Nida Manzoor's Controversiality Proves She's Exactly What We Need

Jane Austen, James Bond, Freddie Mercury, King King Theory, and Dolly Parton - what comes to mind? The first thought is probably not as inspiration for work highlighting young Muslim women. Yet, these are just a few of Nida Manzoor’s influences for the TV show, We Are Lady Parts, and the film, Polite Society. Manzoor creates South Asian characters with intense depth, wit, and humor, drawing on a dizzying variety of genres to build universally appealing entertainment based on complex casual representation. The show We Are Lady Parts (2021) follows an all-women ragtag Muslim punk band through their personal lives and their musical aspirations. This bitingly funny and riotously colorful journey is rich with distinctive characters that break the boundaries of what it means to be a Muslim woman.

Unshockingly, there are quite a few people who are unhappy about Manzoor portraying punk music-playing Muslim women who are individualistic in their practice of Islam. The show features Amina, a Ph.D. student desperately seeking a husband in stark contrast with her more liberal mother’s advice. The show brings in other provocative characters such as Momtaz, who vapes under her niqab and works at a lingerie shop, and Hijabi Ayesha who dates a woman. The criticism stemmed from beliefs that the series conveyed the wrong values to impressionable young girls, that there is fulfillment in what is haram (forbidden), and that it places the whole South Asian community in a contentious position. Except, a contentious approach that stretches the limits of what representation can be is exactly what the entertainment space needs. Manzoor is well aware of her controversial creativity, which is clearly displayed in a meta episode in which the band Lady Parts experiences backlash from an article twisting what their music and Islamic identities mean to them. The irony is that the essence of Lady Parts - passion and artistic expression working in conjunction with identity and religion - is warped into a display of unfaithfulness, that parallels the criticism of Nida Manzoor. In further similarity to the women of Lady Parts, the backlash speaks to Manzoor’s ability to simultaneously shatter stereotypes while providing casual representation in entertainment meant for mass audiences.

Polite Society (2023) is an insane genre mashup rooted in a story of independence and sisterhood as aspiring stuntwoman Ria Khan attempts to stop her sister from getting tricked into marriage. Immediately entertaining, constantly funny, and inventively unexpected, Polite Society shines brightly because Ria is realistically messy and endearing. I watched We Are Lady Parts after Polite Society, and I saw Manzoor’s growth as a filmmaker between these works. Manzoor discusses the burden that speaking for a culturally defined group brings; comedic essence is inherently diminished because of a heightened responsibility when writing jokes and inserting lightness. In my opinion, this burden is stabbed in We Are Lady Parts and overcome in Polite Society. Though a fan of Manzoor’s wit and ingenuity in We Are Lady Parts, at times the comedy was off-puttingly unrealistic and the attempts to break stereotypes too obvious (neither are necessarily negative, but both are of note). In Polite Society, I would go as far as to say it had numerous completely unrealistic plotlines within the general unrealistic villain’s motive. However, Polite Society never felt off-putting in its fictional intensity whilst being so impressively casual and natural with its South Asian and Muslim representation.

Growing up as a South Asian girl, I hinged onto any small piece of representation as a reflection of my own capabilities. My perception of who I was allowed to be was invisibly and intrinsically linked to the media I consumed. This, as expected, was very limiting. Between the oft trauma-ridden stories of women of color and the model minority stereotypes, my self-worth was defined through my ability to strive and persevere. Though important qualities to maintain, if I had watched We Are Lady Parts when I was younger, I would have rejoiced in the idea that simply my personality and my unique expression of femininity were a part of my worth as well. The women of We Are Lady Parts each have femininity of different kinds. They are sometimes too loud, too angry, or too timid, and that is what makes them extremely human. They are all devoted to their religion but practice it individually, and in the depth of their identities are new realities of being a South Asian girl beyond the stifling monolith that is most often presented as “representation”.

We Are Lady Parts and Polite Society are narratives of Brown joy that possess broader relatability. These aren’t pieces of media applicable to a singular audience - they feature struggles all people could relate to on some level. These works explore sibling dynamics, marriage, teenage girlhood, female friendships, and so much more within the context of a minority experience. Manzoor places underrepresented people in positions to be human in their distinctive, intersectional experiences. There is always an unfortunate intrinsic controversiality when it comes to stories of people of color which stems from a place of uncomfortability when inherent biases are directly challenged. In the case of Nida Manzoor, that controversy is proof she is exactly the kind of filmmaker audiences need, taking steps to overcome the root of uncomfortability one kick-ass fight scene at a time.