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Yasmin

It is essential to acknowledge firstly that all places and social groups are mediated for some ones interest and therefore can be misleading because of different representation constructions in the media. Yasmin is a British made drama about the experiences of a young Muslim woman and those around her post September 11th Attacks in a small village in Yorkshire. I will be closely examining whether this text has been able to give a realistic representation of the Muslim community in today’s British society.

Throughout it is evident that the writers have utilized stereotypes and clichés during the course of the drama. Stereotypes are sometimes used for preferred reading, which is linked to the reception theory. Using established recognised codes and conventions about a certain group, and by satisfying audience expectations the makers can position the audience and create agreement on what they are trying to convey about the characters. The protagonist, Yasmin, is a young, pretty Muslim woman who battles between a traditional and modern life at home and at her white dominated workplace. We see her leave her home wearing traditional Pakistani dress and Hijab only to remove it along her route to work. From this it can only be assumed that every Muslim woman is oppressed by her religion and instead of conforming to them secretly rejects it. Also her arranged marriage to Faissal, a native Pakistani is also falsely represented. He is shown to be an almost primitive being, who doesn’t know how to fit into a civilized western culture, and is somehow animal like in his way of living. Yasmin’s younger brother Nassir’s character is used as a tool by the directors to show how young British Muslims, males in particularly, feel alienated. The pace at which he develops radical extremist views against the west is very unrealistic and to assume that young Muslims are ready to turn into jihad fighters is completely wrong.

The white characters in the drama are shown to accept...