Paper Title
Watching Bilal: Tracing an Islam Commodification in Globalization
Abstract
BILAL (New Greed of Hero), an animation film produced by United Arab Emirat in 2016, awarded as the most inspired movie in Hollywood film industry in 2018. Ayman Jamal, Producer and Assistant Director of the Bilal movie: A New Breed of Hero said, Bilal bin Rabah's story was made based on a true story. The film by Barajoun Entertainment was directed by a British actor, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. However, this film caused a controversy in Qatar, because some people thought that the film which story was based on history in Islam, namely the figure of BILAL, a slave who was freed and became the first muezzin (Islam praying caller), and was known as a companion of the Prophet Muhammad was considered not in accordance with its historical reality. The producer of this film argues that inspiration drawn from history does not mean the same as the historical reality. This becomes an interesting point to be discussed because it can be suspected that there has been a commodification process in the making of this film. Film as a media, visual culture and popular culture industry in the era of globalization is explained as a support to prove the change of values in the commodification process in the BILAL film, which is used as an important power to enter the global market.
Keywords - BILAL Animation Film, Commodification, Pop Culture, Visual Culture.