The Story We’ve Been Told
For more than a century, filmmakers have used cinema to tell stories and introduce new narratives into the mainstream. But the media doesn’t just reflect the culture and society we live in; it shapes it.
For decades, Hollywood has crafted stories about Muslim communities that are filled with fear, war, and suspicion, where Muslims are often the villains that need to be defeated or the victims that need to be saved. This singular narrative, rooted in harmful stereotypes, recycled over and over again, continues to erase the real stories of our diverse communities, marginalize our voices, and contribute to the rise in anti-Muslim hate.
The Vilification of Muslims
In 2021, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a report showing that one-third of primary Muslim characters in popular films were presented as perpetrators of violence. The age-old depiction of Muslim characters as “barbaric,” “evil,” or “the enemy” reinforces the false and dangerous narrative that Muslims are not your neighbors, coworkers, or friends, but threats.
When the only time you see a Muslim on screen is when they are the villain, it contributes to the widespread fear and misunderstanding of Islam, fostering discrimination and prejudice that spills off our screens and into our lives.
In contrast, more than half of the primary and secondary Muslim characters on screen were targets of physical violence or verbal aggression. This repetitive association of Muslims with violence, even as victims, reinforces harmful bias and normalizes the idea that Muslims deserve violence.
Case Study: Homeland (2011-2020)
The TV show “Homeland” frequently portrays Muslims as terrorists or double agents, reinforcing the association of Islam with extremism and feeding into Islamophobic tropes that all Muslims should be considered dangerous or capable of violence until proven otherwise.
Othered on Screen
The Muslim community contains a rich and diverse variety of cultures, languages, and histories, but films often portray these traditions in a way that alienates us and suggests that Muslims are fundamentally “different” or “incompatible” with the societies we live in, not as a way of accurately representing or appreciating our communities.
Religious practices, such as praying or fasting, are frequently portrayed as strange or extreme, accents are mocked or looked down on, and headscarves and cultural clothing are labeled backwards or oppressive.
Case Study: Elite (2018–2024)
The TV show “Elite” features a Muslim character that wears the hijab and takes it off for her non-Muslim boyfriend, echoing the problematic stereotype that Muslim women who wear the hijab are oppressed or are “in need of liberation,” and that removing their hijab grants them this “freedom.”
Normalized Islamophobia
On screen, Muslim characters are often insulted, accused, and attacked. USC Annenberg’s report showed that more than 60% of Muslim primary and secondary characters were targeted by xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia based solely on their appearance, religion, or background. Muslim characters are called “terrorists” and “fundamentalists” or are subjected to other characters stating, “send them back.”
When Islamophobia is depicted without critique or consequence on screen, it becomes normalized and contributes to a climate of intolerance that fuels anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents off screen.
Case Study: American Sniper (2014)
The film “American Sniper” features a main character that views all Iraqis as potential threats. The Muslim characters are dehumanized, generalized, and frequently referred to with slurs such as “evil savages.”
Caricatures Not Characters
In many films and TV shows, Muslim characters, especially those written as a proxy for violence, are depicted as Middle Eastern/North African (MENA).
Not only does this reinforce the assumption that all Muslims look a certain way, but it also incorrectly paints an entire region of the world, filled with different religions, cultures, and ethnic identities, as one and the same. Conflating Arabs with Islam purposefully and harmfully erases the identities of both non-Muslim Arabs and non-Arab Muslims.
Films also often pick and choose distinct aspects of MENA or South Asian cultures that are considered “exotic” and use them interchangeably to perpetuate Orientalist stereotypes of the Middle East and Asia and without acknowledging their uniqueness or significance to the cultures they are plagiarized from.
Case Study: Aladdin
The animated film “Aladdin” uses a mix of elements heavily influenced by MENA and South Asian cultures to create an “exotic” fictional city. The film also heavily depicts the villains with exaggerated “Middle Eastern” features and accents, and originally featured language that fed into the “violent Arab” stereotype. The opening song “Arabian Nights” originally had lyrics that stated, “…Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.”
The Riz Test
In 2017, Riz Ahmed, a British Pakistani and Muslim actor, gave a speech in the House of Commons addressing the lack of representation on screen. This sparked the creation of the Riz Test—a list of five criteria to measure how Muslims are portrayed in film and TV shows, influenced in part by the Bechdel Test.
The Bechdel Test was created to measure the representation of women in fiction. To pass, the work must have at least two female characters that talk to each other about something other than a man.
If a film or show stars at least one character who is identifiably Muslim, by ethnicity, language, or clothing, is the character:
- Talking about, the victim of, or the perpetrator of, terrorism?
- Presented as irrationally angry?
- Presented as superstitious, culturally backwards, or anti-modern?
- Presented as a threat to a Western way of life?
- If the character is male, is he presented as misogynistic? Or, if the character is female, is she presented as oppressed by her male counterparts?
If the answer to any of the above is “yes,” then the media fails the Riz Test.
The test isn’t meant to be a scientific measure of Islamophobia, but rather a tool to guide conversations about representation and anti-Muslim themes in media.
Reclaiming the Narrative
The dominant portrayal of Muslims in the media isn’t just creative laziness; it’s a direct attempt to limit access to alternative viewpoints, reinforce stereotypes, and remove the voices and stories of marginalized communities altogether.
It’s clear we cannot rely on the media to tell our stories; so, we must tell them ourselves. That is why CAIR-LA not only works to combat Islamophobia in the media but also encourages our communities to share their unique voice, perspective, and history.
By amplifying the real experiences of those who have long been ignored in the media, we can help shape a world where our communities tell our own stories and see themselves equally represented, valued, and heard in the media.
Share Your Story
CAIR-LA is hosting its second annual Social Justice Film Screening to celebrate filmmaking as a form of justice through storytelling—and we want you to be a part of it!
Aspiring Muslim filmmakers between the ages of 13–33 are invited to submit a short film using your unique perspective to confront erasure, center marginalized voices, and reclaim stories that have been silenced.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, Oct. 31, at 11:59 p.m.
Prizes:
1st Place: $1,500
2nd Place: $1,000
3rd Place: $500
