Post Colonialism, Collective Identity and Britishness

What is Post Colonialism?

Post-colonialism is described as the period chronologically after colonialism. It analyses and responds to the ideas of colonialism and imperialism. For example, examining how Britain views and is viewed by the people of the countries that were once part of the British Empire. Also, it allows the perspectives of colonial subjects to be heard, therefore challenging Western values and the us vs them attitude between cultures.

How does this relate to Britishness and the media?

Over recent decades, there has been a growing number of films and TV programmes with that come from the point of view of people in Britain who are not just of White British ethnicity.. This means audiences are getting a different perspective of what living in Britain and being British means.

Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha is a British director of Sikh Indian origin. She has directed a number of successful films that explore the place of , such as Bhaji on The Beach (1998), Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Bride and Prejudice (2004). These films all look at culture-clash issues experienced by British Asians living in the West. One of her first major projects was a Channel 4 documentary called Im British But which explored the lives of young British Asians. She is quoted as saying Theres a wonderful kind of yearning quality about what is culture and the perils of living in the West and the dangers of what could happen.

Although often light-hearted and comedic, her films explore Britishness through the eyes of a minority, broadening the audiences idea of the experience of being British

Kidulthood Film 2006. Cast is made of a mix of races, but features main black / mixed-race characters. Directed by Noel Clarke, who is a British mixed-race male. Within urban drama genre / social realism.

Desmonds TV show 1989 to 1994. Predominantly black Guyanese cast, created by Trix Worrell who is from St Lucia. Within situation comedy genre.

Make Me A Muslim TV Documentary 2013 About the life of white British women who have converted to Islam, presented by British Asian Muslim woman. Gives new perspective of what it means to be British, a topic that is talked about within the show, both by the women and their families.

However
Many still feel that Western media portrays a sense of cultural or moral superiority over other cultures, particularly in news coverage. This can disrupt the way post-colonialism tries to challenge the Us vs Them mentality, making people resistant to the idea of Britain becoming a multicultural society. Famously, David Cameron said that Multiculturalism has failed in a speech about immigration. Being that Cameron is Prime Minister, his voice is powerful at shaping the British attitude towards what being British means. This brings up a lot of questions as to whether there are still tensions between different cultures in Britain.

This article, written for The Guardian in 2012, questions why black British drama is not finding a place on television. It points out that many young directors and writers are instead using the web to show their work. I think its interesting that media coming from a black British perspective is not being picked up by TV companies. This may hint that the media companies believe that the public wouldnt have much interest in them. Points out that most of the successful shows with predominantly black casts have been in the gritty, urban social realism genre.

Conclusion
Although there has been a growth in the amount of media that is being told from a perspective other than that of the white British male, it can be argued that the voice of that part of the population is still the loudest within British media. Post-colonialism is expanding the publics view of what Britishness means by exploring the British experience from different perspectives.