Introduction

Welcome!

After September 11, 2001 my world changed. At the time I was living in New York City, only a few miles from where the World Trade Centers once stood. Nearly ten years have passed, yet I remember every distinct detail of that morning exactly the same as the day it took place. I will always remember that putrid scent of burning flesh, the ash covered streets of Manhattan, the dark skies that cloaked the city’s monumental skyscrapers and the hundreds of bloody people who ran, screaming as they tried to flee the crumbling towers. I remember watching on CNN the images of those who jumped to their death. I was numb. I was in disbelief.

As the days passed, the media began unveiling the identities of the attackers. Osama Bin Laden. Islam. Jihad. These were the perpetrators. People were furious, and wanted to avenge those responsible for the deaths of 3,000 fellow Americans. And so began the stereotyping and hate crimes against Muslims. After September 11, Islam became synonymous with terrorism. Muslims who wore the distinctly Islamic hijab and kufi were attacked, and many Mosques were vandalized. Just as September 11 changed my life, it changed many Muslims’ lives in the United States and in the United Kingdom. They were forced to pay for a crime they had not committed, for the mere reason of association with Islam.

Islamophobia worsened after the July 7, 2005 bombings in London. Just as many Americans had exhibited anti-Muslim fervor following the September 11 attacks, many Britons began to feel the same about their Muslim compatriots. Accusations of ties to terrorist cells in desolate areas of Pakistan and anti-Islamic slander increased. Many British Muslims felt aliens in their own country.

I have chosen to examine the following four films so as to assess the portrayal of British Muslims in British films.

East to East

Yasmin

Brick Lane

The Infidel