The following essay was produced as part of the 2019 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival.Social media has made us myopic.
As soon as something happens, no matter where in the world it may be, we turn to Twitter and Instagram, ready to devour instant, bite-sized explanations of the latest tragedy.
But most of these explanations are crafted to serve those in power, and to keep political hierarchies intact.
The same is leveraged through cinema; fiction and non-fiction films routintely “explain” the chaos of the Muslim world by moving between lazy stereotyping and deliberate demonizing; Muslims are branded as exotic (as in “Aladdin”) or dangerous (as in “Homeland”), and both scenarios enable Western powers to continue their self-righteous crusades and violent interventions in other countries.
Meanwhile, audiences can be compelled not to question these narratives,
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