COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Whether it's stand-up comedy or drama, when Muslim American Mo Amer sets out to create, he writes what he knows.
For this, the Palestinian-born comedian, writer and actor also received critical acclaim. The second season of the American series Mo documents the tumultuous journey of Mo Najar and his family after being granted asylum in the United States as Palestinian refugees.
Amer's show is part of an ongoing wave on television of Arab and Muslim American creators who are telling nuanced and complex stories about identity without falling into the stereotypes that Western media has historically portrayed.
“Whenever you want to make a grounded show that feels very real and authentic to the story and their cultural background, you write about it,” Amer told The Associated Press. “And once you do that, it becomes very natural, and when you do that, other people can see themselves very easily.”
At the beginning of the second season, viewers discover Najar running a falafel taco stand in Mexico after being locked in a van transporting stolen olive trees across the US-Mexico border. Najar has been trying to return olive trees to the farm where he, his mother and brother are trying to build an olive oil business.
Both seasons of Mo became hits on Netflix. The first season won a Peabody Award. His third Netflix comedy special, Mo Amer: Wild World, premiered in October.
Season two essentially ends before the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, but the series itself doesn't shy away from touching on Israeli-Palestinian relations, the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, or what happens to asylum seekers held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
In addition to “Mo,” shows like “Muslim Matchmaker,” hosted by matchmakers Hoda Abrahim and Yasmine Elhady, bring together Muslim Americans from across the country to find a spouse.
Created by Ramy Youssef, who worked with Amer on Moe, and Pam Brady, Happy Family USA is about an Egyptian-American Muslim family living in New Jersey after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.
Current events have an impact
The key to understanding how Arab or Muslim Americans have been represented on screen is understanding the “historical, political, cultural and social context” in which the content was created, says Sahar Mohamed Khamis, a University of Maryland professor who studies the representation of Arabs and Muslims in the media.
Since the 9/11 attacks, Arabs and Muslims have become villains in many American films and television shows. According to Khamis, Arab ethnicity and the religion of Islam were also portrayed as synonymous. The villain, according to Khamis, is often a man with brown skin and an Arabic-sounding name.
A show like “Muslim Matchmaker” turns that story on its head by showing the ethnic diversity of American Muslims, Elhady said.
“It’s really important to have shows that show us as ordinary Americans,” said Elhadi, who is Egyptian and Libyan-American, “but also as people who live in different places and sometimes have sort of a dual reality of having a foot in the East and a foot in the West, and the reality of actually negotiating that context.”
Before 9/11, people living in the Middle East were often portrayed to Western audiences as exotic creatures living in tents in the desert and riding camels. Women often had little or no influence over these media portrayals and were “tied to the harem,” a secluded area for women in a traditional Muslim home.
This idea, according to Khamis, goes back to the term “Orientalism,” which Palestinian-American academic, political activist and literary critic Edward Said coined in his 1978 book of the same name.
Khamis said, pointing to countries such as Britain and France, the portrayal of people from the region in the media was “not created and produced by the people themselves, but by the eyes of an outsider. The outsiders in this case, he said, were the colonial/imperialist powers who actually controlled these lands for a long period of time.”
Among those who study how Arabs are portrayed on Western television, a common criticism is that the characters are “bombers, billionaires or belly dancers,” she said.
Boundaries of representation
Sanaz Alesafar, executive director of Storyline Partners and an Iranian-American, said she has seen some “wins” for Arab representation in Hollywood, noting the success of “Mo,” “Muslim Matchmaker” and “Happy Family No. 1 in the USA.” Storyline Partners helps writers, showrunners, executives and creators review the historical and cultural backgrounds of their characters and narratives to ensure they are represented fairly and that one creator's ideas do not undermine another.
Alesafar argues that there is still a need for diverse stories about people living in the Middle East and the English-speaking diaspora, written and created by people from these backgrounds.
“In the popular imagination and popular culture, we are still marginalized in very harmful ways,” she said. “Yes, we have these victories and they are incredible, but decision-making and power centers still reduce us to these stereotypes and stereotypes.”
Dina Nassar, an Egyptian-American who heads the creative talent department at Alamiya Filmed Entertainment, said it was important for her children to see themselves reflected on screen “for their own image.” Nassar said she would like to see a diverse group of people in leadership positions in Hollywood. Without it, it's “a clear sign that representation simply won't get us there,” she said.
According to a recent study by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, representation can also influence audience opinions about public policy. The results showed that participants who witnessed positive representations of Muslims were less likely to support anti-democratic and anti-Muslim policies compared to those who witnessed negative representations.
According to amers, the limitations of representation come from the decision makers who green light projects, not from the creators. He said the success of shows like his and others is a “starter,” but he wants to see more recognition in the industry for his work and the work of others like him.
“That’s the thing, just keep writing, that’s all,” he said. “Just keep creating and keep creating, and fortunately I have a very deep ability to do that, so I’m really excited about the future things,” he said.
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