In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Polite Society, we answer questions you have about the movie. If you’re curious about plot explanations, meanings, themes, lessons, motifs, symbols, or just confused by something, ask and we’ll do our best to answer.
Cast
- Ria Khan – Priya Kansara
- Lena Khan – Ritu Arya
- Fatima Khan – Shobu Kapoor
- Rafe Khan – Jeff Mirza
- Raheela – Nimra Bucha
- Salim – Akshay Khanna
- Clara – Seraphina Beh
- Alba – Ella Bruccoleri
- Kovacs – Shona Babayemi
- Eunice Huthart – Eunice Huthart
- Written by – Nida Manzoor
- Directed by – Nida Manzoor
Polite Society | Questions and Answers
Is Eunice Huthart a real person?
Yes! It’s an interesting career start. There was that show called American Gladiators. Eunice won a British version that was simply called Gladiators. For a couple of years, she competed in a bunch of events put on by Gladiators. She even briefly became one of the gladiators that challenged the contestants. All of that led to her joining the stunt team for GoldenEye. She became one of the A-list stuntwomen in Hollywood. One of the wildest facts is that Eunice is actually the godmother of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. For about the last decade, she’s worked primarily as a stunt coordinator, most recently on Marvel’s Eternals.
Why did Raheela and Salim choose Lena?
There is a sci-fi element to Polite Society. Salim believes he can clone his mother. Why would he want to do this? Because she sacrificed the bulk of her adult life to take care of him. So the idea is Clone Raheela would get to live the life Real Raheela couldn’t. It seems, though, that it’s not easy to carry a clone baby to term. They’ve tried before and it didn’t work, resulting in the passing of Salim’s first wife.
So they’ve concocted some advanced tech to determine womb strength and ability to successfully bear a clone baby. Of all the women that came to the Eid Mubarak soirée, Lena, according to the program, was by far the top candidate.
Isn’t the plan a bit weird?
Kind of. Real Raheela will not live this new life. Her consciousness won’t transfer to the clone. They will be two separate people. The clone will just look exactly like Raheela. But whatever opportunities and successes the clone has won’t be Raheela’s. I guess she could have that vicarious satisfaction of watching “herself” live this different life. But there’s no guarantee how much Raheela will actually get to see. And by the time the clone has graduated college and gets to pursue a passion, start a career, do the things that Raheela didn’t get to do…how old will Raheela be?
Given how little Raheela actually gets from this, it is weird how adamant she is about it.
Does Lena go back to art school?
It’s purposefully left open-ended. Lena represents a chapter in life many people have to experience: the tension between dreams and reality. When we’re kids and teenagers, we begin to imagine what we want to do when we grow up. Be a baseball player? A politician? A lawyer? A doctor? A musician? A stuntperson? An artist?
But then you have your first year of law school. Or medical school. You have a coach who makes a sport miserable rather than fun. You move to Nashville and try to get some gigs. You move to Hollywood and do a bunch of auditions. Whatever it is, you realize you actually hate it. The day to day things you have to do to make this dream a reality are frustrating, taxing, and leave you sad.
That’s Lena. As much as she loved art. However good she was at it. The reality has her down in the dumps rather than energized and inspired. So. She quits.
Her arc isn’t about art school and being an artist. It’s about being comfortable with letting go of the first dream in order to discover the second. But having to deal with, as part of that process, the urge to give over to what polite society expects of you. “Just get a job and get married and settle down.” You don’t have to cling to a dream you’ve outgrown. And moving past that doesn’t make you a failure that has no other options.
Why does Kovacs help Ria?
Even though Kovacs bullies Ria, it seems there’s a degree of respect between them. Especially after the huge fight they have at school. Kovacs won but Ria didn’t make it easy. It’s a weird way to bond, but it’s still a bonding experience. And we learn that Kovacs is actually a very lonely person. Her father is never around. So one of the reasons she bullies Ria is probably out of jealousy over Ria having such close friends in Clara and Alba. Of course, the ostensible reason Kovacs joins the crew is because the girls promise to help her not fail a class. But the real reason is she wants to be part of the group.
What questions do you have?
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