Ahmed,
who
became
the
first
Muslim
to
get
a
best
actor
Oscar
nomination,
recently
launched
the
initiative,
the
Blueprint
for
Muslim
Inclusion,
to
increase
the
community's
representation
in
cinema.
The
initiative
was
launched
in
partnership
with
the
USC
Annenberg
Inclusion
Initiative,
the
Ford
Foundation
and
Pillars
Fund.
In
a
video
posted
on
his
social
media
handles,
Ahmed
said,
"The
problem
with
Muslim
misrepresentation
is
one
that
can't
be
ignored
any
more."
The
38-year-old
British-Pakistani
actor
said
it
was
a
"bittersweet" moment
for
him
when
he
was
nominated
at
the
2021
Oscars
for
his
performance
in
Sound
of
Metal.
"I
simultaneously
wore
that
slightly
dubious
accolade
with
a
sense
of
gratitude
personally...
I
also
felt
tremendous
sadness.
How
was
it
that
out
of
1.6
billion
people
-
a
quarter
of
the
world's
population
-
none
of
us
had
ever
been
in
this
position
until
now?"
"I
asked
myself,
if
I'm
the
exception
to
the
rule,
what
must
the
rule
be
about
people
like
me?
What
must
the
unwritten
rule
be
about
Muslims
-
a
quarter
of
the
world's
population
-
and
their
place
in
our
stories,
our
culture
and
their
place
in
our
society,
if
any?" Ahmed
said.
The
actor
asserted
that
the
problematic
portrayal
of
Muslims
in
cinema
is
something
that
cannot
be
fixed
by
a
"handful
of
prominent
Muslims
in
the
business".
"The
progress
that’s
being
made
by
a
few
of
us
doesn’t
paint
an
overall
picture
of
progress
if
most
of
the
portrayals
of
Muslims
on
screen
are
either
nonexistent
or
entrenched
in
those
stereotypical,
toxic,
two-dimensional
portrayals," he
added.
Ahmed
singled
out
Oscar-winning
movies
--
American
Sniper,
The
Hurt
Locker
and
Argo
--
as
"frankly
racist".
"(These)
films
dehumanise
and
demonise
Muslim
characters,
insofar
as
they
are
the
perpetrators
or
victims
of
violence,
unworthy
of
empathy
or
incapable
of
empathy,"
the
actor
said.
Similarly,
he
criticised
Amazon's
smash
hit
series
The
Boys.
"(It
is)
a
show
that
I
loved
and
binged.
A
very
self-aware,
modern
kip
show.
One
with
a
gigantic
cast,
multi-racial
multi-species...
(But)
I
can't
tell
you
how
gutted
I
was
when
halfway
through
that
show
Muslim's
turn
up,
the
first
and
only
time,
to
hijack
a
plane.
"Oh
actually,
they
turn
up
another
time
in
the
first
series,
to
play
super
villains
whose
super
power
is
to
suicide
bomb
people,"
Ahmed
said.
Such
a
thing
would
not
happen
to
any
other
minority
group,
the
actor
said,
citing
the
example
of
"Black
Panther".
"Even
a
film
like
'Black
Panther',
one
of
the
most
woke
progressive
mainstream
moments
in
our
culture
in
recent
years.
And
Muslims
turn
up
in
the
start
of
that
film
as
terrorists
to
kidnap
school
girls
and
then
disappear,"
he
added.
Alongside
the
release
of
The
Blueprint
for
Muslim
Inclusion,
a
study
by
the
Annenberg
Inclusion
Initiative,
titled
Missing
and
Maligned,
found
that
Muslims
rarely
appear
on
screen,
or
are
shown
in
a
negative
light
if
they
do.
It
examined
a
total
of
8,965
speaking
characters
across
200
top-grossing
movies
between
2017
and
2019
from
the
US,
UK,
Australia,
and
New
Zealand.
The
study
found
that
just
1.6
per
cent
of
characters
were
Muslim.
They
were
mostly
shown
as
outsiders,
threatening
or
subservient,
and
about
one-third
were
perpetrators
of
violence.
More
than
half
were
targets
of
violence.