Framing fundamentalism in contemporary European film

Davies Hayon, Kaya (2021). Framing fundamentalism in contemporary European film. In: Gergely, Gábor and Hayward, Susan eds. The Routledge Companion to European Cinema. Routledge, 307–315.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003027447-33

Abstract

This chapter focuses on three films – Four Lions, Layla M. and Young Ahmed – that foreground potentially dangerous, suicidal, young Muslims who reject the values of the liberal European democracies in which they were born and/or raised. Whereas Four Lions troubles the relationship between terrorism and liberalism, Layla M. and Young Ahmed represent their child terrorists in ways that indicate a commitment to post-Enlightenment European ideals around humanity, agency and freedom. Morris's humorous treatment of the taboo topic of jihad aligns his film with the British satirical tradition and with a comedic aesthetic that, in the post-Enlightenment West, ‘has acquired positive associations with liberty, civility and equality'. Layla M. uses a stylized documentary-style aesthetic to tell the story of Layla, an intelligent and articulate Dutch-Moroccan teenager, who becomes involved in Islamic fundamentalism at home.

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