:: Monday, May 12, 2003 ::

Friday 9th May – Scene List

SCENES/ STORIES so far…

1. Beirut airport
Young Lebanese/Australian boy (Mohammed) arrives at airport in Beirut on holiday from where he lives in Australia. As his passport is checked, the airport clerk realizes that the young man has Lebanese citizenship and he is over eighteen. He pronounces that he must do compulsory army service and he is immediately sent to Army camp from the airport. He is stuck in the army for two weeks doing service, until a letter from Australia is sent proving that he has work commitments in Sydney, and his life has been built there. He is allowed to leave, and he returns to Sydney.

2. In a university lecture theatre
A lecturer at university is giving a presentation about the aftermath of September 11 in the U.S.A. One student shouts derogatory and racist abuse, saying things like, "bloody dirty Muslims, filthy Arab terrorists". One of the other students (Susan) in the class is from an Arabic background and she stands up and shouts back at the guy hurling abuse. She says things like, "How would you know… have you ever met an Arab… don’t believe all the crap you see on the news…. have you ever picked up the Koran and read it…. do you know anything about Islam".

3. On a train heading for Western Sydney
A young Lebanese/Australian woman is riding on a train back home. She sits opposite two men, who are staring at her, and in Arabic they are mouthing off how gorgeous she is and obscenities like, how much they’d love to ‘give her one’. They are basically looking at her as a sexual object, thinking that she can’t understand what their saying. Little did they know that she understood every word, but she waited until she was just about to get off the train and she stood directly in front of them, turned around and started singing in Arabic as she belly danced for them.

4. At a Bulldogs football match
Matuse stands in front of a guy of Anglo appearance, both cheering their team on, "Go doggy’s, Go". The Anglo looking boy throws his hand down in disappointment because of the way the footy match is going. As he throws his hand down something falls out and hits Matuse on the back of the foot. Matuse turns around in anger and says, "What did you throw that at me for". The other guy immediately apologises and Matuse realizes it was an accident. Things are immediately cool between them. However, before they even have the chance to talk to one another, three police officers approach. Two of them jump on Matuse, pushing him to the ground, and the other police officer merely stands beside the ‘other’ guy. The audience is left questioning here…who is the ‘other’ guy? Matuse makes every effort to explain that there was no trouble and the scuffle the police may have seen between him and the ‘other’ guy was all a misunderstanding that has been sorted. The police refuse to listen to him, repeatedly saying… "Shut your mouth, we don’t want to hear a word from you".
After holding him down with force, hands held behind his back for a prolonged period of time, they escorted him out of the football stadium. Why? Matuse is bewildered as to why he gets pinned down, verbally abused and humiliated in front of an entire stadium of people for doing absolutely nothing wrong… and the ‘other’ guy who initiated the whole saga is left standing and untouched. Matuse feels that it’s all about appearances!

5. – Being pulled over by the cops
Matuse told us of his experiences being pulled over by the cops…. "When the police pull us over, like a car full of me and my mates and there is only one copper, he won’t act. If there’s two coppers, forget it, they’ll pull us all out of the car, harass us and even possibly try so hard to find a reason to arrest us".

6. From Ahmad’s house to the Centre link office
Ahmad is asleep in his bedroom and his mum comes in and wakes him up, screaming in Arabic, "Get out of bed, you lazy ass, get yourself together and let’s go to Centrelink". Ahmad refuses because he dreads going to Centrelink, but he is forced to get dressed and go with his mother to Centrelink in Bankstown. They arrive at Centrelink, and at the counter, Ahmad is only interested in picking up the customer service officer. His mother is screaming at him to get some money, so she can buy food because he eats so much that she can’t keep up with him… it’s intense but hilarious because all Ahmad wants to do is take the girl behind the counter home or go and eat.

7. In Amanda’s living room
Amanda has just been given a new Persian cat. She is at home and walks into her bedroom, leaving her new cat sitting on the lounge for a minute. In that minute she’s gone, her brother in law’s sister walks in without taking notice of the cat. She has her back turned to the lounge and sits down. As she sits, Amanda enters lounge room again and screams, "Oh my god, you sat on my cat…. Get up, get up…you just sat on my cat…" Her brother’s sister-in-law kills the cat and until today, Amanda has not spoken to her as a result of the accident.

8. In Cronulla at a hip-hop contest
Nomise rings up a community radio station to enter a hip-hop contest. He does his thing and wins a place at a live hip-hop battle, set to go off in Cronulla the following Saturday. Nomise rocks up to the event taking note of the fact that the entire crowd and contestants are ‘Aussies’. He says, "We were the only Lebs there man". It’s his turn up on stage. He gets up after a stream of ‘Aussie’ rappers (white guys), and kicks freestyle about how all the white boy rappers suck. He was rapping in a tasteful way and after all it was supposed to be a battle, so he thought it was O.K. to ‘dis’ the opposition, "I reckon they didn’t want to hear what I had to say, you know because I was Leb. I thought that it was a battle so I was giving it to them". Within minutes he was boo-ed off stage but he stayed up there and finished his set, just to show them that the, "boys from Bankstown can do it too".

9. At work with Youssef
Youssef’s boss sends him to get him some lunch and a bottle of Coke. Youssef goes and comes back with the order. His boss opens the bottle of Coke and it fizzes up filling his lap. He immediately abuses Youssef and accuses him of shaking the bottle so it would splatter all over his boss. Youssef denies it because he did not do that, and his boss asks him….. "Where do you from again?" Youssef answers, "Lebanon"… and his boss mumbles under his breath saying, "Yeh I thought so", implying that he’s a troublemaker.

10. Fatima’s house
Fatima is indecisive about breaking up with her "psycho" boyfriend. She calls a friend and asks for advice, and they agree that she should break up with him because he is "too crazy". Fatima calls her boyfriend and tells him it’s over, because he’s too crazy, temper is bad and she’s over it. Her boyfriend gets abusive and yells at her for telling him he is crazy. He goes to her house and knocks at the door demanding to see her. Her brother opens the door and asks, "where is she, I know she’s in there". The brother tells him she isn’t home and he pretends to leave accepting that she’s not there. The boyfriend comes back a few minutes later and goes to the side of the house shouting up to her bedroom…"I know you’re in there…come down now". The girl doesn’t come down. The boyfriend fires a gun shot up at the window.

11. At Bankstown Square and back of Mohammed’s house
Mohammed goes into a shoe store in Bankstown Square and buys a pair of brand spunky new shoes. It is made a point that the shop assistant who serves him is gay. Mohammed takes his new shoes off at home and leaves them outside. The next-door neighbors dog eats one of his shoes overnight. Mohammed and his neighbor engage in a screaming match.

12. Matuse and a mate Aladdin drive their car into the car park at KFC, both very stoned. Matuse goes into the KFC store, and asks the shop assistant for chocolate mousse. The shop assistant tells him, "Sorry, we are out of stock". Matuse falls into a fit of laughter and yells abuse at the shop assistant…"What do mean you haven’t got any stock….you’re a faggot and tell your manager he’s a faggot too". As Matuse leaves, the shop assistant mumbles under her breath…"stupid Lebo’s". Matuse goes back to his car where his mate Aladdin is waiting to tell him that there is no chocolate mousse. Aladdin doesn’t believe him so he goes into the KFC store himself to ask. Aladdin gets the same answer from the shop assistant and he yells the same abuse that Matuse did…"Tell your manager he’s a poofter and tell her the colonel is a poofter too". As Aladdin walks out of the store, the shop assistant calls the police and complains hat there are two young men causing trouble in her store.
The boys take off and as they drive off around the corner, there is a scuffle between two guys on the side of the road. They notice that there are cops tailing them and they become nervous and flustered. The guys on the side of the road are pushing one another and arguing about a football math that they where just at. One of them is really drunk and he falls into the middle of the road in front of Matuse and Aladdin’s car. Matuse and Aladdin are focused on cops tailing them and get a huge shock when the guy falls onto the road and they swerve onto the wrong side of the road. The police sirens go off and they are about to get pulled over…

13. At Julies house
Julie is at home in her lounge room and the phone rings. It’s her ‘Kholti’ (Aunty) from Lebanon. The two of them have a conversation in Arabic and her Aunty keeps asking for Julie’s mother. Julie senses there’s something wrong and is suspicious that something has happened to her sick grandfather in Lebanon. Her Aunty breaks the news and Julie bursts into a heap of tears. She calls her friend Ahmad, because they had planned to go to a peace march together that afternoon. When she breaks the news to him and she bursts into tears again, he tells her not to worry and he would be at her place in a flash to comfort her. Ahmad arrives at Julies as quick as a flash and holds her.

14. In a café where Elissar meets her boyfriend
Elissar sits down next to a stranger in a café. She immediately grabs his attention. They both read the paper. The stranger is giving Elissar ‘the eye’, and he asks her if she wants to switch sections of the paper. Elissar takes this as a cue to begin discussion about the way the media is reporting on the Iraqi war, and how she so strongly disagrees with the war on Iraq. She engages in conversation about how negative stereotypes about the Arabic community are created because of the type of news reporting that she has in front of her. This prompts the stranger to ask her where she’s from and she says, I’m an Arab. She asks him where he’s from and he answers, I’m Jewish. She pauses in shock, and he waits for a response. Elissar gets up and leaves. Elissar reveals at the end of the scene that this guy is actually her boyfriend now.

SMS STORIES– TJ asked group to perform a scene about the best or most recent SMS they received.

SMS 1– Hey bitch it’s my birthday Saturday night, make sure you and Johnno come.
Youssef gets this SMS and calls the guy who sent it. He tells the guy that he and Johnno will be at the party. Youssef calls Johnno to tell him about the party and Johnno says… "We can’t go you gronk, we’ve got the fishing trip". Youssef remembers and curses…. "But I told him that we would both be there".
Youssef keeps Johnno on the line and hooks up a three-way conversation with Mohammed. The three of them talk together about what they will do. Johnno says, "We’ve booked the boat and everything". Youssef agrees. Mohammed is angry because they are even considering not going to his party. Johnno senses anger and asks, "Is there going to be chicks and lollies and stuff?" When the answer is… "Yeh waddya reckon", Johnno and Youssef agree that they’ll ditch the fishing trip and go to Mohammed’s party.

SMS 2 – Time to meet has changed for today
It’s 2am. Matuse is in bed next to his brother, asleep. His phone beeps loud when the SMS arrives from his mate Anthony. The beep wakes the whole house and startles Matuse. His brother yells, "Oh fuck bro, which slut is SMS’ing you at 2:00 in the morning". His mother comes tearing into the room and pulls him up by the ear, shouting abuse in Arabic… "You’re a naughty boy"…. "What the hell is that beep"…. "I have to get up to work at 7am and you are playing with your bloody phone"…. "What are you up to?" Matuse tries to tell her that it’s his alarm. His mother becomes even more enraged and takes the phone from him, sending him back to sleep.

SMS 3 – It’s been 3 years I’ve been in here and I still love you
Nomise is in jail yelling at the prison warden, "I want my one phone call… let me make my fuckin phone call". The prison warden denies him the call and shouts at him… "Shut the fuck up you bloody wog". Nomise sneaks a mobile phone from one of his inmates in the cell next door. He sends this SMS to Amanda, who is sitting in a café in Bankstown with her two girlfriends. Amanda receives it and says to her friends… "Oh my god its my ex-Ali in jail"……he says he loves me…what should I say?"
Her friends answer…"Oh my god he is trouble, don’t SMS him back". Amanda decides to SMS back the words ‘O.K.’ Nomise receives the message and immediately loses his temper, throwing a chair, screaming "What the fuck does O.K. mean?"

SMS 4 – Hey baby, it’s me from DCM nightclub
Ahmad and a mate are sitting in a university lecture. Ahmad’s mate is telling him about this hot chick he met at DCM on Saturday night and how he got her number. Ahmad demands that his mate gives him the number because he wants to SMS her and pretend that he is his mate. He does and his phone rings in class. It’s the girl asking him who the hell he is and why he is SMS’ing her. The university lecturer approaches and demands that he leave the lecture theatre because phone are not to be brought onto campus.

CAR STORIES – TJ asked group to come up with one story that involves a car.

1. Mona (she’s playing a guys role) is driving from Bankstown to Brighton with his mate Doha. Another mate Ahmad and his girlfriend (Elissar) are in the backseat gazing into one another’s eyes. As they drive, Mona is making fun of Ahmad calling him a ‘pussy’ because he met his girlfriend on the internet and now hew wants to marry her and have kids. They arrive in Brighton and as they drive down the promenade, Mona shouts remarks out the window at girls passing by like…"Hey sexy, give me your number". They stop the car and Mona wants Ahmad to go with him and his other mate to see some other friends, but he asks him to ditch the girlfriend. Ahmad refuses and leaves his mates to stay with his girlfriend. Mona gets angry and walks off cursing Ahmad for choosing his girlfriend over his mates.

2. Youssef is at home playing his playstation and he hears the ice-cream truck coming down the street. His mum is yelling at him in Arabic, telling him to get of his ass and do something constructive. He runs out of the house and into the street to wait for the truck to arrive. He orders an ice cream but doesn’t have enough money. He asks the driver to wait as he runs back inside to get money from his mother. The driver mumbles under his breath…"Oh bloody wog kids". Youssef comes back with the money and gets his ice cream.

3. Ahab takes his two children with him to shop for a brand new car. At the auction yard, the kids argue about which car they want and nag their father…"I want this one….no that one’s better". He sends them off with some money to buy a can of coke. He makes a deal with the salesman on a black 94 model BMW M3, and tells him he wants to buy it. The auction starts and he bids for the BMW, and there is lots of interest from other buyers but he doesn’t let it go. He buys the car for $80,000.

4. Matuse, Anthony and Abdul are in a car and they driving quite fast. Abdul is the driver. Abdul looses control of the car suddenly and they crash into something on the side of the road. There is no one around to witness the crash. Anthony falls out of the car and is injured badly. The boys panic and become flustered. Matuse immediately switches into the role of the leader and starts giving orders. Abdul is freaking out because, he doesn’t have insurance and he won’t be able to pay for his mates injury or the car damage. The car is still drivable, so Matuse orders Abdul to get back into the car and drive to Punchbowl. Matuse stays on the scene with Anthony, trying to comfort him. He calls an ambulance and tells them there has been a hit and run accident and his mate is injured badly. Matuse tells Anthony that they will pretend it was a hit and run and to make sure he’s got the story straight when they ask him what happened. Matuse meticulously checks the scene for any evidence and gets rid of it… Ambulance arrives and it’s all over.

THEMES/ISSUES that stand out so far….
Fast food hang-outs
Car culture
Connection to Homeland
Racism
Breeding of stereotypes
Education
Exotification of Arab women
Racial profiling
Police racism
Sport
Violence
Guns
Family relationships
Communication between parents and children
Language barriers
Employment/ unemployment
The expectations of Arab parents to make their children ‘the perfect model of the good Arab son or daughter’
Death
Hip-hop culture
Workplace racism
The difficulties of relationships between young girls and guys
Gender stereotypes
Relationships between neighbors/ ‘village’ mentality
Value of Friendship
Models of respect
Activism
Nightclub culture
Reality of having friends/ family in prison

:: Patrick 5.02 PM [+] :: ...