Page 16 - The Staunch Test
P. 16
THE STAUNCH TEST
In another example, Riz Ahmed, an award-winning British Asian actor of
Pakistani descent, has called for more positive depiction of Muslim characters
on screen. He knows that constantly showing Muslims in toxic, two-dimensional
roles, especially as terrorists, denies both the complex variety of Muslim lives
and the opportunity for Muslim actors to take on roles where their ethnicity isn’t
a factor.
Riz Ahmed
As Ahmed remarks about stereotyping: ‘This wouldn’t be OK with any other
racial, ethnic or religious group.’ Sounds familiar? He goes on to say he thinks
we will look back at this period of misrepresentation with the same shame and
sadness with which we look back on blackface.
Shame, sadness, embarrassment, disbelief, regret. These are always the markers
of humanity learning from past mistakes and misjudgements, especially of how
we treat our own. How people from different groups are depicted, viewed and
treated, on screen and off, absolutely matters.
