‘Recent
media emphasis on current Muslim identities devalues memory’s capacity to
illuminate the formation and renegotiation of identities’
‘Muslim identities are frequently subsumed under a generic ‘South Asian
identity’ within stereotyped tropes of generational conflict or contrasts
between ‘back home’ and ‘home in Britain’, while specifically Muslim identities
are highlighted only in narratives designating Muslims as ‘problems’
‘everyday
presentation of British Muslims’ memory narrations confronts conceptions of
Muslim identities as defined solely by religion, subverts the constructed
binary between ‘Muslim’ and ‘British’ identities, and suggests the diversity of
identities within a population that is normatively homogenized.’
Citizen Khan – Primary Text
‘Viewers complained that the new BBC1 comedy stereotyped Muslims and insulted
Islam.’
"tasteless
depiction of Islam".
‘Dr Leon Moosavi, a sociologist of race and religion, who specialises on Muslim
communities in Britain, said: “It can be defined as racist because it
reinforced stereotypes that exist about Asians and Muslims to a non-Asian
audience. The constructs are in line with the way racists represent Muslims”’
‘Another,
Sadude, tweeted: “Caked in makeup, a sleeveless top & tight clothes? A
pathetic portrayal of a hijabi. The hijab defines modesty. This isn't it.”’
‘A BBC spokesman said: “New comedy always provokes differing reactions from the
audience and as with all sitcoms, the characters are comic creations and not
meant to be representative of the community as a whole.” The BBC had received
praise from members of the Muslim community, the spokesman added.’
“This could be an Irish family, or a Jewish family or an Italian family,” he
argued. “It doesn’t matter what religion you are or what background, we all
have the same comedy mishaps.’ –Adil Ray
Yousuf
Bhailok, former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the show
was "the best thing the BBC has done recently". He said: "It is
good to change the stereotyped image of Muslims always being serious and
shouting that has appeared so often in the media.”
Muslim
anger at terror plot in TV drama 24;
'We are greatly concerned by the unremittingly hostile and unbalanced portrayal
of Muslims in this series of 24 based upon a preview of the first five episodes
that we have seen,' said Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim
Council of Britain.
'There is not a single positive Muslim character in the storyline to date.
'At
a time when negative stereotypes of Muslims are on the increase we feel that
Sky - as a major UK broad caster - has a responsibility to challenge these
insidious views, not help to reinforce them.'
Homeland is brilliant drama. But does it present a crude image of Muslims?
Research conducted by social scientists in the 1990s in the US examined how
exposure to fictional portrayals of both stereotypes and counter-stereotypes
influenced how credibly a study group of 400 students believed real and
high-profile cases then in the news.
Citizen Khan: who was offended by it, and why?
The jokes about ecclesiastical bureaucracy, parental hypocrisy and teenage
cunning have a target and tone familiar from the genre's previous white British
incarnations. On the evidence of the opening episode, imams will come off no
worse than vicars have in laugh shows of the past, which may be considered a
mark of equality.
Hideously diverse Britain: Are you laughing at me?
The key was collaboration, he says. "I make jokes about everything. And as
a writer you need to be able to take risks. But I worked with a trusted group
who will say, 'This is rubbish' when it is rubbish." Paul used a telling
phrase. You need, he said, to be "respectfully disrespectful". And
never lapse into stereotypes. They might have worked on Mind Your Language in
the 1970s, but they won't in this day and age.
British Muslims, memory and identity: Representations in British film and
television documentary
Recent
media emphasis on current Muslim identities devalues memory’s capacity to
illuminate the formation and renegotiation of identities. In fictional texts
where memories feature, Muslim identities are frequently subsumed under a
generic ‘South Asian identity’ within stereotyped tropes of generational
conflict or contrasts between ‘back home’ and ‘home in Britain’, while
specifically Muslim identities are highlighted only in narratives designating
Muslims as ‘problems’
BBC
receives hundreds of complaints and is accused of insulting Muslims with new
'racist' sitcom Citizen Khan
Viewers complained that the new BBC1 comedy stereotyped Muslims and insulted
Islam.
The
corporation has received more than 200 complaints since the first episode aired
on BBC1 on Monday night.
Some claimed that the series, about a self-appointed community leader in
Birmingham and his family, was a "tasteless depiction of Islam".
The comedy prompted a fierce debate on Twitter. One viewer asked: “Was Citizen
Khan written in 1972? The Pakistani stereotypes are just painful.” Another
wrote: “You guys mocked Islam and weren’t funny.”
Another, Sadude, tweeted: “Caked in makeup, a sleeveless top & tight
clothes? A pathetic portrayal of a hijabi. The hijab defines modesty. This
isn't it.”
A BBC spokesman said: “New comedy always provokes differing reactions from the
audience and as with all sitcoms, the characters are comic creations and not
meant to be representative of the community as a whole.” The BBC had received
praise from members of the Muslim community, the spokesman added.
“This could be an Irish family, or a Jewish family or an Italian family,” he
argued. “It doesn’t matter what religion you are or what background, we all
have the same comedy mishaps. Ray who wrote Citizen Khan
Change and Continuity in the Representation of British
Muslims Before and After 9/11: The UK Context
Muslims’ involvement in deviant activities threatens security in the UK,
Muslims
are a threat to British
mainstream values and thus provoke integrative concerns,
there are inherent
cultural differences between Muslims and the host community
which creates tensions in
interpersonal relations and Muslims are increasingly
making their presence felt
in the public sphere
A reasonably common way to refer to a muslim community is
to describe how many members it has, particularly by using a number followed by
the word strong. Other collocates that denote the size of such communities are
large biggest largest sizeable substantial significant and vast. Further
examination of concordance lines reveals two clear discourse prosodies
surrounding the term Muslim Community. The first occurs with collocates such as
antagonise, offensive, upset, uproar, resentment and anger, and constructs the
Muslim Community as having the potential to be offended. While there are many
cases that portray the Muslim Community as angry or offended, a subset of these
stories is interesting in that they describe other people as attempting to ban
certain things in order not to offend Muslims.
There is support for the hypothesis that the London
bombings of 2005 caused the British press to turn more attention to the concept
of a reified, single British Muslim community – a community constructed as easy
to anger, disengaged from the remainder of Britain, home to a number of
extremists (who had the potential to become terrorists) and also at risk from a
blacklash (perhaps unsurprisingly, considering that list of qualities ascribed
to the community by the press).
The term Muslim world has been strongly criticised by
carpenter and cagaptay (2009), who write that it ‘is not only an analytical
error – it’s also a critical public diplomacy mistake… Muslim world unfairly
and singularly assigns adherents of Islam into a figurative ghetto. And
particularly in the post – September, this relegation carries a real moral
hazard. Extremists are the only Muslim group that strongly advocates tying all
Muslims together politically, in a united global community… Every time the
United States speaks to the Muslim World, then it inadvertently legitimizes the
extremists vision.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/aug/30/citizen-khan-who-was-actually-offended
Interestingly, the Daily Mail, which on Wednesday ran a piece claiming Muslim outrage about the show, today gives a full page to the broadcaster and former Apprentice runner-up Saira Khan, in which she argues that a mature community needs to be able to laugh at itself, and that the scene that has reportedly attracted most complaints – in which a teenage girl quickly puts on a hijab over western hair and makeup to appease her father – was recognisable from her own experience and observation.
The jokes about ecclesiastical bureaucracy, parental hypocrisy and teenage cunning have a target and tone familiar from the genre's previous white British incarnations. On the evidence of the opening episode, imams will come off no worse than vicars have in laugh shows of the past, which may be considered a mark of equality.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FSmtEP2qmKgC&pg=PT139&dq=changes+of+asians+representations+in+media&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9CxKVKXhArGu7AaomIDoCQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=changes%20of%20asians%20representations%20in%20media&f=false
The images of Asians and Asian Americans found in entertainment television have essentially paralleled the depictions in film. Throughout television history most of the roles offered to Asian actors have been in supporting roles, especially as domestic help or action hero sidekicks..
http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/tv-news-al-jazeera-english-case-study/
One teacher asked if online news is an acceptable medium for Collective Identity looking at the representation of Muslims post 9/11 using films and online Newws. This idea has been greenlighted so it must be OK. This seems an interesting way into collectie identity as it can explore different areas such as Collective identity through shard faith, as well as nationality, and the way these concepts are perceived through media texts.
Films could include Battle for Haditha (2007) is documentary maker Nick Broomfields first drama - a concise, lucid, devastating depiction of the Haditha massacre. The basic facts: November 19 2005; IED one Marine killed and two wounded; twenty four Iraqi men, women and children killed in response to fear, vengeance, and the inscrutable factors that motivate men under fire . The sequences that set this film apart from the other films and TV shows about the war in Iraq are the ones that follow the Iraqi family members through their days errands and routines.
This balanced and non judgemental film is a mature dissection of factors leading to the the insurgency in Iraq and the horrors of war.
From Aladdin to Lost Ark, Muslims get angry at ‘bad guy’ film images
Crude and exaggerated stereotypes are fuelling Islamophobia, says study A report by the Islamic Human Rights Commission argues that films as diverse as The Siege, a portrayal of a terrorist attack on New York starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis, the Disney film Aladdin and the British comedy East is East have helped demonise Muslims as violent, dangerous and threatening, and reinforce prejudices.
Many young Muslims have a common set of local and global grievances - and a small number are ready to express these grievances by joining the global jihad, or holy war, being waged by Al-Qaida and other radical groups.
Most of Europe’s Muslims, including the young, are non-violent and their core demands boil down to a need for respect and recognition. Failure to foster a minimum of dignity, however, will play into the hands of the extreme fringe.
Britain since the 1960s has pursued a mix of policies collectively known as “multiculturalism”. This rejects the idea of forced assimilation, and seeks to empower minority communities and enhance their sense of cultural identity.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0i5diL3vrEiZVRKZE8wUGdLU1E/edit
(MM42)Orientalism and the ‘Other’
A distorted view of the Middle East and Arabs and Muslims has been a historical phenomenon, marginalising the representation of ‘ordinary’ Arabs/ Muslims. The influential and controversial literary critic Edward Said discusses this issue in his classic book Orientalism, published in 1978. He has said:So far as the United States seems to be concerned ... Muslims and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Said argues that the Middle East and its people are presented as ‘other’, in a realm of ‘desert, camels, Bedouins and caliphs’. This concept of Orientalism and the Other is an excellent way of approaching representation issues for examination and coursework essays.
Consider the plot of the popular PS3/Xbox game, Battlefield 3, set in 2014. Here, a ‘Sgt. Blackburn’ leads a five-man squad on a mission to find and safely return a US squad investigating a possible IED (Improvised Explosive Device aka terrorist bomb) in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, whose last known position was a market controlled by a hostile militia called the ‘PLR’. The game has been accused of promoting racism and violence with an unrealistic Middle Eastern worldview, which does not reflect the reality in Iraq at all.The representations exploit stereotypical generalisations and clichés. In the digital age, computer games are a very powerful form of mainstream media that shapes our comprehension and understanding of the world by constructing powerful iconic representations. Arab columnist Aijaz Zaka Syed, suggested that games like Battlefield 3 are dangerous:
Islamaphobia in the media since 9/11
'Our newspapers and television screens have again shown us images of Muslim men burning American flags whilst brandishing rifles, juxtaposed with angry young men shouting outside a north London mosque. Afghan women covered from head to toe in the burqha followed by women wearing the hijab protesting against military action outside the Pakistan embassy in London. And amongst all this, we are shown images of Muslim children holding placards bearing the face of Osama bin Laden on the streets of Islamabad.'
'So just how much truth lies at the foundations of the media's reporting? The French sociologist Jean Baudrillard states that media news is a hyper-realistic construct, where 'the real and the imaginary continually collapse into each other'.Considering those beliefs that are widely held about news reporting and the situation again raises further concerns.'
'What is happening in the media is that they are seeking out those with the loudest voices who fit their own agenda rather than fitting the agenda around the more significant voices, deliberately suggesting a cynicism where all Muslims have synonymous views. Not only that, but when the press are including in their reporting of these non-representative voices that they entered Britain as asylum'
'If a war materialises, whether against terrorism, Afghanistan, the Islamic world or indeed Muslims themselves, then as the saying goes, 'the first casualty of war is.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jan/30/broadcasting.religion
'The Muslim Council of Britain is so angered by the plotline, which takes place in 'real time' and stretches across 24 episodes, that it has asked the media regulator, Ofcom, to investigate the show, saying it breaches broadcasting codes by misrepresenting ethnic minorities.
'We are greatly concerned by the unremittingly hostile and unbalanced portrayal of Muslims in this series of 24 based upon a preview of the first five episodes that we have seen,' said Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.'
While some woman of colour are praised for owning their heritage, other women of colour are admonished for appearing to fail to embrace their race or ethnicity. In season tow, April, An Asian woman is critisized by the judges for lacking personality which Banks later explains means that she doesn't embrace her heritage, but when April initially objects by explaining that she does not identify herself as an Asian American but as simply American, Banks replies that she will be percieved in the modelling industry as 'Asian' and that she shoudl work her exotic angle. In season three, Kelle, An african American woman who grew up in a primarily white gated community, self deprecatingly describes herself as a white girl with a tan and faults herself for having a monkey mouth.
In todays world, race and ethnicity have fallen into the category of precious ready to wear difference. To be profitable, racial and cultural diversity - global heterogeneity must be reducible to such common, reproducible denominators as colour and costume. Race and racial differences - whatever that might mean in the grander social order -must be reducible to skin colour, or more correctly, to the tint of the plastic poured into each Barbie mould. Each doll is marketed as representing something or someone as in the real world, even as the politica, social and economic particulars of that world are not only erased but, in a curious way, made the same.
A number of products of black and Asian culture have recently enjoyed widespread appeal both to majority audiences in Britain and audiences abroad. The 1990s saw an unprecedented success of Black and Asian British fiction on the book market, which has culminated with Zadie Smith's international best seller White Teeth (2000). And it is in the 1990's that black and specifically Asian British narrative films became a viable commodity on the cinema and television markets, complementing, in television, the noteable success of comedy and the airing of documentart programmes about the Black and Asian experience in prime time slots for the average television viewer. Foloowing the earlier success of Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frears collaborations My Beautiful laundrette (1985) and Sammy and Rosie get Laid (1987), East is East (1999) and Bend it Like Bekham (2002) did extremely well not only on the national circuit but also internationally, where they confirmed 'Asian themes' as an area representative of 'British Cinema'. Parminder Vir notes 'the enourmous impact that the commercial and critical success of East is East has had on the UK Asian market, talent and production. In Britain alone east is East took £10.3 million and helped to establish the crossover potential of Asian led talent and stories. (Vir 2001, 05). The much maligned paucity of Black and Asian quality television drama was counteracted with multi part productions like the Buddha of Suburbia (BBC 1993), The Final Passage (Channel 4 1996), Baby Father (BBC 2001) and White Teeth (Channel 4 2002), which all adapted esteemed novels by Black and Asian writers (Hanif Kureishi, Caryl Phillips, Patrick Augustusand Zadie Smith Respectively) and which were all produced with considerable budgets.
In the 1990s and beyond then, Black and Asian media practitioners find themselves in a what may be described as a productive conflict of perspectives: they are faced with new and more production possibility and a potentially higher audience appreciation, but they work in a society still not devoid of negative stereotyping and essentialist views of race and ethnicity. Accessing and appropriating mainstream media and finding new ways of utilising and 'claiming openly self-critical positions indicate an awareness that latent and covert institutional barriers may exsist and require a self examination formerly demand unnecessary. Such awareness has been triggered by the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence as well as the Race Relations (Amendment) Act of 2000, whcih required public bodies to demonstrate that their policies work towards equality.
