Introduction
The impact of the improbable racial segregation that is created in the film, misrepresents the Muslims who are a diverse community like any other in terms of social, national, racial ethnicities/foundations and who are depicted as unrefined, crude, women oppressors, jihadists and significantly more.
Presently this media portrayal of Muslim segregation assumes a noteworthy job in impacting the mentality of (the highest consumers of these films .i.e the college understudies). In this research, the focus of the design would be on three themes that is pre-modernity, gender representations, and characterizations of Muslims.
Muslims in Media (films) –
Deconstructing a movie in Hollywood (by Michelle Aguayo) –
Illustration of how rooted the radicalized notion of cataloging Muslims as is the “OTHER”. These stereotypes of the orients that are portrayed on screen are targeting gender as an opaque negligent subject by commodifying it as a fetish. Terrorism center movies are creating a propellent discourse of how Muslim people are portrayed in a negative manner. This on-screen representation shows the objectification of a minor community. Michelle Aguayo explicitly brings to light the everlasting debate of treating the Muslims as “others” (culture, racially, gender, ethnicity & religion). According to her this representation of Muslims impacts / has a global appeal because of the transnational circulation of these representations.
Deconstructing a movie in Bollywood (by Maidul Islam) –
Bollywood cinema as a supposedly visual representation of the real does not actually represent the social reality at least in the case of Muslim identity and its expressions. Rather, it creates its own allusions and nostalgia of the feudal past. On the other hand, the Muslim stereotype of a terrorist, anti-national, hooligan, villain, underworld don has been portrayed in most popular films like Roja, Ghulam-e- Mustafa, Black Friday, Maqbool, Maa Tujhe Salaam, Pukar, Gadar, Mission Kashmir, etc. Roja is also one of the first hit films that raise and rehearses the issues of liberalization
Definition of the concept –
What is the topic about?
The operational definition revolves around the idea that “the opinions of non–Muslims are shaped by the re-produced stereotyped image, of Muslims in Bollywood cinema. Which is represented either as an uncivilized character or either as a terrorist.”
In this case, the independent variable would be the ‘representation of Muslims in Bollywood’ and the dependent variable would be, the impact of this representation ‘on the perceptions of non-Muslims (students)’.
What made me choose it?
The reason being was solely to understand how these films that are consumed highly by university students (grossly the highest consumers of films) are understood by them. What do they feel about the radicalism represented in films/ Their views and perceptions towards Muslims after watching these films?
Literature review (quick recap)-
The literature review critically analyzed in the earlier assignments focuses on gathering evidence to form a connection between the representation of Muslims in films and how does this, influence the perceptions of the non-Muslims.
Stereotyped roles and representation of orientalist identities of Muslims represented in cinema. (Reel bad Arabs, J.Shaheen, Edwar said – Content analysis of 900 films.)
Muslim youth (university students) and their struggle for belonging, identity, gender, threat, modernity in public discourse. (Arshad Ali – 24 life history format in-depth interviews using snowball sampling.)
Non-Muslim youth (university students) their difference in religious identities, the diversification of racial and ethnic backgrounds, interaction and participation between students of different cultures and religions, university climate for diversification of different worldviews. (Alyssa Rockenbach- Quantitative research attitudes of Non-Muslim students towards the interfaith engagement and appreciative attitudes towards Muslim students using CRSCS at 52 colleges.)
Research Question
How is the representation of Muslims in Bollywood films, affects the perceptions of the non-Muslim audience/viewers?
Variables:
Independent variable – representation of Muslims in Bollywood films.
Dependent variable – the perceptions of Non-Muslim university students.
Relationship – cause and effect (of films on perceptions)
In order to describe the causality of the relationship between the two variables, the most clear-cut case would be the events of 26/11 and the first movie released after that occurrence in the light of the terrorist attacks was ‘New York’. The movie’s plot was revolving around three university students. out of which one was a Muslim. The movie explores the 9/11 tragedy where this Muslim student was wrongly framed as a terrorist and tortured for a period of 12 to 24 months. After his release, he tried to resume his life back to normal but in these following years of his life, this incident completely changed him and made him a terrorist which he was previously assumed to be. This movie represents the incidents that impacted a Muslim protagonist, traumatizing him for the rest of his life with revenge in mind. This example of a film shows the concept of surveillance on a minority community generalizing the idea of being a Muslim is equivalent to being a terrorist and targeting them for criminal and radical activities.
Research Approach / METHOD –
The strategy is a blend of quantitative and subjective information. These blended techniques configuration is a structure dependent on Jack Shaheen's basic examination of the Muslim paradigms depicted in movies. Arshad and Rockenbach center around characters of Muslim understudies out in the open talk and the demeanors of non-Muslim understudies towards Muslims, be that as it may, my exploration centers around the portrayals of Muslims in Bollywood movies and afterward how does this affect the view of non-Muslim (understudies). The reason I picked an example of non-Muslim understudies is chiefly a result of the utilization of movies in this gathering (youth) is the most elevated. Gathering information would be adaptable utilizing two fundamental factors that are, a portrayal of Muslims in Bollywood films… and the impression of non-Muslim gatherings. Consequently, for this exploration, a non-Muslim student sample will be narrowed furthermore by collecting data for this sample from the universities in knowledge village.
The second stage in this process was to brainstorm a mixed method strategy that would be suitable to gather the evidence required for the research. These non-Muslim students would be selected through a purposive technique similarly to gather the subjects for my study after having a basic idea of them. This would then lead to using the survey as an instrument which consists of questions that are quantitative, before approaching the next stage that is the qualitative in-depth interviews of the subjects.
Quantitative Part 1- (Survey)
The quantitative survey brings out the varied opinions of the sample which in this case is the non-Muslim university students from knowledge village, use of purposive sampling (a non-probability sampling method) to gather students (sample place=Knowledge village-universities, sample unit = non-Muslim Indian students from admissions office/ sample range= 18 to 25 years). It gives an insight into what the youth/viewers perceive with respect to Bollywood Films in Indian cinema. This sample is chosen since it is easily accessible giving an advantage for feasibility, time, cost and authenticity.
The tool used for the measurement of the perceptions of the sample unit will be a closed-ended questionnaire/ survey wherein one section is dedicated to the use of Likert Scale measurement. Now the close-ended questionnaire will focus on demographics and psychographics of the sample.
This survey is designed to accommodate demographic and psychographic questions to understand the student’s nationality, gender, cultural background, academic majors in, etc. The other half is designed to accommodate a Likert scale to understand the points of non-Muslim students regarding, for example: “Muslims are always portrayed as villains = agree or disagree,” “is there any truth to the representation of Muslims in the films as jihadists/terrorists/etc. = agree/disagree.”
Here this framework would then give a comparative analysis of the students compared as variables like graduates and postgraduates, humanities and sciences, women and men, Hindus and Christians.
Example of a sample questionnaire: The questionnaire also focuses on the different characterizations of Muslims, like for example:
What is your gender?
Female
Male
How old are you?
Which culture do you belong to?
What level of education achieved/achieving?
Bachelors Program
Graduate Program
Doctorate Program
In general, which genre of movie do you see the placement of Muslim characters the most in?
Action/Spy
Adventure
Crime/Gangster
Fantasy
Animation
Horror
Romance
Comedy
Political Thrillers
Patriotic Drama
Documentaries
Biographical Dramas
War Dramas
Which roles are played by onscreen Muslims the most?
Terrorist
Spy
Mafia
Muslim Lover
Abusive Husband
Honor killers
Religious Police.
The audience finds the antagonist more promising when it is being played by a Muslim character.
(Agree/ Disagree/ Strongly disagree/ Strongly Agree)
What do you think about the Bollywood films portraying Pakistanis as villains?
Do you think, it is portrayed in a negative light because it is a Muslim nation?
or because of the terrorist activities supported/conducted by the Pakistanis in general.
How would you recognize a Muslim character in the movie?
Beard
Hijab/Veil
Cap
‘Common Muslim Names’
Do you think that these Muslim characters who imitate a certain role, in reality, are also very similar to these characters?
Yes
No
Maybe
Do you agree that the characterization of Hindu-Muslim relationships in (Gadar/Bombay/Veer-Zara) Bollywood films is Real?
Yes
No
Maybe
Muslims are creating violence in real and reel world.
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
The most common trait in Muslims that are real in the reel world?
Illiteracy
Misogyny
Religious Extremism
Gamblers/Gangsters
Religious Police
Women oppressors
As a non-Muslim do you that the recent on Pakistani artists in Bollywood films is more of propaganda against Muslims?
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
Do you think that the Bollywood films shown are religious-centric?
Yes
No
What is your religion?
Hindu
Christian
Buddhist
Sikh
Parsi
Jew
Do you think that the Gender portrayal of Muslims in the film Secret Superstar was aptly described?
As a mother
As a wife
As a daughter
As a husband
Lastly – comparative analysis (comparisons between different groups/different genders/ example: postgraduate students & under-graduate of primary data).
*Why Quantitative merit? to show a generalization of the hypothesis on a bigger sample. This will have more validity for me as a researcher.
Qualitative Part 2 – (In-depth interview)
The sample of choice for the qualitative research would be snowball sampling, this phase would use a sample unit that would be the Non-Muslim media faculty teaching in knowledge village universities to graduates and undergraduates. This type of sampling is used because the media degrees taught in the universities at knowledge village are limited and hence there would be limited and concise faculty for media in the universities. Their interviews will give an in-depth supplement to support my quantitative survey forming various equations with the same variables and giving a new perspective or backing the research in the same direction.
Since these are individually going to be conducted over a period of 45 minutes or an hour to understand the diversity of the perceptions among Indian students coming from a Bollywood cinema and their perception towards the interpretation of films and Muslims. Also, how do the professors feel about the Muslims being portrayed in Bollywood cinema is also a very essential part to understand what is thought by those who teach?
This second part of the research is the qualitative in-depth interviews from people who are at the top of the hierarchy and have a more learned and experienced and probably an unbiased view towards the concept, in this case, it would be the faculty members.
The data will be transcribed, logged and recorded to find themes and may be in the process of understanding the perceptions of the professors discover diverse themes or patterns. This qualitative part can then be structured in a way to present a comparative analysis of the survey and the in-depth interview which can either support the hypothesis or contradict it together or the survey may support the nature of the hypothesis and the interviews may contradict them and vice-versa.
Example of a sample of questions:
As a professor do you think that Bollywood films are imposing to believe a reality of a minority class /is they portraying the truth of that minority class? / Do you feel that not all but most Muslims are like what is shown in the films?
As a media faculty head/professor do you feel that Bollywood films are portraying the correct image and spreading awareness about the possibility of avoiding future riots?
Talk about a Bollywood movie in which Muslims are portrayed in the most correct form that you feel they are in real life as well?
How do films tell you about Muslims in general?.
Implications/Limitations/Advantages:
The reason to design a survey and an in-depth interview was to have all the information using this instrument to make the collection of data feasible in terms of cost and time constraints. The framework of the survey is based on cinema generalizing Muslims stereotypes and the perception of non-Muslims towards it. The sample would be gathered from the universities in knowledge village, Dubai reason being because of the vast diversity among the students culturally, economically, socially would not be seen anywhere in a cluster like this where different universities are in one hand distance, purposive sampling is used first in order to understand the perceptions of Indian non-Muslim students. For the second part of the research, snowball sampling would be used to gather the faculty members. However, there are ethical considerations with respect to permissions that may or may not be granted to conduct this study, the factor of anonymity of non-Muslim students because of their association in a Muslim country and hence questions the credibility of the answers.
The margin of errors – for this mixed research method the main problems faced by me as a researcher would be the validity and reliability of the answers for the quantitative survey conducted on the students. The students could be biased in their opinions because of the sensitive topic discussed in an Islamic state. They would be hesitant, scared and would jeopardize their situation politically and gives them the reason to be one-sided. On the contrary, the in-depth interview would provide as evidence for the research directly from people in much learned and experienced positions. This would however also cause certain validity issues with regards to their identity and depending on their nationality it could also be politically jeopardizing their work and life in the country.
Validity: of thoughts, change in perceptions of the students, biased answers for obvious reasons (living in a Muslim country).
Feasibility (Time and Cost): as a student in terms of funds, availability of students for the interviews, trial, and costs incurred for the interviews.
Ethical Factors: anonymity and confidentiality of the students and professors for political and personal reasons like mainly because of living in a Muslim country, records and evidence for logging in terms of interviews.
Informed Consent: from individuals/institutions/universities/faculty and ethics committee for research on sensitive issues like religious views and outlook.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the explanation behind this investigation is that the understudies who are the future age of a politically promoted world-devouring awful film or is-distorted film ought to know about this trick and ought to take part in multi-confidence sees, perspectives and frame their recognition through this commitment and not through the motivation of these movies. It is additionally extremely critical for movie chiefs and makers to comprehend the idea of their work and the effect it makes by benefiting from the delirium of Islamophobia. Once more, not every one of them is distorting minority networks in an unseemly way yet the greater part of them are.