The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the effects of Ethnicity in the media and how it is represented.
The beginning of the scene begins with mise-en-scene costume of Yasmin who is of an Islamic background which sets boundaries in what she wears and looks like but in the beginning of the scene she is wearing a low cut top, jeans, heels and a lot of jewellery. This contradicts the Islamic faith as they do not approve of women showing there body or putting on a lot of makeup but still Yasmin does, she also is not wearing a hijab which signifies she is not religious, this signifies that she is rebelling against her faith which is uncommon for an Ethnicity like Yasmin’s as they are stereotyped to surround there lives according to religion. The setting in this scene is in a working class street as in the long shot we see council bins outside her flat; this could represent how she wishes to try being like every other working class person. Also at the pub Yasmin is at the bar which is a common place for working class white ethic people, and the media do not show Islamic ethnic people in a beer advert as it is the morn and rules by the religion that they do not drink, but she chooses to be insurgent of her cultures instructions, which results in the white ethnic people to feel uncomfortable with her drinking and smoking in the pub. The white people are being very stereotypical as they are sitting in groups drinking pints, which is a very working class drink whilst middle class people in the C1 socio economic scale would be drinking wine etc. The props used in this sequence both show the rebellion in her whilst the other shows the stereotype she is trying to avoid which is being a good cook for men whilst looking after the house, the props are cigarettes/drink and a pot of food which she has made for her brother but has not prepared it for him, this shows the respect she still has to her culture but still feels like she should be looking out for herself. The fact that Yasmin is an attractive young woman shows that she is a positive representation for her ethnicity which shows that she is more attractive then the white people in this scene.
The beginning of the scene opens with an over the shoulder shot and then pans around Yasmin to show her reflection in the mirror as she is showing herself as a different person then to what her culture expects of her. Yasmin’s facial expression is shown as she shows no happiness or sadness but is blank and has no emotion to her face, this shows that she is indecisive on whether to defend her culture or abandon it. Then there is a mid shot of Yasmin sitting at the bar with a clear shot of the stoops full of alcohol to show the setting of where she is. Her glass of vodka and cigarettes symbolize her rebellion to her culture and her desire to break away from her responsibilities as a Muslim. It also suggests that the ethnicity of being a Muslim at that time was dangerous. Then a focus pull from a shallow focus to deep focus as it is centred on Yasmin while she defends her faith, but then as she turns around the focus goes deep to create the effect of the working class people’s facial expressions. There is also a 3 shot of the women in the pub staring at Yasmin while she is saying sorry in a forced way which suggests that they are ganging up on her, this makes Yasmin look inferior amongst the white women to show that her ethnicity singles her out from her colleges.
There is an eye-line match of Yasmin looking at her colleges to see if they are staring at her, this reveals that she cares a great deal of what her white colleges think of her because she is insecure about being accepted. There is a shot reverse shot between the white man and Yasmin while the white man is looking down at Yasmin from a high angle, and the white man is being looked up at in a low angle this is to show the dominance and power the white man has in the pub in his ‘territory’, the idea that a pub is a territory for white working class people and not ethnicities that are against drinking such as the Muslim faith reveals that Yasmin would be an outcast. Continuity editing is used frequently to create a realistic Muslim point of view and shows how Yasmin felt and dealt with the situation. The frame of the white man is that he takes up most of the shot whilst we see the back of Yasmin’s head, which shows his supremacy.
The diegetic sound of Yasmin’s voice is that she has a strong Yorkshire accent which is known to be a stereotypical working class area; this shows the contrast of the stereotype that all Islamic people have her cultures accent. Yasmin’s position of being the only Muslim in the pub just after the 911 bombings creates a sense of awkwardness between her and her fellow colleges, but in an attempt to get a sense of forgiveness a diegetic sound of her screaming at a Muslim on TV racial abuse
‘Go back to your own country, paki!’
This is the switch where the audience can clearly see that she has disowned her culture and no longer classes herself as a Muslim; this reveals that she is trying to break the stereotype of being a terrorist and being Pakistani as she didn’t want to be related to the current events. Another diegetic comment made by Yasmin assists her behaviour of attempting to fit into a white working class society
‘I haven’t been to a mosque in 5 years, I’m about as Muslim as you’
Yasmin’s actions towards her own culture trigger her colleagues to speak up and a tall stereotypical white working class male approaches Yasmin and makes a remark on ALL Muslims
‘Muslims haven’t done themselves any favours because no one has apologised’
Through this remark Yasmin has then switched from feeling ashamed of her race to defending it by standing up for her, this also enters the stereotype that women are passive and silent; this is also aimed at Muslim women as they are known to not start an argument with a man as it is disrespectful.
‘What have Muslims got to apologise for?’
Yasmin is the contrast of the stereotypical Muslim woman as she shows a dominance and power that is stronger then the white male. Although there are racial remarks made by the white women in the pub directed at Yasmin which no one finds disrespectful but instead funny ‘oh, you like a bit of brown’ which represents how others see the Muslim race and how there think of her culture which is a ‘joke’.
