Mississippi Masala: Class, Race, and Diaspora in Mira Nair's Film

Class as a Meta-Narrative in the Romance

One of the most important meta-narratives evidenced in Mississippi Masala — and in daily life, for that matter — revolves around class and the socioeconomic projections that the attainment of material wealth is believed to grant a person. One can argue that the entire basis for the romantic relationship between Meena and Demetrius in the film resulted largely as a direct effect of this meta-narrative.

Although Meena and Demetrius first met at a car accident, it was not until their later encounter at a upscale nightclub that they were able to fully demonstrate the intimacy that would eventually develop into a torrid love affair. The catalyst for this inauspicious beginning was a class conflict that became manifest when Demetrius ran into his former lover Alicia — and her new companion, Sylvester Artiste III. It was apparent from Alicia's perfunctory consideration of Demetrius's current occupation (he was a carpet cleaner) that she considered herself to have outgrown both his affection and his social standing. She was, after all, a singer on her way to "cut a record" in Los Angeles. Reinforcing this dynamic was her new relationship with Sylvester, who wore expensive clothes and held the vaunted title of "record producer" — all of which outclassed Demetrius in both a literal and figurative sense.

The implications of this class meta-narrative were clear. Because Alicia had greater financial security through her career and her new companion, she felt positioned to make Demetrius jealous of her newfound life and to dismiss his affection. This dynamic was not lost on "D-Money," who responded to Alicia's class-based disdain by dancing intimately with Meena — an attempt to provoke Alicia's jealousy that may well have succeeded, while also inviting Meena's feelings to develop toward his own.

Social and Financial Consequences of an Interracial Relationship

Further effects of this class meta-narrative surfaced once Demetrius and Meena's relationship was exposed to their wider communities. Demetrius lost most of his carpet-cleaning clients and faced the loss of his company van and his business itself. When Meena attempted to approach him for the first time since they were forcibly separated by police, Demetrius's anger was fueled by the financial ruin that had overtaken him, lowering his socioeconomic standing virtually overnight.

In this way, the initial effects of the class meta-narrative were not only pivotal in drawing Demetrius and Meena toward each other — they also intersected with, and were shaped by, the film's race and love meta-narratives, forcing both characters into situations they would never have faced had they been more financially secure.

Diaspora Community Insularity and Cultural Preservation

It would be extremely difficult for Meena's family to accept her relationship with Demetrius, in large part because diaspora communities are highly inclusive of their own members and correspondingly exclusive of outsiders. Viewers of Mississippi Masala should note how self-contained the community centered on the Monte Cristo hotel actually was. As Demetrius himself acknowledged at one point, most Indian motels cleaned their own carpets. Meena refused to let him walk her home after their first night at the club precisely because he was an outsider — and would have been perceived as one, preventing him from becoming intimate with the insiders who comprised her diaspora community.

A further reason Meena's family would struggle to accept Demetrius lies in the figuratively insular — though not literally incestuous — nature of displaced communities. Because members of a diaspora have been removed from their indigenous environment, they typically cling as firmly as possible to their native traditions. This tendency is illustrated in Mississippi Masala by the traditional Indian wedding sequence, in which prayers are still offered in the original language. Yet because diaspora communities are inherently small relative to the surrounding society, there is a natural proclivity toward gossip and jealousy, particularly regarding sought-after "assets" such as eligible marriage partners.

Scholars who study diaspora identity formation have noted that this insularity functions as a survival mechanism — a way of preserving cultural memory under the pressures of assimilation. Mississippi Masala dramatizes precisely this tension, placing Meena at its center as a woman caught between her community's expectations and her own desires.