White Girl Sequence Analysis
Religion is represented in this sequence is seen from a young girls point of view. The religion that this sequence is based on is Muslim. The religion is represented fairly positive as Muslims seem to be quite accepting of this young girl. The young girl (Leanne) is nicely taken into the Mosque even though she isn’t Muslim. The religion is ritualistic as they take part of doing the same thing every time they enter the Mosque. For example walking into the cleaning room to wash, and taking their shoes of as a sign as respect. The whole sequence is basically considering Leanne’s feelings and how she is fascinated by another religion. The religion seems to be reasonably strict with equality of men and women. Men seem to be downstairs and the women upstairs so that genders are separated.
Throughout the sequence there are many close up shots of Leanne and also point of view shots from her eyes. The opening of the sequence starts with a non-diegetic sound, which is Indian music to reveal the religion of Muslim. This part shows Leanne’s vulnerability to the religion. A close up shot on her as her friend (Yasmin) puts the headscarf on her as Leanne is not able of doing so. Both headscarves are different colours to show both girl contrasting lifestyles. Yasmin wearing a red headscarf which can suggest her passion towards her religion whereas Leanne wears a blue one which could symbol confusion or something new. The way that a headscarf is worn is their way of respecting Allah. This is showing that the sequence will obviously be a naive perspective of a child’s point of view. The room that the two girls put their headscarves on belongs to Yasmin. The props in the room make this obvious, many Indian ornaments and also the Indian compass, which is seen from Leanne’s point of view (close up). There is then a long shot in the mirror to show how Leanne sees herself. She shouts out ‘Ninja’ and kicks her leg up high, which shows her own views on the way Muslims dress and look.
The next section of the sequence is taken place in the mosque. There are diegetic sounds of birds and wind outside the Mosque to create a happy atmosphere around the area. As the characters take their shoes of there is a focus pull. A deep focus to reveal the shoes which shows Muslims way of respect, which switches to a shallow focus to expose the gate in the mosque. The men are wearing skull caps which are their sign of respect similar to women wearing headscarves. As the two characters walk into the cleaning area Leanne’s facial expression looks quite confused. The cleaning shows hygiene and respect towards themselves. This is her way of taking in what she has to learn about to become a Muslim. There is a slow motion close up of the dripping water. This is after the point that Leanne copies every move that Yasmin does with the cleaning water. The slow motion is to show the audience the water in a clearer way, to express Muslims respect more gradually.
As they enter the ceremony in the Mosque it creates an unequal atmosphere to men and women. The men and women are detached from each other, sitting and bowing in different areas of the Mosque. Leanne has a point of view shot which is a deep focus on the Men’s mass. She seems to be more interested in what they are doing than what she should be doing. There is a synchronous/parallel sound as the Muslims sing in a humming tune. This sound is diegetic. There are drones and sitars in the background to build an Indian impression. There is a tilt up to an establishing shot of the ceiling. Showing the decoration of the Mosque from the girl’s point of view, which she appears to look very fascinated by the colours as the camera is panning across the room. A massive chandelier hanging in the middle shows the expense of their religion (quite wealthy). The lighting is quite bright in the Mosque. The Mosque is covered in patterned colours on the ceiling which produces a beauty in the area, which builds a good representation to their religion.
All the Muslims are sitting around in a circle, perfectly framed in the camera while the teacher speaks. The man welcomes Leanne kindly (good representation) and speaks to her. She replies, and then there is a close up of her happiness as she speaks the right words. The teacher speaks about Ramadan (diegetic sounds), which this religion take part of to see what it’s like to be poor, with no food etc. This is a great representation as they are caring about others needs, to see how it feels from a poor persons view on life to have hardly anything. There is then an extreme close up shot of teacher’s eyes as he speaking, from Leanne’s point of view. This is to show Leanne’s interest in the religion. A diegetic sound of her changing her name to Leila other than Leanne to get closer to the Muslim religion, and blend in with Muslim names.
There is then a sounds bridge of the man talking when the setting changes to a two shot of both young girls. This is showing their close friendship. The man narrates over the top “Today I want you to think of what you want most in life, is it food? Is it love? Is it family?”. While this is being said there is a close up revealing Leanne’s mother, to show the reason why Leanne is taking on becoming a Muslim. Reason being she hasn’t got a close relationship with her mother (camera focus’ on mother while dialogue is read). The mother shouts and swears towards Leanne wearing a headscarf, to show she has no respect towards the Muslim religion. Low key lighting placed around the mother, as the camera tilts up to reveal high key lighting on the Mosque. Overall the religion has a positive representation.
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