Page 129 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

appearances and styles of presentation. They may consider writing about issues
such as dressing styles not only irrelevant but also distracting from matters of
content, and hence of substance. Including such issues may be seen as an intru-
sion of their informants’ privacy, especially in those cases where the latter them-
selves underline that dressing styles are a matter of individual choice and ought
to be irrelevant for the issues at hand. The problem is, however, that others may
hold a different point of view on this issue. They may well consider styles of
dress as a matter of substance; rather than seeing it as a private issue, they may
see it as a matter of public morality. Hence, although dressing styles do not have
an inherent meaning outside those attributed to it by those involved, be it as
wearers or spectators or both, the latter may well assume such ¤xity. The main
point is that, whereas in a written analysis the author can choose whether to
include information about styles of self-presentation, this is much less an option
in presenting visual documentary material, even if allowing for the possibilities
producers have to cut and frame their material.
Al-Zobaidi’s ¤lm includes shots of a number of NGO women speakers as
well as an extremely vocal male Islamist, who attempted not only to silence the
former but also to control the large number of women in the audience wearing
“covered dress” (hijab). One element immediately visible in the documentary is
the differences in women’s dressing styles and the apparent overlap, even if par-
tial, between styles of dress and positions taken in the debate. For without pos-
iting a necessary link between wearing (or not wearing) hijab and taking a par-
ticular political stance, it is hard to avoid noticing that those wearing covered
dress and those not seemed to be taking up different positions in these debates.
Yet, although those addressing the audience and presenting longer statements
were the NGO women activists, who were not wearing hijab, the large number
of covered women were not simply passive. If their presence in itself can al-
ready be read as a statement of sorts, it is through more explicit forms of body
language, such as nodding, applauding, facial expressions, and other forms of
showing approval and disapproval of the speakers’ points of view, that they en-
gaged in the debate as an active audience. Hence, whereas political positions
cannot be read from styles of dress, focusing on body language in a wider sense
indicates that these women largely supported Islamist arguments.
Visual mediation also provides insight into the styles of argumentation and,
more generally, the ways in which particular participants try to gain the upper
hand not only through the exchange of arguments but also through their at-
tempts to control and silence other participants. The ¤lm shows how the pre-
viously mentioned male Islamist openly attempted to control both the women
NGO activists and the Islamist women. In the case of the former he placed him-
self simultaneously in the position of participant and of moderator, ordering
the Islamist women to remain silent and to let his secular counterpart speak
¤rst. He then set the parameters for the ensuing debate, by allowing his oppo-
nent to make an argument and then immediately making a counterargument
himself. His attempts to control the Islamist women were highlighted in a re-
vealing scene where he publicly discarded a statement they had prepared, appar-

118 Annelies Moors