Alternatively...

When I hear about the various scuffles that occur outside my periphery daily, I am instantaneously overwhelmed. Alternative Media then becomes my only news source when I am inclined to hear a truth that does not patronise me. My knowledge of the world’s abundance of religions is admittedly quite limited but my impulse to defend one’s beliefs will always outweigh my scepticism tenfold. In fact, tumblr is currently the major forum which receives the majority of my social activity because I can trust a vast variety of newsworthy facts to flash by my eyes continually with several sides of the discussion attached. Recently it came to my attention that even my beloved alternatives get it wrong some of the time. FEMEN is an Eastern European based women’s organization that is in the midst of “liberating” an array of marginalised groups across the globe. They are sexualising an ongoing discourse which needs exactly the opposite. The means by which they have chosen to issue their political statement is unsolicited in the global struggles of Muslim feminism. The privilege of their defiance becomes clear as two women’s movements shift their respective focuses from patriarchy and onto each other. Plotting a “naked jihad” is offensive; not only does it disrespect personal and cultural beliefs but it also attempts to excuse itself as guerrilla activism. Standing under the veil of women’s rights and evoking the feminist label  does not automatically make every controversial statement a welcome one, especially not when the subjects of the scheme are caught between two strict canons. I am not Muslim, and I often define myself as other than female but this perceived war has somehow marginalised me as well. I am stuck in betwixt two fair movements struggling to be heard. The point then is that they are now being heard, and that is precisely why this particular kerfuffle is well worth mentioning. So hidden in that subjective ramble lies the problem, alternate sources can get it wrong. They tend to have an agenda not unlike the mainstream's corporate puppetry. Opinions are allowed to weigh heavily on an alternative source (news being the supposed exception). Femen tells the story its way, the internet responds assertively, and I get the stories as regurgitated second-hand goods. Its not easy to survive on fading whispers.

One trend that this current furore continues is the fate that befalls many persons, groups, or ideologies that run counter to the mainstream. Alternative media is often relegated to the role of controversial disturbance before a message can be absorbed. Although I think that Femen’s actions merit the response that it has received, I look to the past for examples of unjustified attacks on the Other. I introduced myself to Bollywood as a challenge to observe something new. Obviously to consider the genre ‘alternative’ is to discredit its popularity in India and its neighbours. I have seen Shah Rukh Khan in at least 30 films which is potentially 30 more than I have seen starring George Clooney, but more importantly that obsession eventually led me to Fire. According to Catherine Saalfield, an independent documentary filmmaker, “filmmaking is the most efficient, creative, and satisfying form of activism” (66). For me, Fire easily fits this mould. The film was directed by Deepa Mehta and released into Canadian cinemas in 1996. It wasn't until two years later, that it received a premiere in India, the film’s setting. Fire follows Radha and Sita as they navigate their arranged marriages to Ashok and Jatin respectively, jointly caring from their mother-in-law Biji, the struggle to balance their evolving sensibilities with tradition, and their financial worries, amongst life's other wondrous challenges.

This story is rarely told even now but in the mid-1990s it was met not with the apathy of today but rather hostility. The film was initially banned in India for religious insensitivity because Radha and Sita who end the film with the hint of a blossoming relationship were named for Hindu goddesses. That quickly sparked literal and metaphorical fires throughout India. The cinemas that agreed to screen the film were targeted by members of the radical Hindu group Shiv Sena who felt that the homosexuality represented had no place in India. In an interview with the New York Times, Mehta, who flew to the country to petition the Supreme Court after the film was pulled from cinemas, said exasperatedly, "This is so very ridiculous - and also so scary. I don't even think it's the lesbianism that threatens them. It's that the movie says women have choices, and that is frightening to a male-dominated society." Experiences such as this one are discouraging for the future of films that dare to be different. Fire was the first film of Mehta's Elements trilogy, the final of which went on to garner an Academy Award nomination.

Alternative Media has continued to evolve within the shadows. Luckily for someone as culturally unaware as myself, Debra Zimmerman explains that, "The development of multi-media technologies, including the Internet, and the growth of new cable channels have opened doors" (265). Shamim Sarif and her partner, Hanan Kattan, formed Enlightenment Productions which is utilising these resources to their maximum potential. According to its website, the company "aims to harness the power of film to tell stories that push boundaries, challenge perceptions and that cause an audience to consider, even as they are immersed in being entertained." Although the blurb identifies feature films as their focus, Enlightenment Productions has produced documentaries, books, albums, television shows, and an upcoming web series. It has also spawned the Sarif-Kattan Foundation which is notably responsible for TEDxHolyLand, an open forum for Palestinian and Israeli women staged in East Jerusalem. I need alternative media because where else will I hear someone proudly say, "I am a Bedouin, I am an Arab, I am Muslim, I am Palestinian but I am also an Israeli. I am all of these together but I am none of them." Sarif and Kattan uses their diverse experiences to tell stories that matter. I first watched I Can't Think Straight and The World Unseen because I had been a fan of Lisa Ray's due to the above mentioned Bollywood/Deepa Mehta obsessions. I was then compelled to review each film several times to fully grasp the stories being cinematically woven together. One introduces a Christian Palestinian family living in Jordan and a Muslim British Indian family that are drawn together by unanswered questions, while the other politely  intrudes upon two Indian families facing the South African apartheid together and yet apart.

Society, including the more liberal subsets, ascribes the "Queer" label  to all three films without a second glance. Instead I view these films as a truth. Not mine specifically, but possibly someone's and that alone is inspiring. The sheer amount of money spent annually on the super hero trope proves that films like these are still necessary. Most times, Spiderman won't swing from the Empire State Building to save you. Sometimes, you have to save yourself. Few times, you need saving from yourself. The mainstream will have trouble incorporating that message because apparently the profits won't add up, so generations of independent filmmakers are compelled to tell that one story which will inspire the next group to rise up. Maybe the paths of alternative and mainstream media will cross one day, and hopefully ideals (and subscriber potential) will overlap as well but until then, alternative media is necessary to breed social discussion. We are only human; we love to agree to disagree.


Works Cited
Barry Bearak for NY Times - "New Delhi Journal; A Lesbian Idyll, and the Movie Theaters Surrender" http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/24/world/new-delhi-journal-a-lesbian-idyll-and-the-movie-theaters-surrender.html

Madhu Jain for India Today - "Ire over Fire" http://www.india-today.com/itoday/21121998/cinema.html

Rema Kheriyah Irshed for Haaretz - "Wars of identity: An Arab, Palestinian, Israeli Bedouin and the Gaza conflict" http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/wars-of-identity-an-arab-palestinian-israeli-bedouin-and-the-gaza-conflict.premium-1.490400

Judith Redding and Victoria Brownworth - "Debra Zimmerman and Women Make Movies"