![]() ![]() Riz Ahmed’s speech last week in Parliament reiterated this, and he is the latest in a long line of high-profile celebrities urging the film and TV industries to do more to represent nonwhite communities.Īhmed argued that, when the average person sees something that reminds them of themselves and their experience on television, in films or in books, it signals that the viewer’s life has value and is important to society. TV doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it reflects culture as much as it shapes it. These belittling, stereotypical roles are a far cry from the everyday reality of British Asians, served up specifically to thrill and appall white audiences, without regard of the consequences. Photograph: Steve Meddle/REX/Shutterstock ![]() Relating to the upcoming drama about the Rochdale paedophile ring, Meera Syal argues that we need alternative, positive portrayals of Asians too. Seriously, TV/film people, if you are reading, this obsession with people of colour trying to shag “your women” has really got to go. ![]() It is not doing the country any good only to see Asian people as threatening sexual predators, silent cornershop owners, silk-wearing waiters in a colonial home, pleasant and jolly racial stereotypes or, from the US, the non-threatening, geeky but sex-obsessed computer programmer. It’s a valid point – we’ve seen something like this manifest itself at the polling station when, during the EU referendum, the communities least affected by immigration felt most affected by it – presumably, at least in part, as a result of what they’d seen on TV and read online. Because “if that’s all that TV is doing, it looks like that’s the only thing Asians do”. Syal’s comments relate to an upcoming drama based on the Rochdale paedophile ring – a very important story that should be told – and she discusses the need for additional, alternative portrayals of Asian people. It may be “just television”, but it speaks to a wider issue: a lack of understanding and willingness to relate to everyday British Asian people or, more broadly, nonwhite and non-British-born people. It’s a damning indictment, nearly 20 years later, that there has been no progress in how we portray British Asian communities and people. This week Meera Syal – one of the writers and stars of the show – commented that depictions of Asian people on TV have “gone backwards”. Notwithstanding its brilliance and longevity, it’s a bit sad, isn’t it? A whole generation of people preoccupied with a show not seen for over a decade, one that is either too old or too niche to even have a presence on Netflix. ![]() Next year, Goodness Gracious Me will celebrate it’s 20th anniversary. ![]()
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