Developing a TV Drama for the Misrepresented: British Female Arab Actors

这个以创作实践为基础的项目调查了英国阿拉伯演员在英国的生活经历，采用了跨学科的方法，包括批评分析、采访和自传，以开发一部挑战现有故事的剧本。关于美国银幕上阿拉伯人刻板印象的学术研究由来已久，主要关注全球政治。对阿拉伯人在英国广播中的代表性的分析、阿拉伯演员扮演这些代表性的经历以及扮演这些角色对他们的影响被忽视了。尽管有关英国电影和电视从业人员多样性、代表性和可及性的文献越来越多，但英国-阿拉伯经验在行业内和一般情况下的地位也是有限的。因此，这个项目将通过a)调查历史上在英国电影和电视中盛行的阿拉伯人形象，b)探索英裔阿拉伯演员与他们被期望扮演的角色之间的关系，以及c)编写一部剧本，弥合对这些表述的分析和英国演员的生活经历之间的差距，从而解决这一缺失。结合对英国电影和电视中阿拉伯人现有角色和表现的分析，以及对英国裔阿拉伯演员的采访，以及对我作为一名英国裔阿拉伯演员的自我反思的元素，将为创作一部植根于英国裔阿拉伯演员，特别是女性演员实际生活的电视剧奠定基础。剧本将戏剧化他们面临的个人和职业挑战。通过这样做，剧本将开发新的方式，通过电视剧来阐述英国-阿拉伯人的经历，讲述关于他们的新故事，并加深对英国影视业代表性、多样性和就业机会等更一般问题的理解。

This creative practice-based project investigates the lived experiences of British-Arab actors in the UK, employing an interdisciplinary approach involving critical analysis, interviews and autoethnography to develop a screenplay that will challenge existing stories.The academic study of Arab stereotypes on US screens is well-established and has focused primarily on global politics. The analysis of the representation of Arabs in British broadcasting, the experiences of Arab actors performing these representations and the impact that playing these roles has upon them have been neglected. Although there is a growing literature on diversity, representation and access in the UK film and television workforce, the position of the British-Arab experience, both within the industry and in general, has also been limited. This project will therefore address this absence by a) investigating the images of Arabs that have prevailed historically in British film and television, by b) exploring the relationship between British-Arab actors and the roles they have been expected to perform, and by c) writing a screenplay that will bridge the gap between the analysis of the representations and the lived experiences of the British actors. Combining the analysis of existing roles and representations of Arabs in British film and television, with interviews with British-Arab actors and an element of self-reflection on my own experiences as a British-Arab actor will lay the basis for the writing of a TV drama series rooted in the actual lives of British-Arab actors, and female actors in particular. The screenplay will dramatize the personal and professional challenges they face. In doing so, the script will develop new ways to articulate British-Arab experience through television drama, tell new kinds of stories about them and add to the understanding of more general questions of representation, diversity and employment opportunities within the UK film and television industry.