Modes of representation in American cinema: from masculinity to Muslims

Frederic Jameson describes cinema in terms of a “geopolitical aesthetic” (Jameson, 1991)1. In saying this he refers to the missionary zeal of cinema to travel far and wide, creating and spawning cultures in its wake. S Brent Plate articulates this confluence as a “georeligious aesthetic” (Plate, 2003)2. In fact he proposes to understand cinema as a georeligious aesthetic which has transcended boundaries and entered the lives of millions across the world. As a georeligious aesthetic, he explains, cinema is bound to religion in more ways than one. As such, films are not simply religious because of their content but also because of their form and reception. Religion is imagistic, participatory, performative, and world-creating—and more often than not it is cinema that best provides the canvas where these activities can be carried out. It is important also to note, according to Brent Plate that media and communication—of which cinema is a part—are not merely hollow, empty receptacles that connect addresser and addressee. Rather media are dynamic entities that actively shape and reshape the world and therefore wield great power. In other words, religion and cultures do not merely use the media, but instead are used by the media, and created by them. The article analyses representational modes employed by American popular films across genres such as masculinity, race and crime, culminating in an appraisal of three films which represent the Muslim identity as depicted in Hollywood cinema.