Congratulations to Aanchal who receives the accolade of having written the best Media Studies essay this year. This is a prestigious award that goes to the Year 13 student who produces a 3000-word coursework submission with the highest score...she got 59 out of 60!!
Since migrating to the UK, mostly in the 1970’s, ‘Asians now make up just over 3.5% of the total UK population’ and ‘Asians like steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal regularly enter Britain’s Rich List’. Yet despite their ever-growing success and stature in this country, up until recently the lack of Asian presence in the UK media has been a major cause for concern, arguably due to the long-term white hegemonic hold over media industries. However, the recent introduction of more Asian-orientated entertainment, such as the BBC’s groundbreaking sketch show 'Goodness Gracious Me' (1998) and the recent hit 'Bend it Like Beckham' (Gurinder Chadha, 2002), has contributed to a growth in awareness of Asian culture and also acted as a catalyst for the increase in multicultural entertainment that is now much more firmly entrenched in the UK’s mainstream media. 'Anita and Me' (Metin Huseyin, 2002) is one of the many recent films that can be categorised under the newly formed genre: British Asian. Meera Syal who, over recent years, has contributed a great deal to the newfound popularity of Asian culture scripts this relatively low budget film. 'Anita and Me' tells the story of Meena, a young Asian girl living with her family in the small mining town of Tollington. Set in the 1970’s, the audience is encouraged to understand and appreciate how Meena and her family live in an era where racist views are the dominant ideology, and gaining in currency in some quarters what with the rise of the National Front.
To read the rest of the essay go to Aanchal's blog and find the post dated May 3rd 2006. Also, check out some of the other finished essays on the Year 13 page.
Her self-titled study is called - “You have to be twice as good as the English to get anywhere” How are Asians represented in the film 'Anita and Me'? - and you can read her introduction below...
Since migrating to the UK, mostly in the 1970’s, ‘Asians now make up just over 3.5% of the total UK population’ and ‘Asians like steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal regularly enter Britain’s Rich List’. Yet despite their ever-growing success and stature in this country, up until recently the lack of Asian presence in the UK media has been a major cause for concern, arguably due to the long-term white hegemonic hold over media industries. However, the recent introduction of more Asian-orientated entertainment, such as the BBC’s groundbreaking sketch show 'Goodness Gracious Me' (1998) and the recent hit 'Bend it Like Beckham' (Gurinder Chadha, 2002), has contributed to a growth in awareness of Asian culture and also acted as a catalyst for the increase in multicultural entertainment that is now much more firmly entrenched in the UK’s mainstream media. 'Anita and Me' (Metin Huseyin, 2002) is one of the many recent films that can be categorised under the newly formed genre: British Asian. Meera Syal who, over recent years, has contributed a great deal to the newfound popularity of Asian culture scripts this relatively low budget film. 'Anita and Me' tells the story of Meena, a young Asian girl living with her family in the small mining town of Tollington. Set in the 1970’s, the audience is encouraged to understand and appreciate how Meena and her family live in an era where racist views are the dominant ideology, and gaining in currency in some quarters what with the rise of the National Front.
To read the rest of the essay go to Aanchal's blog and find the post dated May 3rd 2006. Also, check out some of the other finished essays on the Year 13 page.
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