MUSLIMS IN THE AMERICAN CINEMA : MEDIA CONTESTATION AND POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

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Abstract

Muslims have been existed in America since the pre-colonial period and increased along the Nation and formed the America as today. They came from many different places namely South Asia, Africa and Middle East. However, being minority among the other two of Abrahamic religions, Muslims have not been fully accepted , especially in media. Not only because of its small amount of the community and thus have less power among Christianity and Jews, but the discrimination and labeling toward this religion has led to phobia, a threat that do not only have a negative influence on certain ethnicity (Arabic) of Muslims in America but Islam as a whole. As Shaheen (2000:23) mentions, up to the year of 2000, there are more than 800 feature films and hundreds of television newscasts, documentaries, entertainment shows, ranging from animated cartoon to soap opera to movies of the week which construct Muslim and Arab in an hostile, negative, and militant way. This number was even multiply after the tragedy of 11 September 2009. The objective of this paper is to find out the cultural representation of Muslims in America, especially through the movie. How and why Hollywood depicts Muslims stereotypes on the screens which imply the negation of American society toward this religion as a whole. One of the interesting thing of those depictions is that the Islamic representation is mostly limited to Arabic ethnicity. As Israel and Palestine are conflicting and American interference in the Middle East are getting intense, the depiction of Islam in the movie is mostly related to ‘alien’, violent stranger and the terrorist of the world. The similar presentation from one film to another, which is indeed based on Western perception, has led to form certain ideology which is believed as a truth. In this sense, as a media of representation, film is no longer seen as narratives art per se which is supposed to be neutral, entertaining, and apolitical. Through this film ,it is seen an ideological system , an institution which compose conflicting class and interest which all competing for dominance. Ideological storage especially the Western perspective , cultural practice, historical perspectives or even such political interests are all mingled to contribute presenting Islam and Muslim in a different and limited way. When a particular construction of certain movies is followed by similar pattern of presentation , as the Hollywood intensively does toward the Muslims and any other minority groups, the impact is not only about the messages sent to the audience but also ideology and knowledge production .

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: film, American Muslim, Representation, Contestation, Power relation
Subjects: Politik Islam dan Demokrasi
Divisions: Paper
Depositing User: Miftahul Ulum [IT Staff]
Date Deposited: 17 Jun 2020 09:34
Last Modified: 17 Jun 2020 09:34
URI: http://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/id/eprint/39534

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