Year 13 Post 9/11 Representations of Islam possible texts

Here are some ideas of potential sources for your research:

• Karim Said in Oz (HBO)
• Brother Mouzone in The Wire (HBO)
• The Masoods in Eastenders (BBC1)
• Tariq Masood in Spooks (BBC1)
• The Nasir family in Corrie (ITV)
• Various news presenters - especially on Channel 4 News
• The film Four Lions - Channel 4 Films (this can be as an "extra" medium as it is a film)
• Sayyid in Lost
• Nadiya on The Great British Bake Off (BBC)
• Mind Your Language ITV  sitcom from the 1970s - great for historical representations

Year 13 Homework - due Monday 22nd February

In the light of my feedback on your representation essays, please re-draft and include the improvements I've suggested as well as my overall general tips on how to meet the exam criteria.

Year 12 Homework - due Monday 22nd February

Please complete your analysis of the representation of ethnicity in the following clip from Hotel Babylon; it should be written up (typed or in your book) as a formal assessment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG5GJQjyGo

The questions I gave you in class are here:

Hotel Babylon clip :

Representation in general:

Difference in status of various ethnicities: how is the audience positioned?

For example, who has higher status, the police or the immigrant workers?

How is the audience encouraged to identify with the workers? How is more emphasis put on their points of view?

How is the audience positioned in relation to the immigrant officials and the immigrants?

Is there an antagonist here?

Is the audience encouraged to have sympathy with the immigrants?

Does the extract challenge or confirm traditional stereotypes of illegal immigrants represented in the media?

Camera shots, angles and composition

What does the framing of all the characters together in hiding and later through panning in the canteen suggest about a sense of community?

Note the focus pull when Ibrahim is arrested – how does this reflect his sudden awareness of danger?

Mise en scene

Contrast of the luxury hotel with the cramped storage room in which the immigrants are hiding;

Costumes – suits for some characters and cleaners’ and maids’ uniforms for others – what messages or values are implied;

Lighting – high key, artificial and low key

Colour – white suit of the receptionist juxtaposed with the dark suit of the other female character;

How does clothing denote power and the way the characters fit into a hierarchy?

Sound

How does the use of sound relate to the characters’ different roles in the drama?

Describe the tempo and use of music in relation to the representation of characters.

How does the use of foreign languages and accents reinforce the representation of characters as different or other?

What is the significance of the statement in the dialogue; ‘I wasn’t always a cleaner”?

Editing

How does different editing create particular viewpoints?

How does screen time indicate the shifting relationship between the characters? Rule of thirds?

Pace of editing reflects frantic situation and emotions.

Shot reverse shot and cuts aid continuity.

Cross cutting between two situations enhances tension.

Long and short takes represent power.

Eye line match reinforces a sense of dominance.

What types of transition are used?

Juxtaposition of characters using editing devices.

FAO Year 13: Obama on media representations of Muslims

Have a read of this. It's highly pertinent to our exam preparation:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/03/barack-obama-mosque-visit-rounded-muslim-characters-on-tv?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Year 12 homework - due Monday 8th February

Write a short analysis of two TV characters and how they are represented. Use media terminology in your analysis and consider: a) a representation of gender and b) a representation of sexuality.

Year 13 Homework - due Monday 8th February 2016

Please analyse the newspaper cuttings we found that refer to refugees and analyse them for the following:

• ideology
• mediation
• stereotypes and countertypes
• codes