaking down society’s normative views. Although the main party of the journey to the United States was left out creating an incomplete story of how they escaped their pervious lives the overall message of the documentary is very good.
Work Cited
Coleman, Arica L. “What Is Intersectionality? A Brief History of the Theory.” Time, Time, 6 Nov. 2019, time.com/5560575/intersectionality-theory/.
Kurdi, Tima. The Boy on the Beach: My Familys Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home. Simon Et Schuster Canada, 2019.
Cherry, Kendra. “Social Support Is Imperative for Health and Well-Being.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 9 Dec. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/social-support-for-psychological-health-4119970.
Brandt, Jenn, and Sam Kizer. “From Street to Tweet.” Feminist Theory and Pop Culture.
Critical Film Review: Reelout Blog 