Task 6

"How are Muslims represented in and stereotyped in British dramas such as Britz?"

 Today young British Muslims are represented and stereotyped within the British media. It said to 83% of Muslims are proud to be British compared with the average of 79%, so how are British Muslims proud of their of their birth while they are stereotyped, misrepresented and abused in real life situations which is depicted in British dramas. I am going to focus on how Muslims are represented and stereotyped in British dramas such as Britz. As my independent study focuses on the representations and stereotypes of Muslims in British dramas, I’ve chosen “Britz” as my main text as it portrayed 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. I will be investigating whether these representations and stereotypes exist in British dramas. “Representations of Islam and Muslims in the media have been a topic of considerable debate and discussion, particularly in recent times” [1]. Stereotypes are becoming a natural process as Islamophobia 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 no so deeply embedded and almost necessary to media coverage that Islamophobia almost a natural process” (Allen, 2002) [2].
To compare if Islamophoia was present before 9/11, “Mind Your Language” represents ethnic minorities. The British comedy television series that premiered on ITV in late 1977


It could be said that 10 years ago the lives of Muslims and many others changed forever and from there the representations and stereotypes of Muslims increased. 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".[3]. It wasn’t only the lives of Muslims that changed forever it could be said that it was the day, the media changed forever. After the events of 9/11 the media changed the representations of Muslims, comedy cartoons such as ‘Family Guy’ represent Muslims as evil and violating aspects of interpretations of Muslim law. 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”. [4] This connotes that the mainstream media can influence the mainstream audience into believing that superheroes exist representing America as a strong powerful state. However it 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 represented 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”. [5] Events since September 2001, have dramatically altered the political environment in the Muslim world, it led to many countries strengthening their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.