EntertainmentMovies & TVAn American study reflects Islamophobia present in commercial cinema

An American study reflects Islamophobia present in commercial cinema

Missing and Evil: The Reality of Muslims in Popular World Movies is the title that a report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Ford Foundation, Pillars Fund has produced, with the support of English actor Riz Ahmed. The documents quantitatively and qualitatively reflect the trend on Islamophobia present in the representation of popular cinema.

And that Muslims represent the fastest growing religious community that represents the greatest racial and ethnic diversity in the world. But its filmic representation in commercial films is totally marginal. Actor Riz Ahmed spoke of the report by stating. “I think we all knew it would be bad, but we didn’t know it would be that bad.” According to the study, of a total of 8,965 characters spoken and identified in the 200 highest-grossing films released between 2017 and 2019 in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, only 1.6 percent were Muslim . There were also no characters belonging to this religion in the animated films of the sample.

Ahmed went on to show data from the report: “To see how Muslims are portrayed in relation to violence, more than 30% of Muslim characters are perpetrators of violence. More than 50% are victims of violence. As we know from the studies that have been done, that has an impact in the real world. What you end up with is people killed, countries invaded, discriminatory laws passed. But seeing everything in front of you in black and white is shocking. “

Other data reflects the presence of different categories within the Muslim characters represented: They are overwhelmingly male (76.4%), heterosexual (99%), non-disabled (99%), Middle Eastern (66.7%), always stereotyped as outsiders, menacing, or subordinate, particularly white characters, in stories about the past.

The study finally relates that during Trump’s presidency, marked by Islamophobia, it alerted industry experts to more strongly defend the varied representations of Muslims, but as Ahmed points out , “we can’t just point to a couple of success stories. highlighted while ignoring structural bias within our industry and in our society at large. “ Will a movement emerge demanding a greater presence of this religious representation as happened with the claim of a greater presence of blacks and women in the Hollywood industry?

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