Monday Read 4: High Octane Cost Of Freedom

"BJL" (simplifyandaddlightness)
05/05/2014 at 10:08 • Filed to: Monday read, Oppo, Millionaire, London, Racers, Hoon

!!! UNSUPPORTED LINE BREAK IN HEADER !!!

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mil…

In the documentary Millionaire Boy Racers of London in HD, as presented by Channel 4 on LiveLeak, the tension between London residents and Arab tourists is showcased. For one month out of the year, the rich young men of Arabia go to London to flaunt their wealth and gain freedom from their conceivably strict religion. Many Arabians see it as their one time to do what they want before they get married. Once they are grown and married, they need to focus completely on business. However, their culture teaches them to do whatever they want to while they are young. Their parents make it possible because once the children have done what they want, they will be no longer distracted as adults. The culture believes that this loss of distraction makes the men more dedicated to their work later in life. This final hurrah takes place in London suburbs due to lax importation laws and an open culture. The problem for the residents is that while the Arabs spend their days flaunting wealth and wreaking havoc, their lives as they regularly exist in the city are interrupted. Engine noise and dangerous driving can be found everywhere in the month long period. One resident, Mrs. Thomas, leads the fight to end the so called nuisance which engulfs her home city. By exploring the Arabian aspect as well as the resident aspect of the issue through numerous interviews with both locals and Arabian tourists, the documentary presents both sides of the problem well which leads to a strong and seemingly indisputable conclusion. The documentary concludes that as long as there are places for sale in a place with a high standard of living, wealthy people will move in and enjoy life regardless of nationality.

In order to find out how this situation came about, the documentary focused on an Arabian man who chose to go to London with his car. In one specific scene, when he gets to the city, he is able to clearly describe why he chose to visit. He says that London was the only place where he is free. In Kuwait, he is controlled by overbearing rules and laws that restrict his life in every way. The people of Great Britain seem to take for granted all of the rights that the Rashid wants to enjoy. Rashid is able to explain that this trip is all that he gets. It is one of the only times in his life that he has the opportunity to be free. He explains that he would soon be married to someone due to an arranged marriage, and that his trips to London would most likely be cut short so that he could focus more on business. By providing the audience with this real life implications that Rashid acknowledges, the audience can better understand where the man is coming from. Every time that Rashid revs the engine and speeds down the street is a memory for him. It was him seizing his one shot of being free. This scene is able to explain the actions of the Arabian tourists in London, and that is one of the largest questions that the residents have.

In an effort to curb the noise and nuisance in the city, the cops start to pull over many motorists who drive exotic cars. Rashid is one of those people who gets pulled over, and after showing a proof of insurance that the policeman is not so persuaded about, his car gets impounded. Even after, when he does provide the correct paper to the officer, the officer tells him that the car was already seized and must go to the lot even though the tow truck hadn't even arrived. A resident looks on at the spectacle and seems to agree with the police officer. The resident believes that the nuisance should be stopped, and that if there is any charge in the book that can be found, it should be charged. However, another onlooker, a so called "carparatzi", looks on in disbelief. The carparatzi is just a kid who hopes to make enough dough to quit his pizzeria job. The kid realizes that the Arabian driver had not really done anything wrong. He argues that if a driver of European origin was pulled over in a normal car, nothing would have happened. He says plainly that the actions by the policeman was a result of stereotyping. This scene is effective in showing that the public can be too quick to judge. The scene shows that the Arabians must be first understood and then looked at in the large picture because their economic impact in Great Britain far outweighs their petty offenses.

In the final leg of the documentary, the two opposing sides sum up everything that they had learned at the end of the "supercar season". The London opposition group argues that the city is really only habitable for 10 months out of the year. For a few weeks, the inhabitants are plagued with loud cars at nights and a constant noise from an engine. However, what is said by Rashid cannot be ignored. Rashid says that he wishes not to leave London. He says that he learned his lesson, and that he learned to be quieter. By the end of his visit, he made sure to enforce his own curfew. He learned that the people of London are nice people and that his car shouldn't disrupt their peace. What must be contrived from that thought is that these young men only drive in London for a couple seasons. They learn to be quiet in London only after experiencing a season there. Most only go to london once to have fun, and that means that a majority of the Arabian drivers there are first time tourists, meaning that they do not know the expectations. The whole problem is just the result of a little power that is given and misused by the Arabian youth. It may not be noticeable in the same form for every culture, but regardless, every culture has kids who abuse their new found responsibility. By showing this growth in character in the documentary, the primary purpose of showing the economic implications of Arabian tourism can be understood.

The documentary is able to effectively show the impact of Arabian supercar drivers, as well as the results of their wealth. The documentary shows a lot of evidence by showcasing numerous interviews taken with people from both ends of the spectrum. However, one important segment of the spectrum is not well explored. If a store owner was to be questioned with regard to supercar season, the documentary would have been able to show without doubt the economic relief associated with the Arabians. The questions posed in the interviews are not at all biased, as it seemed to loosely build so that the viewer could determine their own opinions on the topic. The real point of the documentary is only expressed in the final minute of the presentation where it is stated that London needs the Arabians in order to gain wealth that is much needed in the area. The documentary truly leaves no stone untouched as all questions that can be asked by an inquirer can be answered during a short viewing of the documentary. However, with that influx of information comes a small problem. Not all of the information builds toward their topic, resulting in a real loss of reason for the documentary. The unbiased determination of which information to include in the video resulted in the audience having all of the information so that they could choose their opinion as to if the Arabians are positively or negatively impacting London. It is stressed at the end of the documentary that the event is enjoyed by some people who live there, and the result of the six week period allows London to prosper in spite of an economic downturn. With that in mind, one can still ponder some of the larger questions that become apparent due to the documentary. The piece brings up the question if the housing market should be regulated in such a way to keep certain groups of people in determined rates living within a city. However, if homes can only be bought by a certain demographic of people, we, as humans, must question if we are truly moving toward a goal of a free market.

Work Cited

Millionaire Boy Racers of London in HD. Channel 4. Live Leak, 2014. Web. 2 March 2014.

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week, couldn't find much to insert. Next week is a huge research paper on autonomous cars, so get ready.

DISCUSSION (3)

Anon > BJL
05/05/2014 at 10:20

Wow, I think that's the first time I've ever seen a works cited section on an oppo post!

For Sweden > BJL
05/05/2014 at 10:27

Post can be into good, but maybe into paragraphs?

Hey Julie > BJL
05/05/2014 at 10:39

These people complain about "wreaking havoc" but from the rest of the article I get the impression that all they do is drive loud cars in an asshole manner? I live on the edge of the bad part of town and I hear ricer exhaust, straight piped beaters, burnouts and gunshot all night. Is it that big a deal?