Critical Investigation Task #5

How are British Asian ethnic minorities represented in contemporary media texts such as ‘Murdered By My Father’?

Introduction (210 words)

British Asian ethnic minorities have been represented in a typical way in contemporary media texts in certain movies like 'Murdered by My Father'. This was shown a lot throughout Vinay Patel's main protagonist Shahzad, who was portrayed by Adeel Akhtar. In the film, Shahzad was shown as this strict character who was also shown to be egotistical and wanted to do everything that was best for himself; he raised a daughter and son all on his own. The way which the character was presented was shown as a 'typical' stereotype for Asian fathers on how they are always strict with their children. Furthermore, this text also shows other types of stereotypes such as racism. We also see this in other successful British historical texts such as Bend it Like Beckham, Goodness Gracious Me and East is East, despite them all being slightly funny (comedy genre). All them show different but similar representations within them. For example, Bend it Like Beckham is more modern based but with the other texts, it's more typical and how life was first like with the British Asian minorities. This essay will talk about how life was portrayed by British Asian ethical minorities within modern text. 

Feedback

• Don't talk a lot about the movie (Just introduce it) - Talking too much about the story itself.
• Address the argument
• Link theories to it but don't explain it - in depth

Critical Investigation Task #4

Essay Plan

Question: How have the 'typical' British Asian lives been portrayed in the film Murdered by my Father?

Introduction

• ·         Start of by introducing Murdered by my Father – the characters and who they represent in the British Asian lifestyle.
• ·         Small introduction to Honour-Based violence.
• ·         How has the lifestyle of the two characters (Salma and Shahzad) are different – Include different stereotypes.

Section 1 – How the life of the father, in the film, has been portrayed?

• ·         In this paragraph, I will be exploring the role of the father and the contrast with the character from the beginning of the film and the end of the film (look at what changed we see in the character).
• ·         After looking at this, I will start to link this to Dyer's theory about stereotyping and power from an audience’s perspective and Medhurst's theory about shorthand that carries value judgements which will link to how and why the character was acting in this way.
• ·         Talking in a new paragraph, I will start to talk about the similar things that have happened in real life as what has happened in the movie and talk about how this is a common thing.
• ·         How is the writer reinforcing these 'typical' stereotypes, such as ‘how these South Asians fathers are are being portrayed by Shahzad?’ Has he been represented too strict or not as much as others?
• ·         In this paragraph, I will talk more about Honour-Based violence. The example I will use is of Shafiela Ahmed where she was murdered by both her parents in 2003.

“Shafilea Ahmed was killed by her parents in September 2003, and her body was found dumped in the Lake District five months later. Her two sisters Alesha and Mevish witnessed the killing along with their brother, but terrified they might be next, they carried the terrible secret with them. The only person Mevish told was her best friend Shahin…”

Theories/Keywords that need to be covered in this paragraph

• ·         Shameful
• ·         Reinforcing dominant stereotypes
• ·         Reputations
• ·         Medhurst
• ·         Richard Dyer
• ·         Levi Strauss - Binary Opposition

Quotes that I will use/ other key information linked to the movie

• ·         From an interview from the writer of the movie, he was asked if Shahzad (the father) is a monster. Vinay Patel's response was the following:

"Shahzad is not a monster, but his actions are monstrous. He can be a kind man - he works hard for his kids and is trying his best to raise them in the way that he feels fit. He is also deeply insecure about is place in society in a way that I think many of us can relate to... He is a loving man. But he is also a coward in many ways as Salma quite truthfully tells him".

Even from an audience’s perspective, you could also tell that Shahzad's character was exactly how the writer had explained it. It was very obvious that he was trying to work as hard as he could for his children but it was also a rollercoaster for him and raising two kids alone can be very stressful and was a key reason as in why he wanted to get his daughter married off; this is also with a lot of other Indian or South Asian families.

• ·         Salma: "We can sit down and talk about it..."

Shahzad: "Talk about what? What do I need to talk to a STRANGER for?"
Salma: "Dad…?"
Shahzad: "How do you think this would work? After you had done this to our family… After you had shamed me… Shamed us all".

This was a key moment in the movie and was just before the death scene. Salma was trying to get her dad to talk to her but wouldn't and when he did, he would be talking as if she was some sort of stranger to him. With these few lines of dialogue from the movie, I will be using them to analyse the way in which Shahzad has been portrayed and how he is similar to the fathers in the real world; have there been any incidents in recent times etc.

Section 2 – How the life of British Asian teens is changing and how they have to adapt to that lifestyle? (580 words)

Historical text – Bend it like Beckham

• ·         Firstly, I will be explaining what the movie Bend it like Beckham is about and why I chose this specific story as my historical text.
• ·         A 2002 romantic sports family and Indian themed comedy drama film which was based on Punjabi Sikhs in London.
• ·         Typically, a true Sikh girl should learn at a young age on the things that need to be done when they are sent off and get married. Jess (main protagonist) is an 18 year old girl, who should by now being getting ready to be married. However, she is in love with football and tries to play it as much as possible with her boy-friends in the park. However, one day, a family member spotted her playing and therefore, bought shame onto the family. Mrs Bhamra (Jess' mum) banned her from playing football and started to teach her on things to be doing as a house wife when she gets married; Jess' mum would teach her to cook, iron and much more. However, Jess didn't enjoy it but acted as if she did.
• ·         In this paragraph, I will be looking at the scene of where the main protagonist, Jess, was playing football and was caught out by a family member. In the Sikh culture, Aunties and parents believe that their teenage girl should be preparing for marriage at a very young age. They want their daughters to have the skills to cook and clean.
• ·         These are typical Indian stereotypes - Arrange Marriage, preparing their daughters from a young age, shouldn't have a great social life and much more.
• Here is where I will be exploring the different stereotypes and how they have been portrayed in a similar or different way in the movie.
• ·         In addition, this paragraph, I will be exploring the life of a teenage girl and how they have to live and I will link this to how it has been portrayed in Bend it Like Beckham.
• ·         In a separate paragraph, I will be looking at why the movie is reinforcing and challenging the stereotypes, for example, since Asian parents moved to England and have started to adapt to the lifestyle in this country, they have given their children some slack and given more of flexibility.

Quotes

• Joe: "Look, Jess. I saw it. She fouled you. She tugged your shirt. You just overreacted, that's all."
  Jess: “That’s not all. She called me a Paki. But I guess that's something you wouldn't understand ".
  Joe: "Jess, I'm Irish. Of course I understand what that feels like".
• Provocatively, the poster also asks: "Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham". Here, it is not cooking as a universally 'feminine' occupation which is subordinated to playing football like the star of the English national team, but cooking as part of a specific Asian cultural context.
• The poster in the movie (of Beckham) thus establishes a particular contrast not between women and football, but between playing football and an Asian notion of traditional femininity; we shall see that this marketing strategy is far more simple than the film itself.
• The film's promotion poster expressly subordinates Asian tradition to football as an element of a general British culture.

(VISIT BACK TO THE BFI LIBRARY FOR QUOTES IS NEEDED)

Section 3 – Second Historical Text (East is East): Has Life in England become more harder, in terms of people being racist and critical, or has it become more easier?

·         Answer the question including the key words from the question.

·         A lot of this section will be based on racism and how life was when families from South Asian first moved to England.

·         Talk about why this movie (East Is East) was key for me to choose as another historical text and why I believe that it has got a great link to my primary text Murdered by my father.

·         On a separate paragraph, talk about how there are some similarities between East is East and Murdered by my Father and talk about the differences but, in relation to the question.
For example, both movies have scenes where their children or wives have bought shame onto the family and this had either led to being killed or not talking to each other, at all.

Key quotes from the movie

·         Sajid Khan: "Mum! Mum! The Pakis are here!

·         The movie itself was based in 70s and this was the time where the Asian communities would start to move to England and start living it. When they would movie to England, it was a really hard time for them as they would occasionally be abused racially and by their appearances. As said by Sajid, he used the word 'Paki' which back then, the white community would call all sorts of Asians by since there were new to the community and the white community didn't like the fact that things were suddenly changing.

·         George Khan: "You bastard bitch. You bring shame on the family.

               Ella Khan: "No, you should be ashamed, George. Because you're not interested in these kids being happy. You just want to prove to everybody what a great man you are. Because you're ashamed of me, George, and you're ashamed of our kids. And you won't even admit it".

·         George Khan (played by the popular Om Puri) migrated to England from Pakistan in 1937, but his wife, Ella, is Northern English (she is played by an equally popular British actress, Linda Bassett). Strictly speaking, Ella is his second wife, since Geroge already has a first wife in Pakistan. The couple have six sons and a daughter, all with Asian names. Their business, however, is an essentially English one, "George's English Chippy", and situated in a predominantly white, working-class  and terraced-house neighbourhood.

(VISIT BACK TO THE BFI LIBRARY FOR QUOTES IS SERIOUSLY REQUIRED)

Additional Text (Goodness Gracious Me)

Conclusion

• ·         Sum up the question / argument
• ·         Talk about what you believe has happened and how the movie Murdered by my Father has affected the stereotypes.
• ·         Has it reinforced or challenged the stereotypes
• ·         Has it created any new stereotypes for the audience to think about?

Stereotypes to talk about

·         ·         Asian parents are conservative and strict

• ·         Asians have bad English
• ·         First, most modern parents' love their daughters a lot. They might trust them but not the boys chosen by them.
• ·         They fear that the boy would not stand strong with their daughter, if he faces opposition from his own parents or relatives. If he leaves their daughter midway, it will be difficult for them to get her settled with someone else.
• ·         Our society is still not that broad minded, to accept a girl who has had a boyfriend and has been rejected by him.

Critical Investigation tutorial

• ·        Notes & Quotes document a little over 3,000 – that obviously meets the previous word count deadline but not the updated 4,500 requirement (due today). Your USB issue explains some of this but we will need to plan how we’re going to get this research up to the quantity and quality required for the higher levels. In terms of what you’ve got so far, very good for secondary texts but completely lacking in academic or web sources. This tutorial will therefore need to focus on the reading that we need to do in the next couple of weeks.
  
• ·      Textual Analysis – this was Task #1 and is clearly the area you’ve focused on. It’s great to see you’ve already identified key areas to analyse. However, for your primary text analysis you need MUCH more media terminology and detail: key conventions, film language, MIGRAIN key concepts – narrative etc. This is critical to reach the higher levels – and just remember everything you’ve learned in Year 12! Treat it like a MEST1 exam clip or the Film Language test we did last year.
  
• ·      Task #2 is academic research and bibliography. This is the most concerning area currently as I can’t see any evidence of reading in your N&Q document. This is worrying – where is the Media Mag research? Media Edu? E-Jump Cut? For Media Mag, you may not find anything on your text but look for representation, ‘Britishness’, culture etc. Similarly look for these in eJump Cut: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC41folder/UKracialDiscourse.html
  
• ·       In terms of what you should be reading – Bordwell’s Film Art is a Film Studies classic and has many references to documentary. Film Genre by Altman (all these in DF07). Cinema Studies – Key Concepts. TV Culture by Fiske.
  
• ·      Check Google Scholar for your text and (probably more successfully) British Asian representation. This kind of thing might come up: http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/43979714/a37276.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1479482671&Signature=ZPUu0rgO9mZKX5%2FPJ6zDfuXs8FY%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DMobility_stability_British_Asian_culture.pdf
  
• ·      Also this: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00571498/document 
  
• ·      In terms of books, you’ll obviously need the two Gilroy books in class and Representation by Hall when it becomes available. Also research Edward Said (I think he’s in Hall’s book if you look for it).
  
• ·      New task is historical text analysis – Bend it Like Beckham would work (but remember it’s film rather than TV) and I would also be tempted to use Goodness Gracious Me as it’s an important text in British cultural history despite being a comedy. Maybe consider Citizen Khan as a secondary text as well?
  
• ·      Task #1&2 – make sure you catch up on these urgently to move the word count up to and beyond 4,500.

Notes and Quotes WORD COUNT (NOT UPDATED) : 3083

Media Text

1. Murdered by my Father (Primary Text)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03nnns9    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/2858bfca-a851-40be-b91c-81fda7e65100

• “Imagine that you fell in love with a girl. Imagine she fell in love with you too, but her parents didn't approve of you.”
• Murdered by my Father is a short drama movie which is based on a father and his ‘grown up daughter’. Throughout this movie, they are in great battles of where the daughter wants to do something her way but the father would overrule her suggestions and do what he believes is ‘BEST’ for her daughter.
• The main representation in this text is of the father in this movie. At the beginning, he is a thoughtful human being as he is raising a girl and boy by himself. However, throughout the text, the audience discovered a change in the characters personality as he becomes very strict and selfish; in the end, he kills his daughter and himself because of the ‘embarrassment’ that was caused in the family.
• In the film, Shahzad (one of the main protagonist) used his masculine powers to overrule his children and he was the father. The theory linked to this is Andy Medhurts about stereotypes being a shorthand to identifications. In addition, the reason I think this is because there are already stereotypes such as Asian fathers being strict and therefore, this text is reinforcing the stereotype.
• Honour-Based violence
  A form of domestic abuse which is perpetrated in the name of so called 'honour'. The honour code which it refers to is set at the discretion of males relatives and women who do not abide by the 'rules' are then punished for bringing shame on the family.

2. Goodness Gracious Me (Secondary Text)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6h0lkq-Sno http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/goodnessgraciousme/

• A BBC English-language sketch comedy which was aired from 1996 to 1998.
• This text had four main protagonists that were in every single episode of Goodness Gracious Me (Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia).
• The show was based on the contrast between the ‘traditional and cultural’ Indian family life and the modern British life; the show would allow the audiences to consume a lot of different Indian stereotypes and how British people live life from an Indian person’s point of view.
• One of the most well-known sketches from ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ would be “Going out for an English”. This is a parody of when drunken Indian people would go out to an English restaurant and rather eat the so called ‘English food’. The idea of this had come from white English people. A common stereotype for the white English is that whenever they are drunk, they would go out for an Indian, e.g. a curry etc. And therefore, the writers of ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ got the idea of ‘Going out for an English’.

(Asian Top Gear)

• This sketch is based on Top Gear but the Indian parody version. In this sketch, there was Wadia and Ghir who were portrayed as the ‘Panesar’ family. First of all, Panesar is a typical Punjabi surname. Throughout the sketch, it shows various different Asian stereotypes for example, a lot of Asian families own a typical rusty car but despite having a downgraded car, they would complement it to the fullest and act as if that there is not wrong with it.

Going out for an English

• ·     One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu (apart from one of them, who opts for the tastier option of a steak and kidney pie) and ask for 24 plates of chips
• ·    The "Going for an English" sketch is often cited as the first time a white English audience had seen a parody of their own behaviour in Indian restaurants, but the theme had previously been explored by other artists. Rowan Atkinson's "Indian Waiter" sketch, from his 1980s stage tour, for example, directly mocked such behaviour, whilst Alexei Sayle's "Stuff" in the early 1990s included a brief monologue where the residents of New Delhi got drunk and ate steak and kidney pies on a Friday night.
• ·There is clearly a lot of power in humor and satire and within circuits of South Asian diasporic culture, the sketch comedy "Goodness Gracious Me", based in Britain, is an excellent example of how humor can be mobilized to point out the inconsistencies in cultural appropriation etc. 

Other related texts

Mississippi Masala
https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~yisei/issues/spring_92/ys92_9.html
http://tech.mit.edu/V112/N5/masala.05a.html

• A films that explores interracial romance between African Americans and Indian Americans in the US.
• Despite my investigation being on British Indians, the concept still remains the same thing; as Indian parents that move to foreign countries still, all, have the same values and point of views.
• Mina (Sarita Choudhury) is a young Indian woman in her twenties, working for her father Jay (Roshan Seth) who helps manage his nephew Anil’s hotel, while her mother Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) runs a neighborhood liquor store.
• When compounded with other stereotypes – e.g., the submissive and exotic female, the passive and weak male – Asians end up as dehumanized, and are rendered less understandable, less real.
• A scene in which Mina and her mother are shopping in the market typifies this problem. While the mother speaks in Hindi, Mina responds in English. For a brief moment, we see a generation gap. 
• In my opinion, this movie did fail to explore in depth the real reasons behind the racial conflicts.

Fitting in with the community

• The Main protagonist would be doing things that should be done within her own culture but when she was with her boyfriend (Denzel Washington), she would start to act in another way. For example, she would rap songs with little children within the black community and dance in their culture.

East is East

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166175/quotes
http://akatsoulis.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/east-is-east.html

• A 1999 British comedy-drama. It is set in Salford, Lancashire, in 1971, in a mixed-ethnicity British household headed by Pakistani father George (Om Puri) and an English mother, Ella (Linda Bassett).
• George Khan was a fish and chip shop owner. (Showing a great contrast as 'fish and chips' is known an English stereotype and it is owned by someone who has moved from a foreign country).
• The films begins with the Khan family's preparation for the arranged marriage of their eldest son, Nadir. After his future veil is lifted, only to reveal a beautiful Pakistani women, Nadir runs out of the Mosque. George is ashamed, and though at first it is unknown as to why Nadir fled his wedding, the film later reveals that Nadir is gay. When George was being complimented by a relative on his six sons, George said to the family member that he only has got five sons as one of the (Nadir) has passed away. The fact that George felt ashamed and embarrassed, it is known to be in the Asian community that if a family member did something that was abnormal in their specific culture, it is known to be forbidden. Most of the time, as like what has happened in this movie, the father would no longer talk to that child nor want anything to do with them; this is a typical stereotype in the Asian community.

Key quotes from the movie

• Sajid Khan: "Mum! Mum! The Pakis are here!
• The movie itself was based in 70s and this was the time where the Asian communities would start to move to England and start living it. When they would movie to England, it was a really hard time for them as they would occasionally be abused racially and by their appearances. As said by Sajid, he used the word 'Paki' which back then, the white community would called all sorts of Asians by since there were new to the community and the white community didn't like the fact that things were suddenly changing.
• George Khan : "You bastard bitch. You bring shame on the family
  
       Ella Khan : "No, you should be ashamed, George. Because you're not interested in these kids being happy. You just want to prove to everybody what a great man you are. Because you're ashamed of me, George, and you're ashamed of our kids. And you won't even admit it".

Bend it like Beckham

http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/Bend_It_Like_Beckham.pdf
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286499/quotes

• A 2002 romantic sports family and Indian themed comedy drama film which was based on Punjabi Sikhs in London.
• Typically, a true Sikh girl should learn at a young age on the things that need to be done when they are sent off and get married. Jess (main protagonist) is an 18 year old girl, who should by now being getting ready to be married. However, she is in love with football and tries to play it as much as possible with her boy-friends in the park. However, one day, a family member spotted her playing and therefore, bought shame onto the family. Mrs Bhamra (Jess' mum) banned her from playing football and started to teach her on things to be doing as a house wife when she gets married; Jess' mum would teach her to cook, iron and much more. However, Jess didn't enjoy it but acted as if she did.
• Jess' sister, Pinky, had gotten engaged.
• Despite her punishment, it didn't stop her from playing football and at one stage, she got offered to play professionally and took the offer but played it without her parents knowing.
• In addition, her good mate Jules was with her once and since Jess is in a Sikh family, typical Sikh parents that have come from India wouldn't want their Sikh daughter to be making friends with anyone but other Sikh girls. Since her sisters fiancés parents saw her with another girl, they thought that just because they were hugging, there were all of a sudden 'lesbians' and therefore called of the wedding, as they thought that this family was an embarrassment and didn't want to have anything to do with them.


This is a clip from Bend it Like Beckham where the girl football team and the coach went clubbing. In an Indian culture, it is typically represented that the Asian parents don't want their children, especially their daughters, to go clubbing (normally they would use the word forbidden). However, Jess went without telling her parents as she wanted to fit in with her friends. This is another stereotype for a normal Asian child, where they just want to fit in with everyone so they don't feel left out in conversations etc.

Quotes

• Joe : "Look, Jess. I saw it. She fouled you. She tugged your shirt. You just overreacted, that's all."
  Jess : " That's not all. She called me a Paki. But I guess that's something you wouldn't understand ".
  Joe : "Jess, I'm Irish. Of course I understand what that feels like".

Stereotypes

• The traditional v modern conflict is not just simply shown as an older v young generation dispute. Jess’ sister Pinky is just as traditional in her outlook as her mother - ‘Don’t you want all this?’ she asks Jess on her wedding day, and Mr Bharmra is shown to be sympathetic and understanding of Jess’ point of view (CHALLENGED)
• Mrs Bhamra wants Jess to train up to be an house wife (REINFORCES)

Bride and Prejudice

• A 2004 romantic drama film which was filmed in three different languages in the movie (English, Hindi and Punjabi).
• Based on the movie, Pride and Prejudice.
• Linking to Pride and Prejudice, some of the characters names had remained the same.
• Set in Amritsar, the story follows Lalita Bakshi, a young woman living with her doting father and helping him run the family farming enterprise; her mother, who is determined to marry off her daughters to respectable and wealthy men; and her three sisters, Jay, Maya, and Lakhi. At a friend's wedding, Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a handsome and wealthy American working in his family's hotel business, who has arrived in Amritsar with his long-time friend, the British-Indian barrister Balraj, and Balraj's sister Kiran.

Quotes

• Kiran Bingley : "Watch yourself, Darcy, he's about to transform into the Indian MC Hammer!"
• Mr. Kholi : "Such small caterpillars that turned into beautiful butterflies! And so like you ... Madame butterfly".

Slumdog Millionaire 

• .

Aftermath of Slumdog Millionaire Actor

• 
  

My Son the Fanatic

Other different stereotypes

• Indians don’t eat rich, spicy, masala curry everyday
• Indian cinema is not equal to Bollywood
• All Indians don’t live in extended joint families
• All educated Indians are not IT Professionals
• Asian parents are conservative and strict
• Asians have bad English
• Asians are mathematics brainpans
• First, most modern parents' love their daughters a lot. They might trust them but not the boys chosen by them.
• They fear that the boy would not stand strong with their daughter, if he faces opposition from his own parents or relatives. If he leaves their daughter midway, it will be difficult for them to get her settled with someone else.
• Our society is still not that broad minded, to accept a girl who has had a boyfriend and has been rejected by him.

Critical Investigation Task #1

Scene 1 - Car journey with Haroon, Shahzad and Hassan

This scene is where the three characters Shahzad (the Father of Salma), Hassan (the younger brother of Salma) and Haroon (the boy which Salma's family want her to get married to) were driving in the van talking to each other about the future. Before the main protagonist's mother had died, she had wanted her to get married to this particular boy, who is a family friend. Haroon (the boy whom the mother wanted her daughter to get married to) was talking to the main protagonists younger brother about how them 2 are meant to be; his father (the main protagonist) didn't say anything to him in the car journey. However, he went into a deep thought of his and most likely thinking of how/when he will get her daughter to marry Haroon. In the following scene, Shahzad and Haroon were working with each other, in their job, and the Shahzad said to Haroon that he will get them two married really soon. 
This is a typical stereotype in the Asian community since the audience, especially the teenage Asian girls, believe that they are being controlled by their parents, in this case the father, and therefore they haven't got a say for the outcome even though it will be their life. Linking it to the movie, Shahzad, in this case, is trying to control Salma and therefore Salma doesn't have a say in her own life. In addition, this shows that the young Asian teenage girls have it rough, to some extent, as they may feel that they are being controlled. Even when moving to another country, for example England, Asians don't like to adapt to the English community life style and want to remain as if they were living in India or Pakistan.

Scene 2 - Death Scene
http://hbv-awareness.com/honour-based-violence/

This scene is shown right at the end of the movie. It was taken place after Salma and Shahzad had a really bad argument which led Salma going to her boyfriends house. However, she didn't feel as if she was at 'home' with her boyfriend and wanted to try and make things right with her dad. At this point, Shahzad didn't want to have anything to do with her and only recognised that he had the one son and no one else. Once Salma had got home, it was only her dad at home. At first, she tried to be nice to Shahzad but he kept quiet. Then Salma started to get angry and that's when Shahzad got even more angry and this is when Shahzad started to suffocate his daughter; she died within minutes. 
This isn't so much known as a typical stereotype but has happened a lot within the Asian community as an honoured based killing. However, it does show some 'normal' stereotypes, for example showing the power that the male character has. Most of the time, the male character is shown to be more powerful than the female character and has been shown in this movie as the father killed the daughter. In addition, this also shows that the Asian male character is still controlling their daughter but in this case, taking her daughters life away. 

Murder of Shafilea Ahmed

• Shafilea Ahmed was killed by her parents in September 2003, and her body was found dumped in the Lake District five months later. Her two sisters Alesha and Mevish witnessed the killing along with their brother, but terrified they might be next, they carried the terrible secret with them. The only person Mevish told was her best friend Shahin…
• "Mev used to tell me about the violence at home," Shahin tells Cosmopolitan. "But there was always something she couldn't bring herself to say. I told her that if she couldn't say it out loud she should write it down and give it to me instead. She was never really allowed out by herself but one day she texted me and told me she was going into town with her mum. She said they were going to H&M so I went there, and started looking through clothes, keeping my head down. I was looking through a rail when Mev and her mum walked past and as Mev walked past, she dropped a letter on the floor. I picked it up quickly and walked out of the shop as fast as I could."
  Shahin couldn't believe it when she got home and read Mev's letter describing Shafil

Honour Based Violence

• Honour Based Violence (HBV) is a term used to describe violence committed within the context of the extended family which are motivated by a perceived need to restore standing within the community, which is presumed to have been lost through the behaviour of the victim. Most victims of HBV are women or girls, although men may also be at risk.
  Women and girls may lose honour through expressions of autonomy, particularly if this autonomy occurs within the area of sexuality. Men may be targeted either by the family of a woman who they are believed to have ‘dishonoured’, in which case both parties may be at risk, or by their own family if they are believed to be homosexual.
  
  Common triggers for HBV include:
• Refusing an arranged marriage
• Having a relationship outside the approved group
• Loss of virginity
• Pregnancy
• Spending time without the supervision of a family member
• Reporting domestic violence
• Attempting to divorce
• Pushing for custody of children after divorce
• Refusing to divorce when ordered to do so by family members
• However, some families may resolve to abuse or kill a member on what would appear to be very trivial grounds. It is important to take clients fears of HBV seriously, even when it seems unlikely. Victims of HBV are more likely to underestimate the risks to their safety than overstate them and even the ‘offence’ seems trivial to you, this does not mean it is trivial to his or her family.

Critical Investigation Task #2

Critical Investigation: Project proposal

Working Title

• To what extent, do people believe that Asian fathers are strict and violent?

Angle

• Since many Asian families are like this and is becoming the norm, how is this effecting the lives of children?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis that I think is suitable for this working title is the following:

• Since Asian fathers are quite strict and sometimes violent, it can potentially scar their children for life or they can become strong hearted.

Linked Production Piece

• My idea for a linked production piece is to create a short opening extract of a short film.
• The initial plan for me is to start the opening with two character ; a father and daughter. The father himself is going to be an alcoholic and will find out that the daughter had done something wrong. This will lead to the father killing the daughter and then the father will drive off before his wife and other son come home from work.

Media Language

• One of the main types of media language that had come up in the text is mise-en-scene. One of the key mise-en-scene was 'facial expressions'. In the text that I have been researching (Murdered By My Father), the two main protagonists would show different facial expressions at every moment of the movie. For example, the father may be happy and having a good time with his family at a party, but later on he may look very worried. In addition, the daughter would be happy with her boyfriend but when she comes home, she'd be frightened that her father may potentially do something to her.
• Another type of media language that was well used was a tilt and panning shot used at the end of the movie. In the ending, the father had killed her daughter and then he had pushed himself over a balcony and landed on a wooden bench. At that point, there would be a long panning movement that would come to the scene of where he had landed from around the corner. Then in that same panning movement, it converted into a tilt camera movement and the camera itself went up and onto the balcony where the father had landed.
• Furthermore, in that tilt and panning movement, there would be the sound of the main protagonist (the daughter) talking about how sorry she was to her father and she didn't want to cause friction between them too. But her father had already taken it too far.
• Murdered by my Father was a very dull movie, in terms of the lighting. With every scene in the movie, the lighting was either be a natural lighting or it would be very dark. This effect had also portrayed the life of the teenager girl (main protagonist). The reason for this is that she is having a hard time as her life seems to always be controlled by her father and doesn't have an option on what she want to do, e.g. which boy she wants to be with.
• The point above, about the lighting is also related to the setting (mise-en-scene). In the movie, the setting is based in a dull and poor area. The characters themselves are in a block of flats where there are many drug addicts etc.

Institution

• The production itself was based in England, London. It was filmed by the BBC and was published in 2016.
• The movie Murdered by my Father, was a short budget movie and for that reason, it didn't have as much advertising and only a short trailer. However, despite there being a lack of advertising, the BBC still managed to get 1.1 million people to view the movie on their first launch on BBC One.
• Murdered by my Father was distributed at around 8pm which is 'prime time'. This is the time when most people and their families get together and watch TV.
• In this movie, the director and author of the movie Bruce Goodison and Vinay Patel.
• Murdered by my Father is a similar movie to Murdered by my Boyfriend as it was produced by the same institution and had around the same movie budget as written on the BBC website.

Genre

• The genre of this short TV movie is drama. But, I would also believe that this is a -crime-drama because it involves death and many fights.
• The audience themselves can sum up themselves that this is a drama movie, as it is based around families having their inside 'family politics'. The girl in the movie is wanting to be with someone but her father is forcing her to go to another man which she doesn't want to.
• The movie itself was based on a real life story. Many years ago, a girl had been killed by both her parents (by suffocation). And I think that the writers of this movie wanted to send out a message to the audience that this isn't a good thing to do and is, morally wrong.
• In addition, the documental genre is institution. The BBC, the institution that produced this movie, had also made a similar movie called 'Murdered by my Boyfriend' which has a similar concept compared to this movie.
• Therefore, I would believe that this isn't a one-off drama and has got many movies related to the one that I had researched.

Representation

• The text that I have researched over the summer is based on two protagonists, a girl and her father. 
• I believe that this gives a negative refelction on Asian fathers. This is because of the fact that they have made this father look very strict and as a villain by making him kill his daugter at the end. Therefore, this will effect people in real life as there will have to be extra caution.
• Also, this text reinforces stereotypes about Asian fathers. Despite, the producers going over the top with their analysis of the Asian fathers, I believe that they still gave a good understanding of what Asian fathers are like and is also a postive. Asian fathers are very controlling towards their children but that is only because they care about their children and I believe that this text did give a good understanding about this.
• A mediation example related to this text is 'compression'. (ADD MORE) 

Audience

• The target audience for this particular movie would be in the ages of 13-28. This is because of the fact this is a BBC Three type of movie which is targetted to a younger audience. I would also believe that the audience would be mixed gender as it is based on a female and a male.
• The actors in this movie are not as well known compared to the other movies made by the BBC. However, one of the main protagonists in this movie (the father, Adeel Akhtar) has played a role in other popular movies for example the Dictator.
• This movie has a great link to the personal identity in Uses & Gratifications. I think this because of the fact that the movie itself is based on a teenage girl who is always being controlled by her father and I believe that the audience can relate to this because this is a common thing where a girls father controls her but only been he wants to take care of them.

Ideology & Values

• (ASK SIR FOR HELP)

Narrative

• The narrative is a very strong part for this text for example, the 'narrative roles' plays. In the movie, the male main protagonist at first was seen as a 'hero'. This is because of the fact that we saw his as a widowed father raising up two children by himself. However, we saw a huge contrast as at the end, we saw his kill his own daughter which changed him into a villain. 
• In addition, the main protagonists son also played a part as a helper. This is because of the fact that he would always tell his dad something whenever, the female main protagonist had done some wrong or something that her dad would approve off.
• At the end, when the father had killed his daughter and jumped of the balcony. We were left at a heart-breaking closure as the audience would've expected the movie to be a happy ending but it didn't; it was resulted in death with both of the main protagonists.
• Furthermore, some people may use the binary opposition theory by Levi-Struass to compare the different ethnicity's, e.g. Asian community fathers vs. White community fathers. The audience may think that fathers in the White community give their children more freedom whereas it's the complete opposite when it comes to Asian fathers.
•  I believe that this is a closed narrative movie as it had an ending to a 2 hour story.

SHEP

Social

• Socially, Asian communities tend to stay within their ethnicity groups. For example, Asians would have Asian friends and do everything with each other.
• Since they have been bought up in this way, they either have no choice to make other friends or they just don't want to.
• In addition, since Asian fathers are very strict sometimes, they have more control over their children which effects their social lives. This may impact them in a way where they may not be able to go out with their friends etc.

Historical

• Since this has been a norm for a very long time (strict Asian fathers), the children don't bother to debate with their parents because they may realise that they are a traditional sort of family.

Economic

• In the 1960's, when a lot of the Asian community moved to England, there has been a lot of debates and rivalries going on. For example, in the UK, the Asian community are starting to become a very wealthy type of community and some may beleive that they are becoming more wealthier than the white community.
• The fact that people believe this brings a lot of jealousy to the Asian community and brings the political debate of why are Asians allowed to work in the UK when they should be giving the jobs to the white ethnicity.

Political

• In the Asian community, there is something called the 'cast system'. This is where two different casts cannot be with each other because of the fact that one believes that they are more wealthier than the other cast.
• In the younger generation of Asians, they do not care much about the cast system but their parents do as they were bought up in this manner. Therefore, they will have to stick to this cast system as they would therefore be forced to.

Issue/Debates

• Representation and stereotyping -> I believe that this is a strong issue and debate to talk about, especially with what I am researching. Since my debate is about the 'Representation of Asians' this will contain many stereotypes within the Asian community, e.g. Asians usually own a corner shop etc.
• Media tecnology and the digital revolution - changing technologies  in the 21st century -> Since the text that I had been researching over the summer had a big part in the representations on Asian fathers, the media technology can relate with this debate. Children nowadays have become less 'cultural' due to the impact in the brand new technology and therefore, act as how everyone in the community does.
• Ownership and control -> Control and ownership also plays a big part in the text that I had been researching. The text itself was about a father who was controlling his own daughter and didn't allow her to have much freedom at all.
• Moral panics -> This is related as parents believe that if their children are doing something without their permission, they're upto no good and creates the negative thoughts.
• Media effects -> Since the media talks a lot about the younger generation nowadays, this will also have an impact on their lives since the adults will become more aware of their child and the others. 

Theories

• Gender and ethnicity -> Ethnicity, especially focuses on the debate I will be studying. This is because of the fact that my debate is based on the Asian community and that's all. Gender can also be related in terms of the strict males that occasionally appear in the Asian community.
• Audience theory
• Semiotics