Representations of Terrorism and Ethnicity in SPOOKS

-Ahmed is represented in a negative way, Fiona nd Danny positively. How are those binary opposites conveyed to audiences?

-Ahmed is standing above the hostages, looking very imopsing and dominant. The camera also only shows very quick shots of Ahmed, kind of representing the way the hostages can't really see him or don't want to look at him. Ahmed seems to be very experienced in what he's doing and he has a ruthless attitude where he doesn't seem to care at all about anything they say and nothing they can say will stop him.

-What role do mise en scene, camerawork and editing play in underlining those representations?

-The camerawork, as I said before, only shows Ahmed briefly, even when he's speaking, a lot of the time he is talking and the camera shows Danny or Fiona. Also, the clothes they are wearing. Ahmed is wearing a black suit, quite depressing, almost similar to an undertaker. Fiona and Danny are wearing much less imposing clothing such as his purple shirt and her white shirt and light grey jacket. The room they are in is also quite significant. The way Ahmed is standing by the window and the camera doesn't break the 180 degree rule, Ahmed seems very mysterious as he is almost silhouetted by the light.

-What techniques are used to involve audiences emotionally? How does that position audiences?

-Most of the focus is placed upon Danny. There are a lot of long CUs of him, showing his emotion in real detail. This makes the audience very attached to Danny and really makes Ahmed seem extremely evil when he shoots him. Whereas before, you hear about how they have had a really rough time and everything has been very difficult for them, you start to be able to relate to them but when he kills Danny, a character whose emotions the audience have recently become very aware of, all the sympathy they once had for Ahmed disappears. Also, as Ahmed shoots Danny, the focus moves from Ahmed to the gun in the same shot. This makes the audience really focus on the gun and how Ahmed really means what he says. This gives the audience a real shock.

-What view of terrorism emerges from these scenes?

-Terroists seem totally ruthless with absoultely no consideration for human life. They also seem to be so determined that they have a very one-track mind and nothing can sway them from their objectives.

-What do you understand by Arab, Islamic, Muslim, Middle-Eastern?

-Arabic people are from Arabia/Middle East, Islamic people follow the religion of Islam, Muslim people also follow Islam and Middle-Eastern are those from the middle east.

-What are the equivalent categories for describing British people?

-British is a very diverse culture so what it means to be British has changed over the years. In the past it used to be that you were white, born in Britain, spoke english etc. However, this has changed and many people are now considered British frmo many different backgrounds so I don't this these equivalents exist.

-What do you know about Al Qaeda?

-Not a lot. They are a terrorist group in the middle east with links to the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.

-Try to find 3 contrasting representations or Iraqi people from the internet, newspapers, magazines, films. What conclusions can you draw from these representations?

- Most Iraqi related articles on the internet are usully bad things such as one man being jailed for 3 years for throwing his shoes at George Bush or getting thrown in jail for having fake papers. Another article also says about how another man emerged from 20 years in hiding. These are all very negative images of Iraqi people and they all seem to be very oppressed and are trying to beat the oppression any way they can by throwing shoes, hiding or trying to escape from wherever they are.

-Look back at the representation of Ahmed and Khatera in this episode of Spooks. How far does the drama position audiences to equate 'Muslim' (from whatever national context) with terrorism?

-Muslims aren't represented as entirely bad as there is a Muslim agent who aids MI5 with finding the people and helping out Adam. However, this character isn't seen a lot in this episode and the majority of the representation comes from Ahmed and Khatera who are extremists and are just out to destroy other people.

-Think of other characters from British ethnic minorities in the drama. What is their significance?

-As I said before, there is one character who is aiding MI5 who is from an enthnic minority. Also, Danny, one of the main characters is black, he works for MI5 and is considered as British. When he talks about where he was born, he says he was lucky and Ahmed was unlucky. This gives the audience a bit of food for thought. These characters help to curb the view that is commonly held in the media that enthinc minorities are trouble makers when they are also instrumental in solving the problem of a very small minority who are not in-keeping with the rest.