“You do realise this is the problem, don’t you? You got innocent
Muslims getting pulled over for no reason and then pinned up against the wall,
called a Paki fuck by some racist piece of shit that should never be in uniform
in the first place. Fuck’s sake, it’s such a fucking cliche!” [1]
To what extent are Muslims
represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas
such as Britz?
It can be
argued that today’s young British Muslims are being represented negatively and
stereotyped within the British mainstream media. “According to research by The
Times, there were 2.4 million Muslims in the United Kingdom in 2009”. [2]
It is said that, “83% of Muslims are proud to be British compared with the
average of 79%” [3],
so how are British Muslims proud of their birth when they are constantly being stereotyped,
misrepresented and abused in real life situations which is depicted in British
drama as well in films. ‘United 93’ and ‘Hamburg Cell’ are two of many examples
in which Muslims have been portrayed to be villains in Hollywood, post 9/11.
However, it
could be argued to an extent that Muslims are not portrayed negatively in
British dramas and go beyond the stereotype. One text that does this successfully
is ‘Britz’ as it portrays the representation of two British Muslim siblings who
are pulled in radically different directions by their conflicting personal
experiences after the events of 9/11 and 7/7 in Britain. “Representations of
Islam and Muslims in the media have been a topic of considerable debate and
discussion, particularly in recent times”[4].
As the death of Osama Bin Laden was announced and spread quickly through the
mainstream media, Britain relived in the remembrance of the events of 9/11
again. Stereotypes of Muslims and Islamophobia are becoming more and more
prevalent in the mainstream media and has been referred to be a natural process
in the construction of representations of Muslims, which makes us question the
realism of British dramas: “It has been argued that certain images and
stereotypes are so deeply embedded and almost necessary to media coverage that
Islamophobia is almost a natural process” (Allen, 2002).[5]
One could
argue that ten years ago the lives of Muslims and many others changed forever
and from then on the negative representations and stereotypes of Muslims
increased in the media. The events of 9/11 left the Earth shaken as one of the
great powers was attacked by the ‘Al qaeda’. The mainstream media was forever
changed, "all these stereotypes have emerged with the renewed force since
9/11". [6] It
wasn’t only the lives of Muslims that changed forever it could be said that it
was the day, the media changed forever. “Muslims
and Arabs have long been negatively portrayed in America. This negative
stereotype is evident in songs, jokes, comic books, novels, Halloween masks,
advertising, wrestling, television, cinema, and many other forms of American
popular culture”. [7] The events of 9/11 and 7/7 have
made way for British dramas such as ‘Britz’ to be produced. After the horrific events
of 9/11 comedy cartoons such as ‘Family Guy’ began representing Muslims as evil
and villains and began violating aspects of interpretations of Muslim law. “The
‘hypodermic needle theory’ implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences”. [8] The hypodermic needle theory suggests that
audiences are affected by what they see in the media which in result of
representing Muslims negatively in the mainstream media has changed their real
lives.
To ease moral
panic Hollywood released a number of films containing the main protagonists to
be superheroes. “Immediately
following the attacks, Hollywood took a sensitive step away from disaster
spectacle. The original teaser trailer for Spiderman (2002) had featured the
titular hero spinning a web between the two towers of the WTC in order to catch
a helicopter full of criminals”.[9]
This connotes that the mainstream media has the power to influence the
mainstream audience into believing that superheroes exist representing America
as a strong powerful state reinforcing the Marxist theory. “Social change was
explained by the struggle between competing and antagonistic forces in society.
This struggles was between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ who Marx differentiated
in terms of their possession of economic power”. [10]
Although
Marxism refers to the power of the media, post 9/11 superhero movies could
arise a question if this was to ease moral panic or to inform that America
cannot be pulled down even after the events of 9/11. However the controversy of
Islamic fundamentalism and its representation in the media has been a serious
issue since the events of 9/11. “History, they say, was made and unmade on
9/11. The psychic shock seemed to first unite all humanity, but then Bush and
Blair launched their sinister war on terror and our earth was split apart”. [11]
Events since September 2001, have dramatically altered the political environment
in the Muslim world, which led to many countries strengthening their
anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.
Moreover, the
stereotypes and negative representations of Muslims have changed over the
years. In the 1970s Muslims were being stereotyped and represented as
immigrates entering British soil unwelcomed connoting the European Power of the
British and its colonies. Comedy Sitcoms such as ‘Mind Your Language’ and ‘Till
Death Do Us Part’ mocked Muslims as foreigners. However after the events of
9/11 and 7/7 have left the mainstream media changed, from Muslims being
represented what was light hearted comedy into representing Muslims in an
negative light which is becoming known as ‘Islamophobia’ and being referred as
the ‘other’. This can be seen in the text Britz. “The Oriental constructions of
the ‘Other’ in Britain have come to be known as ‘Islamophobia’ ”. [12]
Islamophoia describes the prejudice against Muslims and Islam. The term dates
back to the early 1990s, however it became a common usage after the events of
9/11. Today’s media has led to texts
such as ‘Britz’ representing Muslims views in answer to what the negative
representations of the mainstream media. Many accuse the mainstream media to be
Islamophobic which creates inaccurate and misrepresentations of Muslims living
in the 21st century, “my own position on ‘representation’ is that
‘the media’ construct their own reality.” [13]
One of the many Muslims that have been villianised
by the mainstream media is the radical Muslim ‘Abu Hamza al-Masri’. ‘Abu Hamza’
has been represented negatively by the mass media over the years; The Sun
quotes “as evil Hamza is finally jailed for terror crimes, we reveal… hook and
a hooker”.[14]
The image of Abu Hamza on the front page of ‘The Sun’ tabloid newspaper engages
its middle class C2DE demographic class. The image represents the radicalist
negatively portraying him as an evil villain. The black background connotes the
colour of villains, such as Dracula evil and blood sucking, killing innocent
victims. This draws attention to the paper’s front page in which the image of
Abu Hamza shows him distorted which connotes the power of the British.
Whereas, in
other media the representations of Muslims in British dramas such as EastEnders
have not been so negative. However, many people disagree that EastEnders
portrayers Muslims as they really are which arises the question of realism in
dramas. “Different film –theoretical positions argue in a wide variety of ways
that ‘realism’ is not merely a question of aesthetic norms of a certain view
upon a specific area of social world but also arises from an experience of
visual representations as ‘real’. Thus, realism might be understood, first and
foremost, as a specific relationship between media texts and their viewers”. [15]
The Masood family was introduced in 2007 representing the Asian ethnic minority
has been accused of inaccurate representations. The BBC’s intentions were to
develop the Masoods as “rounded human beings tacking the issues of day-today
life in Albert Square”.[16]
However the British drama EastEnders has
attempted to deal with real life situations with the storyline of Syed Masood
turning gay, “storyline in the hope that the character Syed Masood would help
tacke the double discrimination of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay
Muslims face”. [17] EastEnders
portrays the values of the BBC to educate, to inform and to entertain which
shows Muslims as normal humans and not as the ’other’.
‘Britz’
questions the realism and the attitudes of the British public’s towards
Muslims. The phenomenal 2007 two part British
drama ‘Britz’ goes beyond the stereotype and represents
Muslims and the prejudice they face post 9/11. “Peter Kosminsky's drama about a
British Muslim family who are pulled in radically different directions by their
conflicting personal experiences in post 9/11 Britain”. [18] ‘Britz’ reflects the zeitgeist
of today’s society in which the post 9/11 and 7/7 stereotypes of Muslims have
been created reflects the fears and moral panic created by the mainstream
media.
The two protagonists are successful university
students, Sohail is studying law however is soon recruited by the secret
service MI5. The audience sees Sohail decide where his loyalties really lie,
with the Pakistani Muslims community or with the country of his birth, England.
“A new television drama to be
aired this week in part blames such laws for motivating a fictional British
female suicide bomber in a hard-hitting attempt to portray the causes for
Islamist extremism”. [19] Part two goes on to follow the other sibling Nasima
is a medical student studying in Leeds and spends much of her time campaigning
against repressive government policies. After she witnesses her best friend Zab
going through torment becomes the turning point of Nasima’s story. Nasima is forced
to question her liberal views after attending regular Islamic meetings and is
left feeling angry at and estranged from the county of her Birth, England. “Told in 2-sections
we see the same struggle from both points of view and the impact that their decisions
have on each other. Both leads are so strong and sympathetic in their very multi-layered roles,
that it captivates you and makes you so invested with their characters”.[20]
In one scene of in ‘Britz’ the audience is being shown
Sohail’s background in Bradford where he is originally from. The scene moves
into the night which connotes that something sinister and bad is about to
happen. The dark red colour from the car lights and the diegetic sound of the
car sirens connotes that trouble and danger is laying ahead for Sohail and his
friends. As the gang of friends are
arrested and locked up, the stereotypes of Muslims are portrayed. The Muslim
characters are shown to be the ‘other’ in the scene and the white police
officers are represented to be the superior race with the power within them. As
Sohail is punched in his stomach and lowered down to the floor it connotes the
white character is of higher status than he is. The Muslim character is then
called a “paki –fuck” which connotes the racial trouble between the characters.
It also portrayed issues and debates of post 9/11 and 7/7 of how the Muslim
community is being treated and how Islamophobia is becoming a natural process
in the media.
‘Britz’ questions the laws that have been passed in the UK
and how it has affected the Muslim community and goes onto question the people
in power in which the drama challenges what the mainstream media portrays and
globalisation. The opening scenes of the drama show the conflicts which Muslims
face upon in the media and in their communities. The British breakthrough drama
was shown on public service broadcaster Channel 4 in which its values were
portrayed throughout ‘Britz’ who have made promises to “reflect the diversity
of Britain; culturally and geographically”. [21] However
the British drama questions whether audience theories; media shapes the
audience’s perception of the world around them and people within it, or whether
it is up to the audience to decide for themselves if whether these representations
reflect reality and encourages us to question whether what we see in the
mainstream media is the reality around us and does realism exists.
In comparison
the comedy television series ‘Mind Your Language’ shows the differences between
how Muslims are represented and stereotypes in the 1970s and how they are
represented in today’s mainstream media. However the television series connotes
that Muslims have been a constant stereotype in the mainstream media. In
contrast to ‘Mind Your Language’, the British drama ‘Britz’ depicts how Muslims
are now represented and stereotyped in today’s society. The two texts have
great differences “Mind Your Language would
seem politically incorrect these days. Making fun of ethnic minorities and their attempts to speak English” [22]
however the British drama ‘Britz’ has much more of a serious tone, "Drainingly
powerful drama about Muslims in post 7/7 Britain, set out to uproot Western
prejudices and to humanise terror suspects". [23]
In comparison to today’s mainstream media ‘Mind Your Language’ was a light
hearted comedy sitcom which showed the differences between Sikhs and Muslims.
The two characters Ranjeet and Ali represent the culture difference between the
two religions after the partition of India in 1947.
The sitcom represents
colonialism and paternalism and represents violent ethnic minorities in conflict
with each other in which the ‘white male’ teacher has to resolve, this connotes
the partition of India in which the ‘’white British males’ resolved. The camera
shots in the series consist mainly of shot-reverse-shots with the students
looking at the teacher and medium and long shots showing the whole class
sitting and listening to the teacher. Compared to the drama ‘Britz’, ‘Mind Your
Language’ is a light hearted comedy with the only serious underlying issues was
the immigration matter that Britain faced in the 1970s which led to the Race
Relations Act 1976. The series ‘Mind Your Language’ connotes and portrays how
much society in Britain and in India has changed over the years as Muslims are
stereotyped more in today’s mainstream media. Although the problems that Britain was facing
with immigration, there were no signs of moral panics in British dramas. ‘Mind
Your Language’ shows that serious matters could be taken and laughed and mocked
about, however matters such as 9/11 and 7/7 cannot be laughed about as there is
always a serious tone about issues and matters laying underneath dramas such as
‘Britz’ “Muslims now find themselves across large swathes of the world, because
of the stereotyping of Muslims takes place in repeated in acts of
representations by politicians, by press and media”. [24]
In addition, the
Arab Spring of 2011 has had a positive impact on Western countries such as
Britain and America. As Levi Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions comes into
play, “the discourse on Islamic terrorism is predicated on binary oppositions:
the West versus Islam, democracy anti-modernity and secularism versus religion”.
[25]
There has been a more positive attitude towards Islamic countries such as Egypt
and have become ‘less threatening’ towards Western allies. As the Arab Spring
brought along the beliefs in freedom and democracy in which Western allies
believe in too as brought along a whole new revolution. Also in the eyes of the
Western countries a war has been won against Islam. The death of the terrorist
who was behind the attacks of 9/11 Bin Laden has ended the panic that was
between Americans.
The negative
representations of Muslims questions the power of the mainstream media, “Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one
social class over others (e.g. bourgeois
hegemony). This represents not only political and economic control, but
also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the
world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as 'common sense' and
'natural'”. [26] It could be inferred that British dramas
reinforce the stereotypes and negative representations of Muslim in which the
British public agree due to the influence of the mainstream media on the
audience.
It could be
concluded to a great extent that Muslims are represented negatively and
stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas. Theories such as Islamophobia is becoming a
regular way of using portraying Muslims in the mainstream media “the
interlinking of Islam and multiculturalism is confirmed by the rising tide of Islamophobia, a term that has come to
denote acts of intolerance, discriminations, unfounded fear, and racism against
Islam and Muslims”. [27]
Films such as ‘United 93’ post 9/11 have portrayed Muslims as villains and as
the ‘other’, as well as radical Muslims such as Abu Hamza have been represented
in a negative attitude towards the British public. Texts such as ‘Britz’ and
‘Make Bradford British’ attempt to portray Muslims in a more positive
representation. Although the society has
changed over the years in Britain many opinions and views of the British public
have not changed “at least 35% of Londoners held Islam responsible for the 7/7
attacks”. [28] It can be seen that after the events of 9/11
the mainstream media changed the representations of Muslims, “in the post 9/11
America the stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs became even more negative”. [29]
Word count:
2,113
Bibliography
Books
Ameli, Saied R.. The British
media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic
Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
Cesari, Jocelyne. Muslims in
the West after 9/11 religion, politics and law. London: Routledge, 2010.
Print.
Esposito, John L., and İbrahim Kalın.Islamophobia: the challenge of pluralism in the 21st
century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print
Jerslev, Anne. Realism and
"reality" in film and media. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press,
University of Copenhagen, 2002. Print.
Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting
Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;,
2002. Print.
Moving Image
Britz, 2007,
Peter Kosminsky, UK, Daybreak Pictures/ Channel 4 Television Corporation
EastEnders,
1985, Various, UK, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Mind Your
Language, 1977, Vince Powell, London Weekend Television/Tri Films
Internet
Links
Muslim Networks and
Movements in Western Europe
Survey: Most patriotic Brits are Muslims
Stereotyping Muslims
and Arabs
Hypodermic Needle
Theory http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/
Horror and Heroics: The Cinema of September 11
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
Theories Of Communication
Yasmin Alibhai- Brown: The
shadow hanging over Muslims is lifting
EastEnders: Muslim character to have gay love affair
What’s it like being a gay Muslim?
Britz
British drama probes Muslim extremists’ mind
Britz 2007
Channel 4’s statement of promises
Mind Your Language
Britz blew its credibility in the final minute
Marxist Media Theory
Muslims
'demonised' by UK media
Stereotyping Muslims
and Arabs
Work Consulted:
United 93,
2006, Paul Greengrass, Universal
Pictures, USA
Hamburg
Cell, 2004, Antonia Bird,
Channel 4, CBC Canada, UK
Abu Hamza
EastEnders,
1985, Various, UK, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Make Bradford British, Various,
UK, Channel 4 Television Corporation, Love Productions
[1]
Britz, Channel 4
[2]
Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe
[3]
Survey: Most patriotic Brits are Muslims
[4]
Ameli, Saied R. (2007). p.2
[5]
Ibid. p .14
[6]
Morey, P and Amina Y. (2011). P 2
[7]
Stereotyping Muslims and Arabs
[9]
Horror and Heroics: The Cinema of September 11
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
[10]
Theories Of Communication
[11]
Yasmin Alibhai- Brown: The shadow hanging over Muslims is lifting
[12]
Poole, E. (2002). P. 22
[13]
Ibid p.31
[14]http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=the+sun+abu+hamza&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=TcjczP0SsmnffM:&imgrefurl=http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp%3Fitem%3Da052704abuhamzabangedup&docid=flJgm3LiFeVfM&imgurl=http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/b138_abu_hamza_sun_2050081722-21846.jpg&w=264&h=340&ei=GgUnT-3DI6OR0AXW2ZTOCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=179&vpy=126&dur=158&hovh=255&hovw=198&tx=129&ty=111&sig=101188730694283781615&page=1&tbnh=149&tbnw=116&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
[15]
Anne Jerslev. (2002). P 9
[16]
EastEnders: Muslim character to have gay love affair
[17]
What’s it like being a gay Muslim?
[18]
Britz
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britz/episode-guide/series-1
[19]
British drama probes Muslim extremists’ mind
[21]
Channel 4’s statement of promises
[22]
Mind Your Language
[23] Britz blew its credibility in the final
minute
[24]
Morey, P and Amina Yagin. (2011). P. 2
[25]
Cesari, J. (2010) P. 3
[26]
Marxist Media Theory
[27]
Esposito, J and Ibrahim K .(2011). P. 4
Muslims 'demonised' by UK media
[29]
Stereotyping Muslims and Arabs
