Identities and the Media: Post-colonialism & Orientalism

1) Watch the opening of Yasmin (2004) again. Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims? To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilised east? Orientalism is a contrapuntal reading of imperial discourse about the non-Western Other which can be seen through out the opening of "Yasmin" and has within this opening its shows all the different element's of the three theorist; for example the opening we greeted with a eastern estate. Which shows that the western society have blocked them out within this village altogether.   

2) Summarise the three theorists we have looked at this week: Alvarado, Fanon and Said. in summery when compared with theorist it shows that the Muslim society in this clip are weaker; firstly this could be due to the fact that they are in a non-Muslim territory which is subverting from traditional British roots. So because of this it has meant that consumers western culture are going to be more superior because the British Muslim portrayed in this clip are constantly being trying to adapt to the British culture such as Yasmin when she talks to the white man in the accent which shows that the idea of Fanon "black skin white masks". 

However one positive stereotype of British Muslims is that they are seen as religious which portrays a good stereotype because it allows them to then realise that they are living on their own terms and know what is right from wrong.
 One more negative stereotype is that the Muslim main character had to change and when she did change she got stopped by the police; when compared to when she was wearing normal western clothes she was more accepted; however it is also evident that she has been stopped before which can be been seen through how she responded to the police, it was as if she already knew what they was going to ask suggesting that she has already been stopped before by the police. 

on the other hand a negative was the fact that Yasmin has to change into western clothing to be around white people which show's that she is trying to fit in by changing her image toward the white main characters which again shows the British Muslims to be less powerful. 
 3) Finally, choose ONE clip for EACH of the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip. Pick your clips from YouTube but feel free to use TV, film, music video or advertising - whatever you think is most powerful and relevant. Embed the clips in your blog before writing your analysis under each clip. Note: this means you need THREE clips in total on this blog post.





Alvarado: From slumdog millionaire we can see Alvarado theory we as the audience want to pity the character as he  It makes the audience feel as if they should help them and creates an atmosphere of pity.comes form the slums so from the perspective of a western audience the gives them the insensitive to feel emotive of the fact that the character comes from a corrupt society and form the qoute shown in the trailer "every moment of his life is a clue to the answer" which is overall the impression this gives off to the audience creates a feeling of pity.

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