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I just watched the episode again, this time with my mom and sister.I noticed my mom frowning from the very first time Zoya was shown in that skirt. She continued watching quietly for another few minutes before reaching for the remote and switching the channel, muttering 'ridiculous' under her breath. She didn't even get to the part where Zoya makes her point to Asad. And mind you, this has never happened before. My mom is an ardent fan of the show, she watches every episode as long as we're home at the time, no matter how pointless the episode might be.
And for once, I agreed with her. The sight of Zoya in a miniskirt was an immediate put off for me too, simply because it was totally out of character. Not the fact that she was wearing a skirt, but the fact that it was such a miniscule one. I bet this was why my mom was disengaged as well.
Before you guys label my mom as having old-fashioned thinking, let me just clear with you that my mom herself was brought up here outside of India, and she grew up wearing jeans and skirts as well. From the beginning of the show, she has disapproved of Asad's rigid thinking and applauded Zoya's dressing style and independence. For more on this, I'd written a post about my mom's views on QH a long time back: http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3509467
Now I doubt we'll watch the next episode. Because ironically enough, my mom was watching the show for Zoya, like I've mentioned in my earlier post, she loves the character. And just like my mom, I too personally feel that making Zoya dress in a miniskirt was butchering her character.
Before this, it looked to me like Zoya was more comfortable in non-traditional clothes, but still made it a point to make sure her clothes were conservative (legs and arms covered) keeping in mind the fact that at the end of the day, she's still a moderate Muslim girl, even if she's not overly religious. This was even further reinforced by Dilshaad during the Quran recitation session, where she pointed out that despite wearing non-traditional clothes, Zoya had still covered more skin than some others present in traditional clothes like a sari.
But suddenly that whole facet of Zoya's character was mercilessly butchered when she was shown as completely happy and comfortable strutting around in what was no less than a small piece of cloth.
I understand that the point of the fiasco was to show that clothes do not define your character, and I agree with that. But frankly, I don't think this was the way to go about showing this. Sure, a person draped in layers of cloth who insists she's virtuous may not necessarily be telling the truth, but I would still believe her over someone dressed in a micro miniskirt who insists that it has absolutely nothing to do with her character.
Clothes do make a person, at least to a certain extent. They are not completely unrelated subject matters. It's totally ridiculous for Zoya to believe that she should be praised for wearing that.
That said, I believe the trps come from audience of my mom's age, and if this scene left a bad taste in my mom's mouth (when I personally believe my mom is pretty open minded as it is), I can't imagine what some others might've felt about it.
I know this skirt issue has been discussed to death already, so if you disagree with me, please don't base your arguments on yourself/other Muslim girls/other NY girls, because I don't care about what everyone else wears. I'm saying that Zoya's character in this show should not have worn a skirt of this length, it was out of character. Also, I believe that no matter what our generation may think about this, the older generation might not have received it in the same fashion. So please reply only if you have something to say about Zoya's character or the older audience. Thank you for reading (:
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