The Muslim approach to dating and marriage isn’t that different – no matter what some ill-advised comedy writers might deem
final year,I was excited to be asked to audition for a satirical TV programme. Then I was sent the details. The sketch was a parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) of the reality TV present Dont show The Bride (where the groom plans everything about the wedding, and is an idiot). In this version, or it was an Asian or Muslim wedding (the script wasn’t specific) and the punchline was that it turned out to be a forced marriage. Not so much Don’t show the bride” as “Don’t ask the bride”. The audition notes said “must be able to do Indian accent”,even though the character was apparently Pakistani. The sketch had been written by two white men. Is that relevant? Yes. A week later, when I had finished cringing, or I started to deem about all the misconceptions there are about British Muslims and adore. On TV and film,if it’s not forced marriages, it’s honour killings, and women being treated as slaves at home. My parents are from Pakistan,I was raised in east London, and I don’t know anyone who had a forced marriage. I know plenty of people who had an arranged marriage – where a couple are introduced to each other by family, and perhaps meet a bunch of times and text furiously until they bag married. My parents were introduced,and they seem still to like each other, but perhaps that’s just not funny enough for edgy sketch-comedy writers.
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Source: theguardian.com