"Instead of letting Islam transform us some Muslims are trying to transform Islam to serve their political agenda. They are using "Islam" to kill murder, innocent people"
Zayd Abdal Malik - Sleeper Cell
How has the role of the stereotypical Muslim changed especially after the events of 9/11?
Focusing on "The Sleeper Cell"
The media has always been a powerful device in providing media organisations with a source to filter their ideas through to the audiences, especially in times of crisis. A section of society which has felt this is Muslims and Arabs. This is visible in early texts such as A Son Of The Sahara (1924) which was described as "the strongest subconscious attack on the Arab culture of all the Arab movies of the 1920s."[1] , a time when there was a lack of understanding of the middle east and the Muslim faith that dominated the region. These types of attacks progressed into later decades and other films such as "Back To The Future (1985)" which made a reference to "Libyan terrorists" during a period where, the North African Muslim country, Libya was distancing itself from the West and was accused of state sponsored terrorist acts. This type of attack was not only in movies but also in the news, for example in 1995 the front cover of a British newspaper displayed a picture of a fireman carrying a dead baby with the headline reading "In the Name of Islam" following the Oklahoma bombings which were infact carried out by a Christian militant, Timothy Mc Veigh. This type of stereotyping was further fuelled by the attacks of September 11th, 2001, which lead to an increase in programming against the Muslim faith as well as Middle Easterns who were highly associated with the faith, for example the American TV series "24" which many times has feautured Muslims and Arabs as the main villians. This trend of Muslim stereotyping has caused much controversy within society as audiences have began to accept that all Muslims are terrorists sympathisers through such shows and Muslims believe they are being incorrectly targetted because of the actions of a few.
The media has always been a powerful device in providing media organisations with a source to filter their ideas through to the audiences, especially in times of crisis. A section of society which has felt this is Muslims and Arabs. This is visible in early texts such as A Son Of The Sahara (1924) which was described as "the strongest subconscious attack on the Arab culture of all the Arab movies of the 1920s."[1] , a time when there was a lack of understanding of the middle east and the Muslim faith that dominated the region. These types of attacks progressed into later decades and other films such as "Back To The Future (1985)" which made a reference to "Libyan terrorists" during a period where, the North African Muslim country, Libya was distancing itself from the West and was accused of state sponsored terrorist acts. This type of attack was not only in movies but also in the news, for example in 1995 the front cover of a British newspaper displayed a picture of a fireman carrying a dead baby with the headline reading "In the Name of Islam" following the Oklahoma bombings which were infact carried out by a Christian militant, Timothy Mc Veigh. This type of stereotyping was further fuelled by the attacks of September 11th, 2001, which lead to an increase in programming against the Muslim faith as well as Middle Easterns who were highly associated with the faith, for example the American TV series "24" which many times has feautured Muslims and Arabs as the main villians. This trend of Muslim stereotyping has caused much controversy within society as audiences have began to accept that all Muslims are terrorists sympathisers through such shows and Muslims believe they are being incorrectly targetted because of the actions of a few.
Not many programs show Muslims who are not associated with terrorism and when they are shown as terrorists there is no attempt to try and explain the reasons behind the terrorism instead they present the audience with the "bad guy" whose actions are supposedly a reflection of the faith he follows.
The American TV series "The Sleeper Cell" provides an insight in to a working terrorist sleeper cell also presenting reasons for such extreme behaviour and providing alternative moderate Muslims who are rarely shown within the media, with a lead Black Sunni Muslim, a moderate Muslim who is the head of intelligence in the government as well as Muslim women, who are often associated with stereotypes of there own, who are moderate and follow the true principles of the faith.
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