For over a century, Hollywood has tended to painting Muslim males by a remarkably slim lens: as terrorists, villains or harmful outsiders. From reveals equivalent to “24” and “Homeland” to procedural dramas equivalent to “Law and Order,” this portrayal has seldom allowed for complexity or relatability.
Such depictions reinforce Orientalist stereotypes – a colonial worldview that treats cultures within the East as unique, irrational and even harmful.
However, latest years have seen a noticeable improve in Muslim-led storytelling throughout platforms within the U.S. and UK. While nonetheless a minority, these tales depart from many years of misrepresentation.
As a scholar of Islam and gender who has carried out analysis on masculinity, sexuality and nationwide belonging in Muslim leisure media, I analyze a brand new wave of critically acclaimed reveals the place Muslim characters are on the middle of the narrative.
Historical stereotypes
Scholar of media and race Jack Shaheen has documented the systematic vilification of Arabs and Muslims in Western media. In his 2001 e-book “Reel Bad Arabs,” he analyzed over a thousand movies and located that the overwhelming majority depicted Arab and Muslim males virtually solely as fanatics, oil-rich villains and misogynists.
More lately, a 2021 examine from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative checked out 200 fashionable films and located that Muslim characters had been both fully lacking or proven as violent.
Despite the consistency of unfavorable representations of Muslims on tv following the rise in Islamophobia, the post-9/11 local weather really noticed the introduction of extra numerous Muslim characters. Such portrayals promoted the concept of the U.S. as a tolerant, liberal society.
Scholar of fashionable tradition Evelyn Alsultany writes that Hollywood launched Muslim characters who had been usually law-abiding residents or patriotic allies. She explains that regardless of these constructive makes an attempt, these characters had been nonetheless depicted in simplistic methods, as both “good Muslims” or “bad Muslims.” The “good Muslim/bad Muslim” framework was coined by scholar of post-colonialism Mahmood Mamdani to explain how Muslims are understood throughout this binary. The “good Muslims” distance themselves from their religion and align themselves with Western liberal values to realize acceptance.
Expanding on this theme, Islamic research scholar Samah Choudhury explains how the mainstream success of South Asian Muslim male comedians equivalent to Hasan Minhaj, Kumail Nanjiani and Aziz Ansari is formed by their adoption of secular beliefs.
Even so-called “positive” characters, equivalent to Muslim FBI brokers or loyal informants in reveals like “NCIS” or “Homeland,” finally served to normalize state surveillance and justify the worldwide struggle on terrorism, a world marketing campaign initiated by the U.S. following the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist assaults. These brown and typically Black Muslim characters are portrayed as “good” solely when aligned with U.S. state energy.
Effort in modern tv
Hulu’s comedy drama sequence “Ramy” is a milestone in Muslim storytelling. Created by actor-comedian Ramy Youssef, the sequence, which debuted in 2019, follows a younger Egyptian-American Muslim navigating household, religion and relationships in New Jersey.
Ramy is devoid of storylines about nationwide safety. Instead, the present foregrounds its primary character’s grappling with religiosity, courting and identification. Moreover, as I’ve argued elsewhere, the protagonist’s non secular devotion isn’t a punchline however part of his on a regular basis expertise.
For occasion, Ramy prays 5 instances a day – on the mosque and at residence, fasts throughout Ramadan, and abstains from alcohol as a matter of Islamic observance. At the identical time, he additionally partakes in hookup tradition and wrestles with guilt for falling in need of Islamic beliefs. By showcasing this duality, the present illuminates inner debates inside American Muslim communities, together with on gendered norms round marriage and sexual ethics.
Across the Atlantic, the BBC comedy sequence “Man Like Mobeen,” created by comedian-actor Guz Khan, provides a layered portrayal of Muslim life in inner-city Birmingham, England. The present follows Mobeen, a reformed British Pakistani gangster, striving and sometimes failing to depart his felony previous behind and dwell as a religious Muslim whereas elevating his teenage sister.
The present explores the struggles of the working class. It situates Muslim communities inside broader class and racial dynamics whereby working-class Black and brown males are susceptible to racial profiling by regulation enforcement and gang violence.
With incisive and darkish humor, it challenges British racism towards Muslims and provides social and political commentary on UK society. This contains critiques of British far-right actions and their racism, in addition to the failures of the National Health Service.
Muslim ladies on display
The flip aspect of stereotypical portrayals of Muslim males as violent and misogynist is the equally reductive portrayal of Muslim ladies as passive or oppressed. When Muslim ladies seem on display, they’re usually introduced as submissive or “liberated” solely by a white non-Muslim male romantic curiosity. This strategy of liberation normally includes eradicating their hijab or distancing themselves from Islam.
A refreshing departure from such storytelling norms will be discovered within the British Channel 4 comedy “We Are Lady Parts,” created by filmmaker and author Nida Manzoor, which debuted in 2021.
The present follows an all-female Muslim punk band in London. The bandmates are humorous, artistic and rebellious. While they defy Western views of Muslim ladies, they don’t seem like written solely to shatter stereotypes.
They mirror the contradictions that many Muslims dwell with, juggling religion, identification and politics of their music. The band’s songs embody feminist themes however are numerous, subverting Islamophobic stereotypes towards ladies with humor with songs like “Voldemort Under My Headscarf,” or lusting after a love curiosity in “Bashir with the good beard.”
The band members are additionally usually seen engaged in ritual prayer collectively, a unified show of worship amongst ladies who in any other case have very completely different personalities, trend sensibilities and objectives in life. The present additionally addresses queerness, Islamophobia and intergenerational battle with nuance and humor.
I discover all of those themes in additional element in my forthcoming e-book, through which I study how this new wave of Muslim media provides insights concerning the lived non secular experiences of American and British Muslims.
Narrative authority
What unites these sequence is their rejection of reductive and stereotypical narratives. Muslim characters in these reveals are usually not outlined by violence, trauma or assimilation. Nor do they function spokespeople for all Muslims; they’re written as flawed and evolving people.
This wave of nuanced portrayals of Muslim life contains different latest productions equivalent to Netflix’s 2022 sequence “Mo” and Hulu’s 2025 actuality sequence “Muslim Matchmaker,” which facilities actual individuals whose lives and romantic journeys showcase American Muslim life in genuine methods. Muslims within the present are depicted as having varied professions, ranges of religion and life experiences.
These sequence and their creators sign that actual progress comes when Muslim voices are telling their very own tales, not merely reacting to the gaze of outsiders or the pressures of political headlines. By foregrounding day by day ritual, religious aspiration and even awkwardness and need, “Ramy,” “Man Like Mobeen” and “We Are Lady Parts” all refuse the burden of “representation.”
By shifting away from the binary of “threatening other” versus “assimilated citizen,” this new wave of media challenges the legacy of Orientalism. Instead, they provide characters who mirror the complicated realities of Muslim lives which might be messy, joyful and evolving.
Tazeen M Ali is Assistant Professor of Religion and Politics, Washington University in St Louis.
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