Reflection: No Look Pass
With the number of rules and regulations in the sports world relating to doping, athletes’ conduct, and behavior, we have witnessed the falling of many athletes from grace. With the story of Emily “Etay” Tay, it is a promising story. Etay portrays the image of an upcoming and promising young basketball player who is determined to make it in her life as a professional athlete against all the odds (Castillo, 2013). As the subject of Melissa Johnson’s documentary, “No Look Pass,” Etay is portrayed as a young female adult who, despite having to deal with the regular challenges that young female adults go through, she has to fight the stereotype that is part of her society.
One of the areas where Etay struggles a lot with is language. Even though Etay and her brother practically grew up in the united states, their parents immigrated from Burma. Therefore, her father is the only other member of her family who seems to be comfortable in conversing in English, while her mother struggles (Castillo, 2013). This brings a massive strain between Etay and her mother as they cannot communicate properly.
Throughout the documentary, Etay is seen to struggle with her identity. The fact that she is Asian affects the way she interacts with her peers on campus as well as how they see her on the pitch. In one of the scenes in the documentary, Etay explains how she finds it difficult to fit her campus life and mingle with her peers. Additionally, her identity as an Asian girl forms the basis of a majority of discrimination that she faces both within her team and in the rival teams (Li, 2017). The pressure on her identity is so intense that in one of the scenes, she wishes she was white (Castillo, 2013). To find out her true identity, coupled with her dream of traveling the world, she signs with a German professional basketball team and moves to Germany. However, things there are not as different as they are in the U.S.
Finally, another area where Etay struggles with is her culture and how it constrains her from being who she is. Her culture, as it was back in her parent’s country of origin, requires women to stay at home and take care of the children while the husband, who is the head, is the main breadwinner (Brittani, 2011). This culture is deeply engraved in her mother’s mind to the extent where Etay states that her mother is determined to find her a husband. In addition to that, she cannot come out to her conservative parents as being a lesbian since they would never approve of it. Therefore, culture is a significant drawback in her life, and she tries her best to overcome it, even if it means moving to Germany.
References
Brittani, N. (2011). Lesbian Basketball Documentary “No Look Pass” at Outfest. Autostraddle. Retrieved from https://www.autostraddle.com/lesbian-basketball-documentary-no-look-pass-at-outfest/
Castillo, M. (2013). Movie Review: No Look Pass. Paste Media Group. Retrieved from https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/no-look-pass/.
Li, X. (2017). Queering Identity or Identifying Queerness?—RethinkingAsian American LGBTQ Representation in Cinema (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo).