Yamin (2004)

Does it offer a positive or Negative representation of British Muslims?

To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Said's theory of Oriental-ism- that the west is superior to the exotic or dangerous east?

The part of 'Yamin' we watched in class offered positive and negative representations, it was a 10 minute clip of one day showing different characters and events which we had to work out ourselves. 

For negtive representation the clip followed Fanon's theory of putting on a white mask as the Muslim girl changes her clothes outside from her traditional clothes into common English clothing such as jeans. She is a married woman but is unfaithful, possibly escaping Muslim lifestyle, a double life which includes hiding the change, her 'other life' and taking off her hijab to fit it which acts as a 'white mask'. She is seen in a car listening to English music while people from her religion are praying, she is with a white man for her western part of her day then goes to the pub with him, a place where she gets looked at in a disgusted or angry way by other people present, although she is getting a non-alcoholic drink the point of being there goes against what her family believe as she is unfaithful to her religion. White British culture puts British Muslims through a bad portrayal using medium close up reinforcing the shot of how they judge Muslims making the audience feel uneasy for her. 

The negative representation shows the east as uncivilized through how the character of a Muslim man is presented as poor by eating out of a jar and using his hands which isn't something people are use to seeing as they have cutlery and proper balanced meals in comparison to scraping a finger inside the jar and licking it off. The uncivilized idea is supported through the man who is portrayed in this manner through several indications. He uses an outside cooker showing he doesn't have a working one, speaking in a different language when getting angry at a kid in a different language telling him to go away, he also seems to have no skills as he is working as a mechanic, it is a labor job which shows he is not educated  as he doesn't have a skilled job.

Positive representations is also shown through the clip as we see a father and his son praying in the morning showing their religion and showing it is important. They are seen as calm and peaceful people as they were vandalized yet responded to the incident of the work 'Paki' on their shop shutters by acting calm and cleaning it off as if it didn't affect them emotionally. 

The woman who was seen as negative for a portion dong things that seemed odd and shifty, bumped into the police on her way back and out right told the officer all her details, proving her innocence proving she is not a person who would do anything bad and appears to be friendly. She gave her details including her address, she came across as tolerant and didn't challenge the police officer as the stereotype of Muslims being terrorist causes suspicion and bad views by people from other religions

Said's theory focuses on the difference between west and eat, the way this 10 minute clip of one day supports it is by showing one person the woman, from one culture to another. The portrayal of two lifestyles of two cultures which reinforces the fact that there is a barrier where she switched between the two from being in the Muslim culture, western then back to Muslim again. 

Top Boy Opening

The opening of Top Boy presented many negative and positive points, focusing on the representation of the youth in this opening I identified a range of both through the clip we watched in class. An example of negative representation was the swearing, the image they had shown with their uniform being untidy even if they were at home. Some people see the untidy way they wore their uniform as being relaxed at home, however they walked into the home looking like that therefore indicating they walked home like they, we do not know if they looked untidy in or outside school. Furthermore they swore in the opening clip indicating they say rude things regularly as it seemed like they were speaking normally to each other, they may swore often at school or with more of their friends which is unknown to us but overall swearing gives an impression that a youth may be aggressive or rude and could speak directly at anyone using that language.

Some positive representation included how the young boy cared and worried for his mother as it was the first thing he thought of when he walked in, searching and checking in each room for her or signs of her. Once the boy told his friend he wanted to wait for his mother, he offered to accompany him like a good caring friend which shows how strong and friendly their relationship is. Showing these positive characteristics through the way he stayed with his friend as he waited for her to come home indicates there is good behind a sterotype that has been shown and assumed about the youth.

Top Boy the program itself involves swearing, reference to drugs and therefore create a bad image to the audience. The audience would assume the TV program is a normal TV show about the youth and to each individual normal is different. Normal is when they see the same thing again and again that it becomes expected and 'normal' and when something out of the blue occurs it throws people off. The audience for Top Boy would automatically assume characters they normally see through stereotypes. Medhurst would use stereotypes for a identification, to get a character type across quickly the audience however Alvarado's four stereo types of people from the black community being either Pity, Humorous, Dangerous or Exotic. Being in and urban area in England the audience would see them as dangerous which is giving them a false view upon people and could affect their attitude towards people they see everyday or in situations where they encounter an innocent black person but assume they are one of the four stereotypes in the theory. Perkins theory of how there is some truth behind a stereotype in many situation prove to be true however not every time which is negative as it may influence their view and opinions the entire black community to only fit into one or more of those four stereotype placing them into a box like figment of their mind and become 'normal' to viewers opposed to bringing equality and the idea of everyone being different.

Theories

Fanon

Non-whites have to put on a "white mask", adopting the western culture and lifestyle to be accepted within society. e.g. President Obama, a black male president according to Fanon had to adopt the western white culture and adapt himself to live in America and eventually become president. He'd have to dress smart and have similar mannerism to that of a White American.

Alvarado

 Black people are stereotypically placed in four categories:

- Pitied e.g. Slavery- Humorous e.g. Black comedy- Dangerous e.g. Ghetto areas within America- Exotic e.g. Caribbean

Edward Said

Orientalism, West = superior and civilised while East = dangerous and uncivilised  e.g. Rules in the West to follow; East has wars and terrorism.