Yasmin:
British individuality is very complex subject, I analysed three different films where a particular collective identity was negatively stereotyped, and this included the film Yasmin, Four Lions and the beginning of AE Fond Kiss. These three pieces challenge the stereotypical effect of the wake of 9/11,and the preceding attitude, it is wrong to presume all British Muslims are potential terrorists. The film Yasmin, deals with the issue of how Muslims feel isolated in their own country, due to the conflict and prejudice worldwide. The film is shot during a period where the British Muslims felt that they were being treated badly by the mass population, media, and the government because of a growing concern over an extremist minority within the Islam religion. The representation and variety of of this ethnic group could be viewed as positive, as it does not simplify what the religious, cultural, consequence means , nor the responsibility, to be a true, committed, Asian and Muslim under the influence of the Koran, despite this, and the film still uses several stereotypical character examples to explain this.
The film is clearly critical of these attitudes. It is set amongst a British Pakistani community in Keighley ( West Yorkshire, England) before and after the events of the September 11, 2001 and the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon Building. At the start of the film, the English-Pakistani girl, Yasmin, has two lives in two different worlds: in her community, she wears Muslim clothes, cooks for her father and brother, Nassir, she has the traditional behaviour of a Muslim woman. In her Western world, she is seen wearing traditional teenager clothes, going to bars, smoking, and drinking
The opening scene we see Yasmin on a hill looking down on her town, as she appears to be undressing from her traditional cultural clothes, a sari, and wearing 21st century British clothing, such as jeans and a t shirt. This shows a symbolic contradiction to her Muslim culture, rebellious, to become more free, an independent women living in the 21century. Her identity is shaped by Yasmin, we see her driving her own car, to which the family say that she brings shame on the relatives, she interacts with white men, one of whom she even takes a fancy to her work colleague John. She tries desperately to fit into the Western world by going clubbing, drinking and smoking, she doesn't want to be identified as the Muslim girl, to the outsider and different, she wants and lives the life of a modern day girl, without religion being the major influence.
Her identity changes throughout the film, after the 9/11 bombings, she sees a different side to her culture and the Western attitude, she finally supports and changes her role from this rebellious, selfish women, to finally take charge and be proud of who she is and her religion. She becomes distressed by the events that have occurred, and feels more and more isolated as an individual, so she turns to drink. We see her going to the bar and ordering a vodka, to which she downs, the scene then cross cuts to her driving fast into the countryside as if trying to escape and to forget what is happening, however due to her careless driving and alcohol consumption, she clips the pavement and skids towards the wall, luckily no damage is done but it is enough to shock her and wake her up, so she finally realises that she has got to stop living the way of a Western women and finally of Muslim culture. From wearing jeans and skimpy tops, she starts to dress in a traditional manner, by putting on saris and long dresses. the Muslim women are represented as superior, they look down on the non Muslims they stare at them as they walk past in their hidden clothing.
Yasmin has been criticized for its representation of white people in so far as there are
few likeable white characters in the film. The film deals with closely related issues to racism. This
starts gradually, but gathers momentum over the course of the film with remarks such
as ‘get back to your own country’. The collective term ‘you’, to describe anyone from
an ethnic minority, and becomes important as a symbol of the way that racism simplifies the
difference as a simple case of ‘us’ meaning white and ‘them’ meaning non-white. In the second act, we see the instant and the immediate aftermath of the September, 11th attacks. The effect of those terrible events meant an upsurge in prejudice against the Muslim communities in many parts of Great Britain. In her job she endures prejudice when people start sticking notes on her locker stating 'Yaz loves Osama'. She is eventually asked to take some paid leave and given no valid explanation. We see ordinary people in the pub looking down at her, as well as yobs on BMX bikes attacking an innocent mature Asian woman in the street who Yasmin rescues. We see how young male members of the once harmonious Pakistani community in Keighley go against their parents and start to become radicalised by corrupt readers of the Koran to rise up and fight against the West for the way that they have started to00 demonetise Islam and persecute their people. Yasmin has an unconsummated marriage with the illegal immigrant Faysal Husseini who is a friend of the family from Pakistan. From Yasmin's perspective, she has gone along with the arranged marriage just in order to facilitate his getting a British passport, before divorcing him.
Yasmin's younger brother is easily recruited by a Radical Muslim Group. Finally, after Yasmin' s husband is arrested on suspected terror charges that turns out to have no basis in reality, she too takes sides against the British establishment and changes her life, dressing in traditional attire, waiting for her husband outside a police station for days, and eventually comforting him when he is released, traumatized, without charge. Yasmin refuses to grant her blessing to him as he prepares to go to a training camp in Afghanistan.
Yasmin is torn between the white English characters, both of whom are young British-Pakistani, the old Pakistani father and the newly arrived immigrant Faysal of which there are many contrasts in their belief about what it is to be British traditionalist
Anita & Me (2002) trailer
A sweet chapter in the life of a young girl battling to identify with her roots and environment
Mr 'Everything Comes From India' scenes (Goodness Gracious Me)
The Coopers: Church - Goodness Gracious Me - BBC comedy
The Big Question - The BBC's Citizen Khan: A Comedy or a Mockery? PT1
Mr Khan - The Video They Tried to Ban
Politics and Media: Citizen Khan - Racist stereotypes or harmless fun?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4R4N2RaO1YEAST IS EAST and REPRESENTATION OF BRITISH ASIAN IDENTITY
Erving Goffman's Presentation Of Self Everyday Life offers us a framework for understanding how the different members of the Khan family manage their identities in East Is East (Damien O'Donnell, 1990) plot outline and character names HERE
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life is a book that was published in 1959, written by sociologist Erving Goffman. In it, he uses the imagery of theater in order to portray the importance of human and social action and interaction. He refers to this as the dramaturgical model of social life.
According to Goffman, social interaction may be likened to a theater, and people in everyday life to actors on a stage, each playing a variety of roles. The audience consists of other individuals who observe the role-playing and react to the performances. In social interaction, like in theatrical performances, there is a front region where the actors are on stage in from of an audience. There is also a back region, or back stage, where individuals can be themselves and get rid of their role or identity that they play when they are in front of others.
Main Concepts in the Dramaturgical Framework Performance.
Goffman uses the term ‘performance’ to refer to all the activity of an individual in front of a particular set of observers, or audience. Through this performance, the individual, or actor, gives meaning to themselves, to others, and to their situation. The actor may or may not be aware of their performance or have an objective of their performance, however the audience is always attributing meaning it and to the actor.
Setting. The setting for the performance includes the scenery, props, and location in which the interaction takes place. Different settings will have different audiences and will thus require the actor to alter his performances for each setting.
Front. The actor’s front, as labeled by Goffman, is the part of the individual’s performance which functions to define the situation for the observers, or audience. It is the image or impression he or she gives off to the audience. A social front can also be thought of as a script. Certain social scripts tend to become institutionalized in terms of the abstract stereotyped expectations it contains. Certain situations or scenarios have social scripts that suggest how the actor should behave or interact in that situation. If the individual takes on a task or role that is new to him, he or she may find that there are already several well-established fronts among which he must choose. According to Goffman, when a task is given a new front, or script, we rarely find that the script itself is completely new. Individuals commonly use pre-established scripts to follow for new situations, even if it is not completely appropriate or desired for that situation.
Front Stage, Back Stage, Off Stage. In stage drama, as in everyday interactions, according to Goffman, there are three regions, each with different affects on an individual’s performance: front stage, back stage, and off-stage. The front stage is where the actor formally performs and adheres to conventions that have meaning to the audience. The actor knows he or she is being watched and acts accordingly.
When in the back stage, the actor may behave differently than when in front of the audience on the front stage. This is where the individual truly gets to be himself or herself and get rid of the roles that he or she play when they are in front of other people.
Finally, the off-stage is where individual actors meet the audience members independently of the team performance on the front stage. Specific performances may be given when the audience is segmented as such.
References
Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday
REVISION OF ROLAND BARTHES and NARRATIVE FRAMEWORKS
Barthes The Rhetoric of the Image
Barthes Myths and Truths
Semiotics here
Barthes Narrative codes here
Propp here
Todorov here
Bordwell here
Representation what is representation
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