In this post, I will analyze the commodification of Muslim women in Western media, through the representation of Nadia, a Muslim woman in the Netflix show Elite. I argue that Orientalist depictions of Muslim women’s identities are commodified in Western media. The commercialization of Muslim women is demonstrated in the character of Nadia, whose narrative relies upon the Orientalist fantasy of the oppressed Muslim woman being liberated by a white man. This trope is both a continuation of the Western belief that Muslim women must be saved from Islam (Abu Lughod 33) and the colonial desire to control Muslim and Middle Eastern women (Yegenoglu 40, 45), demonstrating how Western media capitalizes upon false depictions of Muslim women for marketability.
The Netflix TV show Elite was released in 2018 (Elite). It is a drama-thriller that follows the clashes resulting from the enrollment of lower-class students into a wealthy private school. This show features primarily Western teenagers in a Western setting, indicating that the target audience was Western teenagers. During this period, Islamophobia was extremely present in the West. As a result of 9/11 and the propaganda used to justify the invasion of Afghanistan, Islamophobia has steeply risen, with a large increase in hate crimes and anti-Islam sentiments (Boynton). In 2010, data demonstrated that Muslims living in America have a higher likelihood of stating that they have experienced religious discrimination in the previous year (Islamophobia: 2 Bannon Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment). Thus, Elite was produced during a time of strong Islamophobia in the West.
Within Western media, Muslim women’s identities are consistently commodified, through Orientalist and Islamophobic representations, which warp and sensationalize the reality of being a Muslim woman. According to Megan Mastro, the trope of oppressed Muslim women has become a marketable product within Western media (6). This is demonstrated by the spike of Muslim women being portrayed as oppressed, after 9/11, within Western media, (Ali), the Western preoccupation with highlighting honour killings, at a far higher rate than other instances of gender-based violence (Mastro 7), and the frequent portrayals of Muslim women in U.S. occupied countries as requiring liberation (Manley 6). According to Mastro, Western media perpetuates the orientalist trope of oppressed Muslim women because it is profitable (6), which reflects the Western public’s desire to consume sensationalized and orientalist media (7-8). Therefore, the orientalist trope of the helpless Muslim woman requiring salvation has become a commodity within Western media, which is represented in the characterization of Nadia.
The character of Nadia, in Elite, a Muslim hijabi teenager, demonstrates the commercialization of Muslim women’s identities, through orientalist depictions, which cater to Western fantasies. In Elite, Nadia’s father is depicted as controlling, banning her from being in a relationship and removing her from school (Nadia Shanaa). Later, she begins a relationship with one of the characters, Guzman, eventually taking off her hijab and having sex with him (Qaderi). Her relationship with Guzman is framed as liberating her from her oppressive father and Islam (Nadia Shanaa), with the removal of her hijab symbolizing her sexual freedom (Nadia Shanaa). Nadia’s character arc is a perpetuation of the Western representation of the Muslim woman who must be saved by the white man (Abu Lughod 33, 47). This demonstrates that by reproducing 3 Bannon Oriental depictions of Muslim women, Muslim women are then transformed into an easily digestible and commodifiable product, fit for Western entertainment.
This representation is at odds with the realities of being a Muslim woman. The class readings demonstrate how the Western belief that Muslim women require saving from the hijab is incorrect (Abu Lughod 33, 35). Abu Lughod discusses how, unlike the West’s framing of the oppressive Taliban regime, Afghan women’s primary concern is not being liberated from the hijab, but liberating themselves from a regime that violates women’s rights (50). The Western belief that a secular Afghanistan would liberate women fails to understand that feminism can exist within Islam and does not have to be congruent with Western ideals (43). Abu Lughod demonstrates that the Western belief that the veil is oppressive to Afghan women fails to acknowledge how it is a cultural norm for Afghan women to choose to veil (35-38). This demonstrates how the depiction of Nadia being oppressed by Islam and needing to be saved by Guzman (Nadia Shanaa), is a one-sided portrayal of Muslim women, that perpetuates the belief that Islam and feminism are incompatible (Abu Lughod 43), and requires Western interference (35).
Furthermore, the rise of Islamic modernism, an ideology that argues that Islam is based on gender equality (Keddie 69-70), contradicts the Western belief that equality does not exist within Islam. Islamic modernists viewed gender discrimination as contradictory to Islam (70). This further demonstrates the perception that Islam is oppressive to women and that gender equality can only be achieved through Westernization is incorrect. Thus, Nadia’s character perpetuates the trope that Muslim women must be liberated by the West (Abu Lughod 33, 35). This shows how inaccurate depictions of Muslim women garner commercial success in the West, demonstrating the Western desire to solely consume media that does not challenge the Western worldview.
The commodification of Muslim women's identities, through Orientalist tropes, is further demonstrated by Nadia’s character being sexually freed by her white boyfriend (Qaderi), which is a continuation of the colonial fantasy of sexually possessing the ‘Oriental’ woman (Yegenoglu 45). The removal of Nadia’s hijab and engaging in sex is presented as Nadia becoming sexually liberated from Islam (Qaderi), which perpetuates the Western fantasy of penetrating what is underneath the veil. Author Yegenoglu argues that, through Western eyes, the veil symbolizes the concealment of the Otherness of the Orient, leading to the Western desire to control the woman underneath the veil (45, 47). The removal of Nadia’s veil and her engagement in sex, which is a product of her relationship with Guzman (Qaderi), is a reproduction of the Western desire to possess what is beneath the veil, and conquer her ‘Otherness’. Therefore, Nadia’s unveiling and her relationship with Guzman (Qaderi) demonstrate how Muslim women have become products, by marketing the colonial fantasy of controlling veiled women.
In conclusion, Nadia’s character arc in Elite demonstrates how Orientalist representations of Muslim women have become a commodity in Western media. Nadia’s character perpetuates the ideology that Muslim women require saving from the West (Abu Lughod 33) and the Western desire to conquer Muslim women through the unveiling of Muslim women (Yegenoglu 40, 45), demonstrating the commercialization of Orientalist fantasies. Thus, Elite’s representation of a Muslim woman fails to depict the reality of Islam and feminism, instead relying on Orientalist tropes to gain commercial success.
Works Cited
Abu Lughod, Lila. “Do Muslim Women (Still) Need Saving?” Do Muslim Women Need Saving?, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013, pp. 27–52. Ali, Hira. “How Mainstream Media Misrepresents Muslim Women.” The New Arab, The New Arab, 12 Oct. 2021, www.newarab.com/features/how-mainstream-media-misrepresents-muslim-women.
Boynton, Sean. “Since 9/11, Islamophobia Has Been ‘a Constant Feature’ in Canada, Experts Say - National.” Global News, Global News, 7 July 2023, globalnews.ca/news/8174029/9-11-islamophobia-canada/.
“Elite.” Elite Wiki, Fandom, Inc., elite-netflix.fandom.com/wiki/Elite. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.
“Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West.” Gallup.Com, Gallup, 20 Nov. 2023, news.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx.
Keddie, Nikki R. “Change in the Long 19th Century.” Women in the Middle East: Past and Present, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2012, pp. 60–75.
Qaderi, Lina. “This Is What Netflix’s ‘Elite’ Got Wrong about Muslims.” Muslim, 13 Aug. 2021, muslim.co/this-is-what-netflixs-elite-got-wrong-about-muslims/.
Bannon Manley, Marci. “Framing the Foreign Feminine: Portrayals of Middle Eastern Women in American Television News.” Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 10, 2009, pp. 60–69, https://scholarworks.uark.edu/inquiry/vol10/iss1/13/.
Mastro, Megan A. “The Mainstream Misrepresentation of Muslim Women in the Media.” What All Americans Should Know About Women In The Muslim World, 2016, pp. 1–13, https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/islamandwomen/13/.
“Nadia Shanaa.” Elite Wiki, Fandom, Inc., elite-netflix.fandom.com/wiki/Nadia_Shanaa. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.
Yegenoglu, Meyda. “Veiled Fantasies: Cultural and Sexual Difference in the Discourse of Orientalism.” Colonial Fantasies: Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2009, pp. 39–67
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