Post colonialism
Alvarado - 1987:
Alvarado's theory was that there are four categories/themes that the ethnic minority (black Africans) fall into, these where represented in movies, TV programs and online. These categories are;
Exotic - Models, music, artist, food.
Dangerous - Crime, gangs, socially dysfunctional.
Humorous - Comedians, side-kicks, quirky)
Pitied - Poverty.
In every or a vast majority of TV shows, movies, or online content (online videos/programs) when we see a black African character, one or more of these themes will be portrayed upon the person or people. In British shows such as Top Boy and Bullet boy, the theme of danger is mostly expressed as that is how we tend to see black males in the society.
Frantz - Fanon - 1925 - 1961:
Frantz - Fanons theory of "Putting on the white mas". This means that black males now act like they are wearing a white mask to fit in to society, whereas in the olden days black slaves would put on white masks to mock on their masters. This has now become a norm in society, where a lot of black males or even people of ethnic minorities will act in a different way so that they feel accepted in society. This can be see very clearly in elite members of society, for example Barack Obama, he acts as if he is a white male as he has to be accepted by a nation of people, and they may not accept him if he doesn't follow this.
Frantz - Fanon similarly to Alvarado put black males and ethnic minorities in to four groups:
Infantilize - Such as the 'cute' children of the charity poster.
Primivitize - The exotic and virile (sexual potency) tribal warriors or bare breasted maidens with a natural sense of rhythm.
Decivilize - The gangsta, the pimp etc...
Essentialze - Undifferentiated mass, 'they're all the same to me'.
These are also themes or characteristics that we see in media when we see black males or other ethnic groups. We see it as the norm, it isn't usually questioned as in society we are used to seeing characters being portrayed in such a way.
Edward Said - 1978 Orientalism
The main theory that Edward Said came up with is that Europeans divided the world in to two parts, which were the East and the West or civilized and uncivilized. This was said as the Europeans thought that they were superior to everyone else and that they had to civilize the uncivilized. This was mainly laid on the basis or 'them and us' or 'theirs and ours'.
Yasmin (2004) again
Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims?
The opening to the film shows a predominantly negative view of British Muslims, this is based on the evidence shown, we see the girl getting changed out of her traditional Muslim clothing and putting on 'Western clothing' this shows that she may be ashamed of being Muslim, which then to the audience portrays that being a Muslim in Britain is something negative. Furthermore looking at the Muslim/Indian actor that is shown, we see that he is very poor and quite uneducated. This can be seen as we see him eating, what seems like peanut butter, with his finger and to heat his tea, he makes a make shift fire outside his house.
These all give negative views on Muslims in Britain, or British Muslims, as we then see them as being uneducated and we see the culture as something negative.
To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilized east?
I believe that the opening to the film reinforces Edward Said's theory as when the film starts we see women walking in the middle of the road, and a man sleeping on the floor in his home. Furthermore, when see Yasmin go in to the pub, some of the white males look at her in disgust. This shows that they feel superior to her because she a Muslim, and they are white British citizens. Furthermore as Britain is in the West and Pakistan is in the East it further enforces Edwards theory, as the white males may feel as if they are all civilized and because she is Muslim, she is uncivilized. However this is counteracted when the police see Yasmin driving her car and stop her, she then comes out of the car and tells the police that it is a 35 mph road and then provides them with her drivers license without them asking. Which proves that she is educated and civilized as she knows what is right and wrong.
My clips & theory relation
In this video we see a vast amount of gang culture and very sexual content. Relates to Alvarado's theory of 'danger', and 'exotic' as we see gangs popping gang signs and standing and dancing around each other. Furthermore as it is a black male that is singing/rapping it relates to the theme of exotic and the females that we see are very sexual and one of the two females is also an American black female.
In this clip we see a clear view of what Frantz - Fanon says, of "Putting on the white mask". The two comedians that we see talk about how they act white around white people and how they act 'black' around other black Americans. This shows that people act white to feel as if they fit in with society.
In this final trailer of East is East, we can see Edward Said's theory being shown of Orientalism. As we see that when the boy from England (the west) to Pakistan (the East) he finds that the people and the ways there are much different, for example when he needs to go toilet, he is told to go in a field. This to a lot of people would seem very 'uncivilized' as in the West people use toilets when they need to go, and not a field. Thus it enforces the theory that the West is more civilized than the East.
