Fall 2021
Issue 01
W27
Deepening the Shades of the Brown Gaze By Prerna Chaudhary (Advertising and Marketing Communications ‘22)
“D
on’t bring too much attention to yourself. Nazar lag jayegi” “You’ll get the evil eye’s/negative auro’s attention,” or at least that’s how it translates to English to the best of my Hindi heritage speaker ability.
While the show effectively sheds light on Naz’s mischaracterization, a minority struggling at the hands of white people and their system is what the industry produces with big budgets. We watch it, too, and assume that one portrayal to be the truth. “Mogul Mowgli” seeks to define the South Asian/Muslim/Diasporic/Brown gazes by Nazar is a concept people from various cultures are familiar with, simultaneously going against and being entirely independent from and we even see some derivative version of it in cinema: the gazes. the white gaze. In the same interview, Ahmed pointed out that he Male, white, heteronormative, female, etc. If nazar is other people’s and Tariq went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on an extended attention despite the type of sentiment behind it, then gaze is a form of guided tour of the Islamic Art exhibition. Black American and it. The various gazes are what the eye or camera focuses on and brings LGBTQ filmmakers have had their own genres of movies that are attention to. Many times, minorities seek to subvert stereotypes by specifically made for people in their communities and have a few being the opposite of them, but that performance is still a product of common elements. Similarly, going to the art exhibition allowed them the systems that enforce the stereotype. In the Western world of white to pull from Islamic, not European or white American, art styles and male heteronormative gaze, can minority motifs, like the inclusion of Qawwali cinematic nazars exist independently or music. Using these elements shaped the solely as a response? “Will the blurred lines authenticity of their world for the Brown diaspora and made it tangible. Ahmed between reality and One of these minority gazes comes from Tariq were successful in opening a Asian Americans. At this point, Asian precocious thoughts be and possibility of narratives like theirs. American issues are dominated by the a staple in Brown gaze rise in anti-Asian hate crimes since March Throughout “Mogul Mowgli,” the 2020, but, before that, there was something cinema and media?” main character Zed struggles with his else: representation. Anyone participating dichotomous identities: British vs. in Asian America’s discourse was bound Pakistani Muslim, commercial rapper vs. artist and alternative vs. to come across it. Now, with other (more?) pressing concerns first, modern medicine patient. He is both but feels like he has to choose being seen has taken a backseat…temporarily. one: be a mogul or mowgli, a misguided interpretation of a South It makes me wonder if representation was the concern that so much attention was directed towards because it was easily digestible – income disparity, varying education levels, prejudice and ununified political leanings aren’t as sexy as aching to see yourself in Hollywood. The “yourself ” being the privileged sector of Asian Americans that make up the forefront of the discourse. To be fair, it’s not just the Asian diaspora that pays a great detail of attention to seek validation from Hollywood, a notoriously exclusive industry known for its gatekeeping. Other minority communities, like the LGBTQ, Muslim, Latinx and even women communities discuss their desire to see themselves in mainstream media publicly, sometimes in think pieces like this one. The difference is the prevalence of representation in Asian America’s discourse, at least the one that I encountered, within itself and its projections to those on the outskirts. Representation, however, as sick of hearing that word as I am, is essential and can be effectively sympathy (and tear) inducing when done right.
Asian character that capitalized the colonized. Right when Zed thinks he has it figured out and is about to get his big break as a rapper, he visits home for the first time in years, ironic for someone who’s music profits from and seeks to define home and their place in post-Brexit Britain:
“Where You From” by Riz Ahmed “Britain’s where I’m born, and I love a cup of tea and that But tea ain’t from Britain it’s from where my DNA is at ... And I just got the shits when I went back to Pak And my ancestors Indian, but India was not for us ... Now everybody everywhere wantin’ their country It’s movies like “Mogul Mowgli” that remind me of this. Emmy award back winning and Oscar nominated actor Riz Ahmed co-wrote the movie If you want me back with writer/director Bassam Tariq. Ahmed revealed in New Yorker’s to where I’m from, Radio Hour that while being an actor requires one to leave oneself then bruv, I need a behind, he never gets to play anyone like him. Not in “Venom,” “Star map” Wars Rogue One,” “Sound of Metal,” or even “The Night Of,” where Both the creator of he played a young Muslim man, Naz. While he has the privilege of Mowgli from “The playing non South Asian or Muslim characters on screen because he Jungle Book,” Rudyard can look white passing at times, even “The Night Of ” felt like media Kipling, and Zed from the white gaze. What else can you expect when none of the are creating art and screenwriters were Muslim themselves? The mini series critiques the capitalizing off of a American justice system’s treatment of Naz and how the prosecutors culture that they cannot categorized him as a rebel simply because he was Brown and Muslim, call fully call their own. Balce which can be the same to anyone outside of the politicized identities. After Zed was diagnosed Danielle ation by illustr
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