Fw: Islamophobia and Cinema
kishord...@yahoo.co.in
Lenin had purportedly said that among all the arts, he
considered cinema the most important. This came from a man who saw cinema in
its early days. I often wonder if he would have left politics and become a film
producer if he had seen the power of the moving image now.
Today, the moving image is used to shape public opinion and turn friends into
foes in the blink of a few thousand eyelids. No where is this 'shaping' of
public opinion via cinema and TV clearer than in the purported 'war-on-terror'.
We accept the murder and slaughter of innocents - even children, because we
have been fed that even Muslim children are 'terrorists' (literally, watch the
sickening film 'Terms of Engagement'). I don't think it’s too much of a stretch
to say that Islamophobia today is threatening the existence of humanity.
Here's an long essay analysing how cinema is used, both covertly and overtly to
push the islamophobic agenda of the imperialist west. Of how Hollywood has
always been a bedfellow of American politics, of how a 'secular' Bollywood
changed colours after 1991 to stereotype Muslims as nothing but terrorists and
goons and how surprisingly a handful of mainstream Bollywood films in the last
few years, have tried to provide an antidote, albeit a small one, to this insanity.
It's a long one, 4000 words running in 15 pages. But hopefully it would provide
a different perspective on islamophobia and cinema.
http://www.sify.com/movies/Shah-Rukh-Khan-Islamophobia-and-a-message-for-Bollywood-imagegallery-bollywood-meyrh7jfifa.html?html=5
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