With the productions that reach millions of people in Western countries, it is aimed that Western people have bad thoughts about Islam and Muslims. Media analysts point out that Western media makes heavily disinformation on representations of Muslim women, terrorists and refugees.
MEDIA SHAPES WESTERNERS’ MUSLIM PERCEPTION
Çanakkale 18 Mart University Faculty of Communication Lecturer, who has studies on anti-Muslim discourses in TV series and movies, Dr. Gülenay Pınarbaşı said, “Today, the perception of the East and Muslims in Western societies is media-based. All types of media such as cinema, television, newspaper and social media have changed the way the East is presented and seen. The image of the East, which is presented differently, has been reproduced as an ideological discourse by incorporating anti-Muslim sentiment with the September 11 attacks.”
MUSLIMS ARE REPRESENTED IN VERY BAD WAYS
In Western cinema, Arabs were portrayed as savage, greedy and barbarian in the past, but today they are are portrayed as terrorists. The use of the phrase ‘It's a bit barbaric, but this is my home’ for the country of the Arab Aladdin character in the Disney movie Aladdin, which was released about 10 years before the September 11 attacks, is enough to show the ugliness of the perception operation that the Western media is trying to create on Muslims.
DUE TO THESE REPRESENTATIONS, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE WEST INCREASES
The portrayal of a Muslim woman as a "terrorist" in the role of Arab Nadya in the TV series Bodyguard, which tells the story of a war veteran tasked with protecting a British politician and started broadcasting for the BBC in 2018, drew a strong reaction.
Experts state that these stereotypes increase the hostility towards Muslims in the West and that Muslim women living in Western countries are exposed to a great deal of harm and violence due to these stereotypes.
Çanakkale 18 Mart University Faculty of Communication Lecturer, who has studies on anti-Muslim discourses in TV series and movies Dr. Gülenay Pınarbaşı evaluated the anti-Muslim portrayals in Western cinema and the media's role in the increase in attacks on Muslim women.
Pınarbaşı stated that the average Westerner's judgments about Muslim societies are shaped by the media and said, “Today, the way the East and Muslims are perceived in Western societies is media-based. All types of media such as cinema, television, newspaper and social media have changed the way the East is presented and seen. The image of the East, which is presented differently, has been reproduced as an ideological discourse by incorporating anti-Muslimism with the September 11 attacks.”
Pointing out that the ‘evil’ portrayal of Arab and Muslim characters in the cinema began in the silent film era, Pınarbaşı pointed out that the Arab Aladdin character in the Disney-made Aladdin movie, which was released nearly 10 years before the September 11 attacks, said about his country, ‘It's a bit barbaric, but this is my home’.
Pınarbaşı said, “In cinema, Arabs are seen as wild and greedy sheikhs, exotic people, belly dancers and today terrorists. Unfortunately, the bond between Western societies and the Islamic world is getting weaker day by day due to the representations of Islam and Muslims shown in the media.”
THE ISLAMIC WORLD IS REFLECTED IN THE WESTERN MEDIA AS CONSISTS ONLY OF ARABS
Pointing out that the Western media has standardized Muslim women with some symbols of Arab culture, Pınarbaşı said, “The Islamic world is not just made up of Arabs. In the Western media, Muslim women and men are presented only with elements specific to that culture. In doing so, it draws on the long and rich history of stereotypes and statistical misrepresentations of Muslim communities. In this way, women are presented as pro-violence as well as being 'without an identity and personality'.”
Noting that the attacks against Muslim women in the West are much more than the attacks against men, Pınarbaşı continued as follows: “Representations pave the way for the exposure of Muslim women in the West to acts of violence. Very different and comprehensive studies conducted in our country and around the world show that women are exposed to anti-Muslim attacks much more. In some research results, the difference between men and women who have been attacked reaches up to 70 percent. Such a result is produced through the physical weakness of women and the representation of Muslim women who seem hypocritical and innocent but are actually monsters,” she added.
IN THE WEST, WOMEN ARE EXPOSED TO MORE VIOLENCE DUE TO THESE REPRESENTATIONS
Pınarbaşı gave an example of the TV series Bodyguard, which tells the story of a war veteran tasked with protecting a British politician and started broadcasting in 2018 for the BBC, and said the following about the portrayal of a Muslim woman in the cinema: “The character of Arabian Nadya in the series Bodyguard is a stockpile of images of Islamophobia built in the past and the embodiment of pure evil. In this series, with the skill of the director and actor, Muslim women are made even more threatening than Muslim men. Those who are exposed to violence in the West because of anti-Muslim violence are women because of these representations.”
Explaining that the character of Nadya said that she did the terrorist attack first because her husband wanted it, Pınarbaşı said that with this statement, the female character from the Middle East was “othered as someone who has lost her personality.” Pınarbaşı later said that Nadya said, “No one forced me. I'm an engineer and actually I built the bomb.” She evaluated the expression “I planned the action myself” as “the marginalization of women as a monster”.
Pointing out that the Western media heavily uses representations of Muslim women, terrorists and refugees while being anti-Muslim, Pınarbaşı said, “We see that the Bodyguard series is also opened with these representations. The refugee crisis provides their own justification for the Western media to associate Islam with terror and violence. As a result of this massive disinformation, unfortunately, indifference towards the suffering experienced in Islamic lands is increasing.”
Pınarbaşı also stated that while anti-Islamic images are used, the academic education of Muslim girls through Nadya is "de-legitimized" and said: “Muslim women are demonized through representations in the cinema, even if they go to the West to do great things, discover vaccines or do very important research. No matter how successful and well-educated Muslim women are, a perception is created that they are the primary threat to the Anglo-Saxon world. Thus, Muslim women are made an open target in public.”
ATTITUDES THAT ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH ISLAM'S MESSAGES ARE IDENTIFIED WITH MUSLIMS
Pınarbaşı stated that audience was actually persuaded to the racist representations against Muslims by portraying as irony is made in the 2012 film The Dictator, which was re-screened on digital platforms, directed by Larry Charles, screenwriter Sacha Baron Cohen was among the screenwriters. Pınarbaşı continued her words as follows:
“The character in the movie, whose path ends up in America, said, 'I'm so sorry, it's a girl when she gave birth to a baby girl. Where's the trash can?' This is an extremely oriental cliché. In fact, one of the most beautiful messages that Islam has presented to the world is that Arab society abolished the tradition of burying girls before Islam, but it is perceived as if girls are buried in the Islamic world as in the period of ignorance, and it is said that women do not have the right to live there.”
Stating that attitudes incompatible with the messages of Islam are identified with Muslims, Pınarbaşı said: “The movie ‘The Dictator’ takes place in a country whose supposed location is unknown, but even the letters they use are very similar to Arabic letters. The film uses a lot of things that can be identified with Arabs. All of these representations are based on both pre-Islamic traditions and Arab mythological periods, as well as Arab culture.”