emphasizes on the faith of people in the public eyes.
As well as religious programmes of worship documentaries are the most popular broadcasts. This is probably due to the fact that the format differs to ordinary programmes. Documentaries appear not to the religious but also to the other faiths around the world who
are interested in the issues talked about in the programme.
BBC I has a religious documentary between 10.30 and 11.30 pm every Sunday which is called “Everyman”. This programme tends to use
mainly film clips. This documentary usually attracts an audience of around 2 million people.
Channel 4’s documentary is broadcasted on Thursday at 9.oo pm called “Witness”, aimed at a more general audience. It investigates
issues such as black people in South Africa, the variety of faiths in Los Angeles and subjects such as Holocausts that it ever even
took place.
BBC 2 and ITV also show one off documentaries. BBC 2 has broadcasted a few series on “The Long Search” which looks at the six main religions of the world in humanities search for god. Series on Islam such as “The living world of Islam” have also been shown.
(ii) Now I am going to explain in which the media has dealt with a moral issue in a soap opera. A religious issue is an issue
connected with the meaning of life. In different soaps a lot of different issues get raised which include subjects including
marriage between the different faiths, religions and ethnics backgrounds.
The religious themes I have studied is abortion. I will be looking at abortion and how it affects other people of different faiths. I found that abortion has been raised in the soap opera “Brookside”. Brookside has dealt with abortion with a character Adele, when
she fell pregnant at the a young age. She was 16 at the time. Her father called Martie agreed with what she wanted to do but her
step-mother Diane was against it. Diane who was going through IVF treatment feels that it was wrong and she had strong feelings
about it. As she has a strong faith she believed that it was wrong and was a sin in gods eyes. Martie believed that abortion was
acceptable as he doubted gods existence anyway. I feel that the programme has dealt this issue in a good way, the soap has dealt
with it in such a way that people did not criticise the way it was dealt. However, as a Muslim I believe that abortion should not be
allowed accept on certain cases. It should only be allowed if it is a danger to the mother or the baby, or due to a medical reason.
If Adele feels she was adult enough to have sex then she should have been adult enough to face the consequences good or bad.
(iii) For the next part I have to analyze and explain the way in which a religious issue has been dealt with in a film or a
television drama. I am going to be writing in the film called “East is East” with the theme “should Muslims marry Christians?”.
The film is set in Salford in 1973. This is about a married man called George who has seven kids, Abdul, Tariq. Munir, Saleem,
Sajid, Meenah and the eldest Nazir and finally their mother Ella who is white. This family is known to be the only asian/Pakistanis
in the area. The film is mainly based on the cultural clashes between the asian and the whites. The father is the bread winner and
he expects the family to follow his rules. In the opening scene the children are taking part in a Christian parade and if the father
was to find out they would be in trouble. Their mother is alright with it but as long as George doesn’t find out that she knew.
The oldest son is getting married and the whole family is dressed in their best clothes and as the bride and the groom remove their veils for the first time, Nazeer panics and runs off. He goes away and he is the one that brings homosexuality in to the film. The
father is devastated and he feels ashamed of himself so he doesn’t class him as he son throughout the rest of the film.
On another occasion the father realises that his youngest son has not been circumcised and wants it to be done the mother refuses
for it to go ahead. Obviously she doesn’t win which she knew the day she got married.
About half way through the film the father tries to arrange marriages for the older two sons behind their backs, when they find out
one of them doesn’t say anything because he is scared but the other one is angry and is outraged. They attempt to stand up to their
father but he fails. The mother is also against it and at the end when the parents and the two ugly daughters are here to see the
sons she stands up to George. The guests leave in disgrace to the family and the weddings do not take place and he realises he has
made a mistake and that he has lost his control. The film ends with the friends and neighbours playing in an ordinary street and the
father thinking over his mistakes. All these things took place because of the major culture clash. The themes were dealt in a comedy
situation to make people understand.
In my opinion I think that people of different faiths shouldn’t marry not just because of what my religion says but also it can
cause a lot of complications. Subjects including children could cause problems. Also the parents of different morals and beliefs
which should also be thought about. People of different faiths should only marry if they agree not to have children. Children is
what causes hassle. At the end of it I think that marriage of different faiths should not marry because it can cause problems.
(b)
I am now on the final part of my coursework which is the conclusion. I have been given a quote (below) and have to say why I either agree or disagree to the quote. For my reasons I have to refer to Islam.
“Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world”
Although not everybody would disagree, I want to disagree that television doesn’t always present religious people as out of touch with the modern world.
I have several reasons for arguing for this point of view. My first reason is that the “The Heaven and Earth Show” try and make the viewers interested in the programme by having phone-ins and interviews with celebrities which do not present religious people as out of date or weird.
A further reason is that “Witness” which is another programme that people find really interesting is aimed at a more general audience. These programmes would not be so popular if they thought that religious people were out of touch with the modern world.
Furthermore is that if a person from a different religion was to watch a Christian programme they would not understand it so they would automatically think that they are not that modern. It would be the same if a Christian was to watch an Islamic or any programme showing a different religion. This is due to the fact that they are not familiar with the religion so that is why they would think that the religious people from that religion are out of touch. Everyone should respect and understand each others religion.
Therefore, although some people might argue, I think I have shown my point of view which is, television doesn’t show religious people out of touch with the modern world.