Terror TV

American society in the past decade has been plagued with news of terroristic threats and the Islamic stereotypes that have followed in their footsteps.   The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers, Pentagon and attempted attack on the White House spurred a wave of Islamophobic attitudes which have become an issue of increasing sociological and political importance.  These Isalmophobic attitudes and stereotypes have quickly filtered into multiple aspects of our society outside the realm of security, particularly the medium of television.   As Evelyn Alsultany states in Challenging Stereotypes, “Since September 11, a number of TV dramas have been created with the War on Terror as their central theme, depicting US government agencies and officials heroically working to make the nation safe by battling terrorism” (Alsultany).  These TV shows, for example, 24, further perpetuated the terrorist vision of Arabs and Muslims solely by associating them within the context of the show or terroristic story line.  Taking an analytical approach to a more recent television series such as Homeland, provides an explanation of whether Arab and Muslim stereotypes still exist on television and if so, how these stereotypes are currently being perpetuated.

Emmy award winning Homeland follows Claire Danes as CIA agent Carrie Mattheson and Damian Lewis as American war hero Nicholas Brody.  Brody was held as a prisoner of war in Iraq for eight years before returning home to his ecstatic and transformed family while trying to find his way back into main stream society.  Each storyline of the first two seasons shows Carrie, who against CIA orders goes to whatever lengths she can to prove that Brody is nothing further from a war hero, but an American that has been “turned” by Al-Qaeda.  She believes him to be working with Abu Nazir, who is an Islamist terrorist seeking revenge on the United States for the slaying of his son years before.  Nazir is played by Iranian-American actor Navid Negahban who starred in 24, which was written by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, who are not so ironically, the writers of Homeland.   Throughout the first two seasons, Carrie tries her hardest to convince other CIA operatives that Brody is working with Nazir as well as other members of Al-Qaeda, only to be scoffed at and eventually put into a mental hospital for untreated bipolar disorder. 

The portrayal of Nicholas Brody opens up a complex characterization.  The viewer’s sympathize with him because of his time spent as a prisoner of war, but once home on US soil, he is written to be the enemy.  In “Grace” the second episode of the first season, Brody is shown sneaking into his garage to secretly carry out Muslim religious practices without his family knowing.  Brody was forbidden to completely align with Al-Qaeda until he converted to Islam.  Although he seeks solace in this religion, the show continuously portrays him as a terrorist and a Muslim, which purposely and directly connects the religion to violent terroristic attacks.   Furthermore, throughout the first two seasons Muslims are not shown in the story world unless they are connected to some sort of terror plot.   Even casting, aforementioned, Navid Negahban, an Iranian native who has made it big because of America’s so called “fascination” with Islamic stereotypes (Tavana).  While Navid isn’t the only mastermind behind the Iranian terror plots on the US during the first two seasons, he is far easier to accept as a terrorist then a white American war hero.  

The writers of Homeland employ two main tactics in order to convince viewers that they are thwarting the stereotypical portrayal of Muslims as well as trying to avoid the backlash they faced after the airing of 24.  First, by writing the “traitor” as a white, all-American, red headed, prisoner of war, characters as well as viewers are hard to be convinced that Brody is who is working with Al-Qaeda.  But, this, “there is no way an American is a terrorist” reaction to Brody’s character is exactly what perpetrates the anti-Muslim stereotype in the first place.  Kind of a “backfire” on the part of the writers if you ask me.  Secondly, Season 3 has seen the introduction of a new character, Fara, a Muslim woman hired by the CIA and working for the “good guys.”  This character is clearly written to formulate some sort of sympathy points from the prior representation of Muslims in the first two seasons but, no matter whose side she is on, Fara still receives critical remarks and treatment, only further showing the attitude many people in the Western world have of Muslims.  Saul, another CIA operative, describes Fara in the second episode of the third season as “just a girl in a head scarf.”   It doesn’t matter that she is working to help our country’s cause; her headscarf deems her as “the enemy.”  To add insult to injury, she is told that by wearing this scarf, she is insulting those that have been killed by Muslims in the past.  As far as the third season is concerned, she is rarely seen, her personality is not fully explored, and she seems indispensable to the show, which is probably just how the writers want it to be.   As Dave Hoskin quotes in TVEye, there is a Muslim shaped hole that characters such as Fara are written not to fill (Hoskin). 

Whether it is the intention of Homeland to portray Muslims in which they do the “repeated association of acts of terrorism with Islam will only serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice”  (Alsultany). Broadcasting a television series about the War on Terror and the main opponents of the US only highlights the stereotypes that have been previously made about Muslims not only on television, but in society as a whole.  Viewers can’t help but to fall into the easily set anti-Muslim trap.  Seemingly, “positive” portrayals and strategic tactics to curtail stereotypes in this successful Showtime series are not the instant remedy for Islamophobic attitudes.  The anti-Muslim depiction in western culture is a sociological and political problem that may be too large for even television’s stage to tackle. 

Works Cited

Alsultany, Evelyn.  “24: Challenging Stereotypes.”  Television and American Culture.  Oxford: 

         Oxford University Press, 2009. 85-91. Print. 

“Grace.” Homeland.  Showtime. 9 October 2011. Television.

Hoskin, Dave.  “The Muslim Shaped Hole: Homeland.” Metro Magazine. October 2012. Web. 21        October 2013.  

 

Tavana, Kambiz.  “Talking to Homeland’s Abu Nazir.” The Atlantic. 26 January 2013. Web.  21

                October 2013.

 

 “Uh…Oh…Ah…” Homeland. Showtime. 6 October 2013. Television.