To what extent are Muslims represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas such as Britz?
Today’s young British Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped within the British media. It is said that “83% of Muslims are proud to be British compared with the average of 79%” , 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” . A stereotype of Muslims and Islamophobia are becoming more and more popular 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).
It could be said 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". It wasn’t only the lives of Muslims that changed forever it could be said that it was the day, the media changed forever. The events of 9/11 and 7/7 have made way for British dramas such as ‘Britz’ to be produced. After the 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. 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”. This connotes that the mainstream media can 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”.
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 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”. 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.
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. Comedy Sitcoms such as ‘Mind Your Language’ and ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ mocked Muslims as foreigners. However after the events of 9/11 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’ “the Oriental constructions of the Other in Britain have come to be known as ‘Islamophobia’”. 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.” 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”. The image of Abu Hamza…..
Whereas, the representation of Muslims in British dramas such as EastEnders have not been so negative. Many people disagree that EastEnders portrayers Muslims as they really are. 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”. 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”. 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’.
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” 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”. 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”.
‘Britz’ questions the laws that have been passed in the UK and how it has affected the Muslim community. 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 it’s values were portrayed throughout ‘Britz’ who have made promises to “reflect the diversity of Britain; culturally and geographically”. 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 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” however the British drama ‘Britz’ has much more serious tone, "Drainingly powerful drama about Muslims in post 7/7 Britain, set out to uproot Western prejudices and to humanise terror suspects". 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 show 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”.
It could be argued that there is no Islamophobia present in the mainstream media. The Arab Spring of 2011 has had a positive impact on Western countries such as Britain and America. “The discourse on Islamic terrorism is predicated on binary oppositions: the West versus Islam, democracy anti-modernity and secularism versus religion”. 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.
It could be concluded to a great extent Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas. 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. 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”. 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. Although the society has changed over the years in Britain many opinions and views of the British public has not changed “at least 35% of Londoners held Islam responsible for the 7/7 attacks”.
Word count: 2,277
Work cited:
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
Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. 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
Survey: Most patriotic Brits are Muslims
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3948185/Survey-Most-patriotic-Brits-are-Muslims.html
Horror and Heroics: The Cinema of September 11
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
Revision
http://ckbooks.com/mastering_communication/theories-of-communication/revision-2/
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown The shadow hanging over muslims is lifting
http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
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
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/28/eastenders-gay-love-affair?INTCMP=SRCHEastenders:%20Muslim%20character%20to%20have%20gay%20love%20affair
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/gay-muslims-britain?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britz/episode-guide/series-1
http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/archive/british-drama-probes-muslim-extremists-mind.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/britz/
http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/promises_2001/promises_intro2.html
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8586696
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3669027/Britz-blew-its-credibility-in-the-final-minute.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093390.stm
Works consulted:
Abu Hamza
Britz
Mind Your Language
United 93
Hamburg
9/11
[1] http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3948185/Survey-Most-patriotic-Brits-are-Muslims.html
[2] page 2 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[3] page 14 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[4] page 2- Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[5]http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
[6] http://ckbooks.com/mastering_communication/theories-of-communication/revision-2/
[7] http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
[8] page 22- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[9]page 31- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[10]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
[11] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/28/eastenders-gay-love-affair?INTCMP=SRCHEastenders:%20Muslim%20character%20to%20have%20gay%20love%20affair
[12] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/gay-muslims-britain?INTCMP=SRCH
[13] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britz/episode-guide/series-1
[14] http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/archive/british-drama-probes-muslim-extremists-mind.html
[15] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/britz/
[16] http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/promises_2001/promises_intro2.html
[17] http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8586696
[18] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3669027/Britz-blew-its-credibility-in-the-final-minute.html
[19] page 2 - Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[20] page 2- Cesari, Jocelyne. Muslims in the West after 9/11 religion, politics and law. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
[21] page 4- Esposito, John L., and İbrahim Kalın.Islamophobia: the challenge of pluralism in the 21st century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print
[22] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093390.stm
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Critical Investigation First Draft
To what extent are Muslims represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas such as Britz?
Today young British Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped within the British media. It said to “83% of Muslims are proud to be British compared with the average of 79%” [1], so how are British Muslims proud of their of their birth when they are stereotyped, misrepresented and abused in real life situations which is depicted in British dramas. ‘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” [2]. Stereotypes of Muslims and Islamophobia is becoming more and more popular 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) [3].
It could be said that 10 years ago the lives of Muslims and many others changed forever and from then on the negative 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".[4]. 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 comedy cartoons such as ‘Family Guy’ began representing Muslims as evil and villains and began 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”. [6] This connotes that the mainstream media can 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”. [7]
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 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”. [8] 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.
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. Comedy Sitcoms such as “Mind Your Language” and “Till Death Do Us Part” mocked Muslims. However after the events of 9/11 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’ “the Oriental constructions of the Other in Britain have come to be known as ‘Islamophobia’”. [9] 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. 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.” [10]. 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” [11].
However the representation of Muslims in British dramas such as EastEnders has not been so negative. However Many people disagree that EastEnders portrayers Muslims as they really are. The Masood family was introduced in 2007 representing the Asian ethnic minority has been accused of inaccurate representations. The BBC’s intentions was to develop the Masoods as “rounded human beings tacking the issues of day-today life in Albert Square”[12]. 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”. [13] 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’.
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” [14]. The two protagonists are successful university students, Sohail is studying law however is soon recruited by the secret service MI5. He is represented to be ambitious and successful young Muslim however in his first assignment he is led back to his own community in Bradford in which no one not even his family and close friends know that they are under suspicion. 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”[15]. Part two goes on to follow the other sibling Nasima is a medical student studing 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. Her best friend Zab hangs herself after being abused while under arrest for innocently falling foul of the new anti-terror laws. 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”.[16] Britz questions the laws that have been passed in the UK and how it has affected the Muslim community. 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 it’s values were portrayed throughout ‘Britz’ who have made promises to “reflect the diversity of Britain; culturally and geographically” [17]. 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 exist.
In comparison the comedy television series Mind Your Language shows the differences between how Muslims are represented and stereotypes in the 1970s, however 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” [18] however British dramas have much of serious tone, "Drainingly powerful drama about Muslims in post 7/7 Britain, set out to uproot Western prejudices and to humanise terror suspects". [19]. 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 show represents colonialism and paternalism and represents violent ethnic minorities in conflict with eachother 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 portrayed 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”. [20]
It could be argued that there is no Islamophobia present in the mainstream media. The Arab Spring of 2011 has had a positive impact on Western countries such as Britain and America. “The discourse on Islamic terrorism is predicated on binary oppositions: the West versus Islam, democracy anti-modernity and secularism versus religion” [21]. 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.
It could be concluded to a great extent Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas. 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. 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” [22]. 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. Although the society has changed over the years in Britain many opinions and views of the British public has not changed “at least 35% of Londoners held Islam responsible for the 7/7 attacks” [23].
Word count: 2,059
[1] http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3948185/Survey-Most-patriotic-Brits-are-Muslims.html
[2] page 2 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[3] page 14 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[4] page 2- Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[5]http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
[6] http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
[7] http://ckbooks.com/mastering_communication/theories-of-communication/revision-2/
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
[9] page 22- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[10]page 31- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[11]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
[12] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/28/eastenders-gay-love-affair?INTCMP=SRCHEastenders:%20Muslim%20character%20to%20have%20gay%20love%20affair
[13] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/gay-muslims-britain?INTCMP=SRCH
[14] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britz/episode-guide/series-1
[15] http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/archive/british-drama-probes-muslim-extremists-mind.html
[16] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/britz/
[17] http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/promises_2001/promises_intro2.html
[18] http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8586696
[19] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3669027/Britz-blew-its-credibility-in-the-final-minute.html
[20] page 2 - Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[21] page 2- Cesari, Jocelyne. Muslims in the West after 9/11 religion, politics and law. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
[22] page 4- Esposito, John L., and İbrahim Kalın.Islamophobia: the challenge of pluralism in the 21st century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print
[23] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093390.stm
Today young British Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped within the British media. It said to “83% of Muslims are proud to be British compared with the average of 79%” [1], so how are British Muslims proud of their of their birth when they are stereotyped, misrepresented and abused in real life situations which is depicted in British dramas. ‘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” [2]. Stereotypes of Muslims and Islamophobia is becoming more and more popular 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) [3].
It could be said that 10 years ago the lives of Muslims and many others changed forever and from then on the negative 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".[4]. 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 comedy cartoons such as ‘Family Guy’ began representing Muslims as evil and villains and began 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”. [6] This connotes that the mainstream media can 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”. [7]
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 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”. [8] 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.
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. Comedy Sitcoms such as “Mind Your Language” and “Till Death Do Us Part” mocked Muslims. However after the events of 9/11 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’ “the Oriental constructions of the Other in Britain have come to be known as ‘Islamophobia’”. [9] 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. 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.” [10]. 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” [11].
However the representation of Muslims in British dramas such as EastEnders has not been so negative. However Many people disagree that EastEnders portrayers Muslims as they really are. The Masood family was introduced in 2007 representing the Asian ethnic minority has been accused of inaccurate representations. The BBC’s intentions was to develop the Masoods as “rounded human beings tacking the issues of day-today life in Albert Square”[12]. 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”. [13] 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’.
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” [14]. The two protagonists are successful university students, Sohail is studying law however is soon recruited by the secret service MI5. He is represented to be ambitious and successful young Muslim however in his first assignment he is led back to his own community in Bradford in which no one not even his family and close friends know that they are under suspicion. 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”[15]. Part two goes on to follow the other sibling Nasima is a medical student studing 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. Her best friend Zab hangs herself after being abused while under arrest for innocently falling foul of the new anti-terror laws. 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”.[16] Britz questions the laws that have been passed in the UK and how it has affected the Muslim community. 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 it’s values were portrayed throughout ‘Britz’ who have made promises to “reflect the diversity of Britain; culturally and geographically” [17]. 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 exist.
In comparison the comedy television series Mind Your Language shows the differences between how Muslims are represented and stereotypes in the 1970s, however 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” [18] however British dramas have much of serious tone, "Drainingly powerful drama about Muslims in post 7/7 Britain, set out to uproot Western prejudices and to humanise terror suspects". [19]. 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 show represents colonialism and paternalism and represents violent ethnic minorities in conflict with eachother 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 portrayed 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”. [20]
It could be argued that there is no Islamophobia present in the mainstream media. The Arab Spring of 2011 has had a positive impact on Western countries such as Britain and America. “The discourse on Islamic terrorism is predicated on binary oppositions: the West versus Islam, democracy anti-modernity and secularism versus religion” [21]. 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.
It could be concluded to a great extent Muslims are represented negatively and stereotyped in contemporary post 9/11 British dramas. 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. 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” [22]. 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. Although the society has changed over the years in Britain many opinions and views of the British public has not changed “at least 35% of Londoners held Islam responsible for the 7/7 attacks” [23].
Word count: 2,059
[1] http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3948185/Survey-Most-patriotic-Brits-are-Muslims.html
[2] page 2 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[3] page 14 - Ameli, Saied R.. The British media and Muslim representation: ideology of demonisation. Wembley: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 2007. Print.
[4] page 2- Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[5]http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM37_Production_Cinema9_11.html
[6] http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
[7] http://ckbooks.com/mastering_communication/theories-of-communication/revision-2/
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/views/yasmin-alibhaibrown-the-shadow-hanging-over-muslims-is-lifting-2351182.html?origin=internalSearch
[9] page 22- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[10]page 31- Poole, Elizabeth. Reporting Islam: media representations of British Muslims. London: I.B. Tauris ;, 2002. Print.
[11]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
[12] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/28/eastenders-gay-love-affair?INTCMP=SRCHEastenders:%20Muslim%20character%20to%20have%20gay%20love%20affair
[13] http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/gay-muslims-britain?INTCMP=SRCH
[14] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britz/episode-guide/series-1
[15] http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/archive/british-drama-probes-muslim-extremists-mind.html
[16] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/britz/
[17] http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/promises_2001/promises_intro2.html
[18] http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8586696
[19] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3669027/Britz-blew-its-credibility-in-the-final-minute.html
[20] page 2 - Morey, Peter, and Amina Yaqin.Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print.
[21] page 2- Cesari, Jocelyne. Muslims in the West after 9/11 religion, politics and law. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
[22] page 4- Esposito, John L., and İbrahim Kalın.Islamophobia: the challenge of pluralism in the 21st century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print
[23] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7093390.stm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)