MENA-ingful Representation: Stereotypes, survival and shaking-up the TV and film industry

This week on The New Arab Voice we're examining MENA representation in TV, film and gaming. 

Communities from the region have historically been demonised on screen, condemned to either silence or sterotypes. However, the past year has brought major release that have diversified who we see on screen and the stories that are shared on global platform. 

We explore a number of these releases include Netflix comedy series Mo and the film Farha about Palestine during the 1948 Nakba. We also delve into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, looking at what they've done well in terms of representation and what they can do better.

Also in this episode, we plug in and have a look at the mistakes that video games have made, when it comes to the representation of Arabs and Muslims, and also the cultural errors that video game publishers have made. 

On this episode, we speak with Saeed Taji Farouky (@saeedtaji), a Palestinian-British filmmaker and film educator, Tariq Raouf (@tariq_raouf), a Palestinian-American freelance writer based in Seattle, Swara Salih (@spiderswarz), a Kurdish-American writer, podcaster, and the co-hosts the Middle Geeks podcast (@TheMiddleGeeks), and finally, Nazih Fares (@nazihfares), the head of communication and localization at Four Winds Entertainment (@The4winds_Ent).

This podcast is written and produced by Rosie McCabe and Hugo Goodridge.

Theme music by Omar al-Fil. 

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@alaraby.co.uk