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8. From Arab Terrorists to Patriotic Arab Americans: Representational Strategies in Post-9/11 TV Dramas
- University of Michigan Press
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153 Eight From Arab Terrorists to Patriotic Arab Americans Representational Strategies in Post-9/11 TV Dramas Evelyn Alsultany In 2004, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) accused the TV drama 24 of perpetuating stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims.1 CAIR objected to the persistent portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in the context of terrorism, stating that “repeated association of acts of terrorism with Islam will only serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice.”2 CAIR’s critics have retorted that programs like 24 are cutting edge, reflecting one of the most pressing social and political issues of the moment, the War on Terror. Some critics further contend that CAIR is trying to deflect the reality of Muslim terrorism by confining television writers to politically correct themes.3 The writers and producers of 24 have responded to CAIR’s concerns in a number of ways. For one, the show often includes sympathetic portrayals of Arabs and Muslims, in which they are the “good guys” or in some way on the side of the United States. Representatives of 24 state that the show has “made a concerted effort to show ethnic, religious and political groups as multidimensional, and political issues are debated from multiple viewpoints.”4 The villains on the eight seasons of 24 are Russians, Germans , Latinos, Arabs/Muslims, Euro-Americans, Africans, and even the fictional president of the United States. Rotating the identity of the “bad guy” is one of the many strategies used by TV dramas to avoid reproducing the Arab/Muslim terrorist stereotype.5 The show’s responsiveness to such criticism even extended to creating a public service announcement (PSA) that was broadcast in February 2005, during one of the program’s commercial breaks. The PSA featured the lead actor, Kiefer Sutherland, staring 154 / between the middle east and the americas deadpan into the camera, reminding viewers that “the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism” and urging us to “please bear that in mind” while watching the program.6 After September 11, 2001, a number of TV dramas were created with the War on Terror as their central theme. Dramas such as 24 (2001–2011), Threat Matrix (2003–4), The Grid (2004), Sleeper Cell (2005–6), and The Wanted (2009) depict U.S. government agencies and officials heroically working to make the nation safe by battling terrorism.7 A prominent feature of these television shows is Arab and Muslim characters, most of whom are portrayed as grave threats to U.S. national security. But in response to increased popular awareness of ethnic stereotyping and the active monitoring of Arab and Muslim watchdog groups, television writers have had to adjust their storylines to avoid blatant, crude stereotyping. This essay surveys the strategies writers and producers of TV dramas have utilized when representing Arab and Muslim characters and then examines the reception of some of these strategies among a few ideologically diverse film/TV critics and viewers. I create a list of representational strategies that can be identified in TV dramas in order to point to how schematized these strategies have become and also in order to discuss the ideological work performed by these representational strategies through what I am calling “simplified complex representations,” the appearance of seemingly complex images that are in fact quite predictable and formulaic. Simplified complex representations are strategies used by television producers, writers, and directors to give the impression that the representations they are producing are complex. I argue that simplified complex representations are the representational mode of the so-called post-race era, signifying a new era of racial representation. These representations appear to challenge or complicate former stereotypes and contribute to a multicultural post-race illusion. Yet at the same time, most of the programs that employ these strategies promote logics that legitimate racist policies and practices. It is important to note that some of these representational strategies appeared before September 11, when several Hollywood films contained noticeably more “complex” portrayals of Arabs and Muslims: for example, a plotline giving the terrorist character a backstory, or another including a “good” Arab in the storyline.8 These films, produced in the late 1990s, were exceptions in a history of representing Arabs and Muslims predominantly as belly dancers, oppressed veiled women, oil sheiks, and terrorists.9 But it was only after 9/11 that more diverse representations proliferated and became standardized. These new representational strategies seek to make the point [54.224.90...