Does The Kite Runner: Cultural Criticism

The movie The Kite Runner is based on a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. The movie starts in Kabul, located in Afghanistan, about a boy named Amir. His mother died during birth and his father, Agha Sahib, is a wealthy merchant who Amir thinks blames him for his mother’s death. Hassan, Amir’s loyal servant and best friend, lives on the property with his father, Ali who has served Agha for a long time. Hassan would often defend Amir from local bullies, meanwhile, Amir resented his father for favoring Hassan over him. One day, Amir and Hassan were kite fighting and since they won, Hassan went off to retrieve the kite and Amir went looking for him and found Assef and his friends telling him to give them the kite. Hassan refused so they beat him
Before Amir and Soraya’s wedding, Agha goes to her house to ask the General for her hand in marriage for Amir. Agha later calls Amir to tell him to come over and he and Soraya go on a walk with her mom. The groom and bride are never to be alone, hence why Soraya’s mom is behind them when they’re talking. These are supervised meetings called naamzad baazy. Also, during Amir and Soraya’s wedding, the viewer sees them walking down the aisle with a book called the Quran above their heads with their guests walking behind them. Next, they are sitting down on a couch beginning Aina Moshaf, which is when the coupled is veiled with a shawl and they look at each through a mirror. The mirror symbolizes the first time they see themselves as a married couple. After the wedding is Agha’s funeral, the viewer doesn’t get to see his closest male relatives wash his corpse but it is part of the tradition. Also, a mullah offers prayers to Allah claiming that the dead man was a good Muslim when he was alive. The burial must take place before sundown and if a man dies as night, as hinted in the movie with Agha, he should be buried as soon as possible after