Muslim Characters

[katikat]

There really need to be more Muslim characters like Semir Gerkhan from Alarm für Cobra 11, he's a Turk and a Muslim and he's amazing. When he and his partner were talking about religion, Semir said, "There's only one moon, but many, many stars..." When another Turkish man complained about his son being gay, Semir told him, "I have three daughters. And if every one of them turned out to be lesbian and I never became a grandfather, it wouldn't matter to me - because I love them!" Both his former and his current boss are women and he respects the hell out of them! His wife is Catholic and it's no big deal!

Please, let's stop showing Muslims only as terrorists or religious bigots. There are those who do not pray five times a day and who don't evoke Allah at the end of every sentence - just like there are Catholics who don't go to church every Sunday and don't stuff their God down everybody's throat all the time. Why is it okay to portray the latter but not the former? Especially in the US TV. Even when American shows try to show Muslim people in a positive light, they still portray them only as religiously devout people, as if casual faith were some trademark of Christianity or something.

I was brought up as a Catholic but I turned agnostic. Not atheist, agnostic. And it really bothers me that, when I watch TV, characters who don't talk about their faith are always Christian. When there's a Muslim in there somewhere, their faith HAS TO be an issue, a plot device, a reason for a clash of cultures. Why? Just... why?

Comments

[afrozenflower]

I agree completely. As an Arab and a Muslim, it really bothers me to not see any Muslims in a lot of of English TV shows and books. I could honestly count how many characters I've encountered that were Muslim and/or Arab in a book/TV show and weren't there just to say "Oh look! A Muslim! See how awesome/diverse our show is?"

[katikat]

I think that TV stereotypes Muslims as either terrorists or positive, but still very devout people. And I think that gives people this weird idea that, if they ever met a Muslim, the first thing they would come to talk about would be religious themes.

[afrozenflower]

What I would love to see more in TV shows and movies are more diverse cast. For example, a gay character without having their whole plot about them being gay. A Muslim character that religion for them is part of who they are, but not the definition of them, etc. Not just characters that seem there just for two episodes/ten minutes before disappearing.

[katikat]

The only show with a Muslim character like that that I can think of is Alarm für Cobra 11, the German action show. The main hero of 20 years now is Semir Gerkhan, a Muslim German Turk. From time to time, he has to deal with the Turkish community that considers him a traitor because he joined the police but mostly, he's just a normal guy who goes out for a beer or to a soccer game.

As far as gay characters go? Jack Harkness on Doctor Who/Torchwood? Or Jinxy on Warehouse 13.

But in most cases, unless the hero is white and Christian, they tend to make an issue of the hero's gender, race or religion.

[afrozenflower]

Oh I have heard of Jack before, but I wasn't aware he was gay. Anyway, I was just trying to make any example.

The German show seems interesting, even though I'm not the biggest fan of action shows. But I will check it out.

I did notice that as well. It is sad really. When I was younger (I live in Egypt but I pretty much watch American shows since childhood) I didn't notice that, but once I did, I could see how problematic it is.