Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

indiscriminate killing implies that terrorist acts are intrinsic to Islamic
beliefs and practices (Ameli , Marandi, Ahmed, Kara and Merali 2007).
Stadler analyses Lagaan (2005), a film about cricket and a match
between Indians and British colonials. The author argues that although
the film celebrates the peasants’ heroism, it shows the subaltern
(Indian) women as being confined to a domestic space,
quintessentially loyal to their community, compared to the white
woman, Elizabeth. On the other hand, it can be argued that the Indian
women are depicted showing unity with men against the British
colonials, and that their lives do depict them as they are, rather than
as the film critic would like them to be. The release of the film to wide
audiences also shows that Lagaan is not just an ‘art house’ film, but
that the impact of globalisation coupled with Indian popular culture
has helped to widen distribution of such films. (Stadler 2005)
In an analysis of Independence Day (1996) and Three Kings (1999),
Davies argues that both films make ethnic and racial difference central
to their stories. In Independence Day, Jewishness is associated with
intelligence (Davies 2005) and blackness associated with ‘verbal
smarts’ and strength. The President in the film announces the
dissolution of ethnic differences, echoing the right-wing attack on
multiculturalism as the politicisation of identity, responsible for the
fragmentation of the nation. The only identifiable gay character is
killed off early on, and the alien invaders are depicted in terms that are
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