Ahmed has the power in the scene, he has the gun and he is controlling and dominant. He has a threatening and imposing stature over Fiona and Danny as he is standing over them and he paces the floor in a threatening way. We can tell by how he speaks and what he says that he has no pity or remorse left in him, that he has been driven to a point where he does not care what he does anymore, he is simply there to make a point - a harsh point. He seems like an incredibly unjust man to the audience. Fiona and Danny are smaller, powerless and vulnerable. They are shaking and it is hard to concentrate because they are so scared, so the audience have sympathy for them. Their conversations are longer and more meaningful, whereas the shots of Ahmed are short and sharp like his personality and what he is trying to achieve. It creates and effect of the characters being scared of Ahmed and trying not to look at him, because he is the evil one, whereas Danny and Fiona are the unlucky ones who have to try and stop him with their lives at risk.
What role do mise en scene, camerawork and editing play in underlining those representations?
The camerawork varies from character to character. We see lots of CU's and MCU's of Danny and Fiona to see their detailed expressions of terror. We see their real human emotions clearly. The shots of them are at HA to make them vulnerable and alot of Ahmed's shots are slightly LA to make him taller and imposing. We are also more distant from him often at MS or him being in the background of shots of Danny and Fiona. The shots are edited quickly of Ahmed, skipping past his CU shots as if we are trying to avoid him. It also devoids him of personality and human emotion. Instead we focus long and hard on shots of Danny and Fiona, even as Ahmed speaks, showing who the audience is focused on wanting to "win" - they are real humans. For mise-en-scene, Ahmed is wearing a black suit, which implies death and makes him inhumane and dark. In contrast, Danny wears a purple shirt and Fiona wears a white shirt, showing their much lighter and bouncier personalities. We can tell they have suffered with their messed up hair, running make up and scruffy collars. Also, the light streaming from the window silohettes Ahmed to make him seem a dark character with no emotions who we cannot understand.
What techniques are used to involve audiences emotionally? How does that position audiences?
The topics of conversation involve the audiences emotionally as people can relate to real-life issues such as talking about Fiona's husband and past references to Winnie the Poo - a child memory, or talking about Fiona's children. The thought of never seeing family again is a huge emotional trigger. The audience seemed attatched to Fiona and her husband as they were normal people living normal lives, as was Danny. Danny's speech at the end before he gets shot is highly emotionally-charged and opinionated, directing pure hatred at Ahmed - this allows the audience to release these emotions of hate they have for Ahmed and highly respect Danny (who has also saved Fiona's life). We then sympathy with Fiona who is made to look at Danny's dead body and we feel guilt.
What view of terrorism emerges from these scenes?
Because of these binary opposites, a bad view of terrorism is implied, as the audience imagine terrorists to be like Ahmed - heartless and inhumane, cold-hearted monsters. Ahmed has taken a life and disrupted the normal everyday lives of British people like the majority of the audience, and so has spoilt the mood for us. We learn to disrespect terrorists and we are against their thoughts and policies and how they act to make their points. This is because Ahmed was not a peaceful person and killed a hostage at the first sign of cracking. We hate him and dislike terrorists.
What do you understand by Arab, Islamic, Muslim, Middle-Eastern?
Islam is the main religion of the area of the world that is Arabia/Middle-East, so these people are Muslims. I do not know enough about the religion and have never visited the area, but I know a bit about them as there are many who have migrated to Britain who we have to live with every day. Most are peaceful people going about their day to day lives in concurance with their religion, but a minority are extremists who may have taken their religion the wrong way and are not peaceful. These people are terrorists and often are against the capatalist "west" world such as Britian and USA.
What are the equivalent categories for describing British people?
White-British, English, Protestant, Christian, Catholic, Western European.
Since Britain is an ethnically diverse society, are there equivalents? What does this suggest about using these categories, which are widespread in the mainstream media?
There can be equivalents such as British-Muslim or British-Arab. Two different ethnicities can be mixed together to create lots of different ethnic groups in Britain, which the media have to try and appeal to. The categories can become confusing and issues maybe created in the media. It will become easier to upset some ethnicities as there is more to think about, so it is probably a good idea to learn more about the different ethnicities before trying to represent them in the media, and then doing your best to convey this to the rest of the country through the media.
What do you know about Al Qaeda?
It is a general title for the main extremist Muslim group or community. They are a minority but are well-know in Britain for being associated with widespread terrorism in the Western World. I know them as evil, twisted people bent on revenge and destruction in the country I call home. I do not know too much about them in detail other than that they are behind many of the terrorist acts carried out on our world today.
Try to find three contrasting representations of Iraqi people from the internet, newspapers, magazines, films. What conclusions can you draw from these representations?
1) http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/12/iraqi-man-throw.html <> Web article about an Iraqi man throwing a shoe at George W Bush - the then president of America.
2) http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0925-02.htm <> Web article on the needless killing of Iraqi civilians by American soldiers.
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Narcicyst <> A Wikipedia entry on Iraqi hip-hop artist - The Narcicyist.
The first two are contrasting web articles on Iraqi people. The first represents Iraqis as uncontrollable animals with no manners and driven by hatred for the American government. The second article justifies this with an emotional article on how peaceful civilians are killed by Americans unnessecarily. It presents Iraqis as vulnerable and peaceful, lacking in a national leader, but far from monstrous animals. They are seen as civilised. The last link is a wikipedia entry on a fun-loving hip-hop artist from Basra, Iraq. This shows Iraqis as down to earth and warm people just like the rest of us. They too can have a sense of humour and a similar music taste to much of Britain.
Look back at the representation of Ahmed and Khatera in this episode of Spooks. How far does the drama position audiences to equate 'Muslim' with terrorism.
I do not think the episode associates Islam with terrorism as the actual Muslim faith is not mentioned much in what Ahmed says, he is more just making a political statement against capatilism and the "west". Danny does not make the association either when he calls Ahmed a "death-worshipping facist", as this singles out Ahmed as from a cult or a minority extremist party. It is quite clear that Ahmed is not an average Muslim as he is said to have no pity or mercy in his sole and is not seen as human - he is a monster. Islam is not associated with this personality at all in Spooks, which is clever of the producers as they do not want to create issues with normal Islamic communities in Britian.
Think of other characters from British ethnic minorities in the drama. What is their significance?
In the MI5 team there are other ethnicities present such as Danny who is British-black and another new young male character is British-asian. This shows these other ethnicities can be part of a civilised British culture and are normal people in our society who we can get on with and respect. These characters are significant in telling the audience not to make an association with a whole religion and terrorism, as it is only the minority who are like Ahmed, whereas the majority live and work with us in our every day lives without causing any trouble. They can be decent people.
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