Cultural Diversity in the Media - Essay Example

?CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE MEDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTARIES Introduction Culture as defined by Parvis (2007) is the way of life of a group of people; it forms a person’s life through influences that are accessible to everyone through the circle of humanity that is surrounding the individual at the center. Traditions, values and standards within the realm of family, friends and other elements of influence as stressed by Parvis (2007) shape one’s culture. Parvis (2007) emphasized that cultural differences have always been critical and controversial. Moreover, it is imperative that in order to fully understand the concept of cultural diversity, an individual must gain insight on the terms surrounding such concept (Parvis 2007). This paper endeavors to discuss cultural diversity through the definition of a variety of concepts surrounding it and via analyzing documentaries vital to its further comprehension. The Difference of Race and Ethnicity Race is defined by Parvis (2007) as a social construct that unnaturally divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance particularly color, ancestral heritage, and socioeconomic needs. On the contrary, Ethnicity is truly a matter of culture, which is in fact associated with many elements of civilization such as language, behavioral patterns, religion, traditions, heritage and geographic origins (Parvis 2007). Ethnicity also denotes a classification or affiliation with a group of people having common customs, characteristics, language, etc. (Parvis 2007). The Definition of Cultural Diversity Diversity as defined by Parvis (2007) is the quality of being different from one another or simply being composed of distinct elements or qualities from one another. Moreover, diversity is a new culture of human behavior that honors people wherever they are, with what they know, how they acquired this knowledge, and how they apply it (Parvis 2007). Cultural diversity can be found in differing living conditions, relationships, emotions, working styles, teaching, raising children and governing a society, to mention a few (Parvis 2007). Analysis of Documentaries Fame Asylum Fame Asylum is a fifty-minute documentary conceptualized mainly for viewers aged 14-19 years old aired on Channel 4’s online on-demand service or 4OD. It is created by an abstract artist named Richard Dedominici. The premise behind this program is to seek a means of changing people’s attitudes through music by creating a pop group different from the others for it is a boy band that is composed of four asylum seekers (Dedominici 2006). In the aforementioned documentary, the creator, Richard Dedominici teams up with songwriter and producer named Sammy Jay together with the choreographer, TJ Arlette, as they hold auditions to seek the exact blend of singers from the variety of promising future artists. The four guys who will be chosen will form a vocal harmony boy band which will be named Status (Dedominici 2006). This project was termed as an innovative and provocative experiment that focus on issues of immigration, human rights and the nature of fame, hence the boy band’s name Status, which inevitably received media coverage (Dedominici 2006). It was endeavored that such publicity would play a part in stimulating curiosity and attention to this project and probably encourages record company attention, and thus a persistently bright future for the members of Status (Dedominici 2006). However the project’s principal goal have to do with modifying insights and appreciation of the life events of asylum seekers and has no plan of assuring its participant’s recognition by the public, continuous employment or chart success (Dedominici 2006). Fame Asylum was formulated mainly to change the attitudes of people towards immigration issues among the complex and complicated to reach and view-persuading female teens, harnessing pester-power and the trickle-up theory‚ to transform minds, modify behavior, move paradigms, and revolutionize societies (Dedominici 2006). It was also created as a strategy in raising prevalent consciousness around complicated socio-political issues and as an answer to the necessities of refugee artists and asylum seekers who desire to make evident the involvement of refugees to the United Kingdom, encourage discernment of why people search for a place of safety and oppose downbeat acuities of refugees and asylum seekers in Britain (Dedominici 2006). The creator of the project chiefly devoted to the improvement and execution of ground-breaking schemes devised to weaken conventional conviction structures and overthrow present authority organizations; moreover, by reaching the boundaries of established customary manner, the poetic acts of low-grade civil insubordination compulsorily inquire relevant queries of society, while the insinuating bizarre interferences produce the type of ambiguity that results to opportunity (Dedominici 2006). The boy band group consists of Long from Vietnam, Saeed from Iran, Aaron from Albania and David from Nigeria (Dedominici 2006). A variety of the issues in the lives of asylum seekers are tackled in the program. The guy from Albania named Aaron after establishing his life in the United Kingdom is embarrassed to allow his English friends to know that he is an asylum seeker due to the social disgrace associated with the subject (Dedominici 2006). On the contrary, the guy from Nigeria named David, who depended on the Church since his arrival at the United Kingdom, was torn between performing on stage and going to Church when they need his assistance (Dedominici 2006). Meanwhile, lone minors are asylum seekers who go to the United Kingdom under the age of 18, without the guidance of an adult; they are permitted to live in the United Kingdom under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this was the case of Saeed from Iran who was near eighteen when the documentary was being recorded, hence, he was facing deportation at that time (Dedominici 2006). Different stories were depicted by the band members and soon the government will be stating their decision regarding these asylum seekers, the author of this paper thinks that seeing how these young men became valuable citizens would probably grant them their wish to stay in the United Kingdom. The author of this paper deems that Richard has no moral responsibility in providing further support to the young men who were chosen to be the members of the boy band which he named Status in lieu of an individual’s standing in the society. In the first place, it was Richard who gave them the opportunity to gain asylum in the United Kingdom by showcasing their talents, opposing the social stigma connoted with the term asylum seekers, changing the negative attitudes of people towards immigration issues and proving to the government that they can be valuable citizens to the country. Hence, after this project since a great chance was given to them, Richard should not be forever held accountable for the life of these young men, they should learn to stand on their own for the fact that they were already aided in taking a step forward towards asylum. Brick Lane Brick Lane is a film by Sony Picture Classics, directed by Sarah Gavron (2007), adapted from the novel by Monica Ali with the same title. The story of the film revolves on the life and struggles of the female protagonist named Nazneen. After her mother’s suicide, Nazneen portrayed by the actress Tannishta Chatterjee is given by her father in an arranged marriage to a man she has never set her eyes on (Gavron 2007). She had to move to move to London in the 1980s because of her husband Chanu. Even though Chanu portrayed by the actor Satish Kaushik is not a fiend, he is deprived of perception and attention into his young wife’s sentiments; he is absolutely unaware of the fact that his wife longs of her home and sister during their sexual intercourse, and presumes that knowing about Hume and Thackeray are the signs of erudition which will amaze his employer and coworkers (Gavron 2007). Unfortunately, his notion was proven wrong. After losing his work and left with a lot of debts, Chanu starts working as a minicab driver (Gavron 2007). Nazneen attempts to help in sustaining her family’s living and existence by doing what the other women in the council houses do; hence, she purchases a sewing machine and accepts piecework to be able to create blue jeans (Gavron 2007). This is when she meets Karim played by Christopher Simpson who is the youthful, good-looking, delivery man for the incomplete jeans; the two fell in love, made love to each other, discuss the plan of Nazneen to file a divorce and eventually after the divorce, their marriage will soon take place (Gavron 2007). Conversely, Chanu seems to be unaware of what was happening around him or probably he just refuses to do anything about it (Gavron 2007). Chanu decided to go back to Bangladesh; thus, Nazneen is faced with the dilemma of going back home with her husband and also enjoy the carefree life of her sister Hasina as what she had been narrating in her letters to her or stay in London and be with her love, Karim (Gavron 2007). In the film, Nazneen is pressured to conform to Bengali Muslim traditions at the same time, to follow the lay yet lenient British customs. The film has ignited controversies and protests before and during the time of its debut particularly with the Bangladeshi community in London for they despise the fact that people from Bangladesh are illustrated in the film as uneducated individuals as depicted by the character of Chanu. The film production was even unable to shoot at Brick Lane due to such oppositions. In comparison with the article entitled, Geographies of Inclusion/Exclusion: British Muslim Women in the East End of London (Begum 2008), the film showcased familiarity only rather than unleash other significant issues for it was a mere compilation of ideas about the life events of Muslim immigrant women rather than a scrutiny of the experiences and sentiments based on the life of a particular woman. In the cited article, it concentrated at the place-based multicultural construction of Banglatown in the East End of London, and discusses what essence it bestows to young Bangladeshi women growing up in Spitalfields (Begum 2008). It starts by tackling theoretical arguments on identities, youth, gender and space, and establishes the conversation on Bangladeshis and Islam in the East End (Begum 2008). The assumptions imply that there are recent predicaments to place-based constructions such as Banglatown that exhibited such places to be masculine and subtly prohibitive for Bangladeshi women (Begum 2008). The limits of multiculturalism are thrown wide open from two unlikely quarters from young women who are forced into vacating that space, and others who take issue with its secular, Bengali based identity, preferring a transcendental identity like Islam (Begum 2008). The growing attention on Muslims in non-majority Muslim countries such as the United Kingdom has sharply focused on women’s mobility and the visibility in veiling practices, and progressively over time visibility has come to denote multiple meanings and perceptions in spheres of representations (Begum 2008). Building on geographic thinking on space the research charts some direction towards a gendered understanding of regeneration processes taking place in the East End of London, and more widely in different parts of the United Kingdom; the arguments made in the paper point to the limits of multiculturalism in accommodating young feminine identities in Spitalfields’ redevelopment (Begum 2008). Both tackled the life women from Bangladesh, however, the article was more focused in revealing what was actually experienced by majority of the Bangladeshi women, and the impact of these to their being as a whole and to the community they live in. Second Generation The Second Generation is a two-part drama directed by Jon Sen (2003) which encompasses the concepts of love, family and identity. It was set around the tangled relationships of two Indian families with a deep-rooted, shared history (Sen 2003). The setting of the drama commences with the female protagonist named Heere, who is estranged from her family for nine years, she is now a feisty and independent lady who is living with her fiance, Jack (Sen 2003). When her father, Sharma falls into a coma, her hard-nosed older sisters, Pria and Rina, get back in touch, forcing her to confront the past she has been escaping (Sen 2003). Heere's life is further rocked when she runs into Sam Khan, a record label boss, childhood friend and first love, who may be the only person who can truly understand her situation, however, as the years fall away, the passion they cannot stop takes over (Sen 2003). In the article entitled, It’s Asian life but not as we know it (Sandhu 2003), which cited the aforementioned drama series as ambitious highlighted that there was a time, from the 1960s until well into the 1990s, when Asian people on television were synonymous with bad news. Sandhu (2003) further stressed that the Asians featured in drama series which highlights the topic about the awfulness of arranged marriages or domestic violence. On current affairs programs, they could be seen shouting slogans and holding placards in protest against exploitative factory owners and even when they appeared in comedy shows, they tended to be the butts of jokes rather than the tellers of them (Sandhu 2003). Conversely, as keen to show the dance floors of the Asian underground music scene as it is the world of the mosque, Second Generation, is an epic saga that takes in madness, suicide and the agonies and ecstasies of migration according to Sandhu (2003). Moreover, as emphasized by Sandhu (2003) in his article, the drama series showcased a sensitive portrayal of young Muslims which is uncommon in British television shows. Such portrayal is contrary to the main idea behind minority media as emphasized by Siapera (2010) that ethnic and cultural groups do not find adequate representation and voice in mainstream media, thereby requiring their own media to address this void. Ethnic Minority media is said to address the issue of cultural survival of ethnic minority cultures, specifically indigenous cultures, which find themselves under the pressure of dominant cultures (Siapera 2010). Diasporic media, on the contrary, which highlights deterritorialized communities, prioritizes elements of continuous development, of being in between places, of similarity of experience, but not necessarily nostalgia for the homeland (Siapera 2010). In the miniseries, it was a blend of minority and diasporic media for it exhibited the aforementioned characteristics of the said types. As previously emphasized, it was a remarkable illustration of a minority media for it was able to validate and conform to the sensitive portrayal of a young Muslim which the other British television shows were unable to achieve. Likewise, the miniseries was able to illustrate the real life scenarios of British Asians, how they are keeping up with the pace to meet the demands of the United Kingdom to them. The miniseries did not put the identity of British Asians at stake just to create an entertaining movie with full of twists, they showed the aspects of Indian families like the curry industry and the underground music scene. They did not conceal anything just to merely please the audience instead they were able to unravel the issues regarding life that was at times, neglected by a lot of individuals. Conclusion Cultural diversity is indeed portrayed effectively by the media as illustrated in the various documentaries that was scrutinized. Cultural differences as highlighted by Parvis (2007) are depicted in various forms of communication such as the mass media. Cultural differences also appear in social interactions, working together or sharing a common cause (Parvis 2007). Likewise, Parvis (2007) gave emphasis that media has an important role in showing diversity to the world for it is able to connect cultures and promotes diversity due to the fact that it does not know any boundaries for it travels across and penetrates into the regions and realms. References Begum, H. (2008) Geographies of Inclusion/Exclusion: British Muslim Women in the East End of London. Sociological Research Online. Available at: http://socresonline.org.uk/13/5/10.html. Dedominici, R. (2006) Fame Asylum. Available at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/fame-asylum/4od. Gavron, S. (2007) Brick Lane. United Kingdom: Sony Picture Classics. Parvis, L. (2007) Understanding Cultural Diversity in Today’s Complex World. United States of America: Lulu Press. Sandhu, S. (2003) It’s Asian life but not as we know it. The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3602568/Its-Asian-life-but-not-as-we-know-it.html. Sen, J. (2003) Second Generation. Available at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/second-generation/4od. Siapera, E. (2010) Minority and Diasporic Media: Controversies and Contributions. Cultural Diversity and Global Media: The Mediation of Difference. United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons. Read More