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JACK BAUER FACES A NEW ENEMY--
CHARGES OF RACIAL STEREOTYPING
Jan. 21, 2005
We all knew super agent Jack Bauer was going to have a heck of a bad day during the still-new fourth season of Fox's espionage thriller "24." But the show's producers may have a couple of bad months if Muslim groups continue to protest the rampant negative stereotyping they say consumes the show.
Jack's only five hours into his newest adventure, but year four's early episodes feature an Arab-American family that seemingly works as a terrorist sleeper cell. The family's matriarch (played by Oscar winner Shohreh Aghdashloo) has already poisoned her son's girlfriend, who fell prey to that most fatal of "24"'s sins -- she witnessed too much. Meanwhile, Aghdashloo's on-screen husband is apparently spearheading a dastardly plot to kill the U.S. Secretary of Defense and broadcast it over the Internet.
Last week, E! Online reported that Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Broadcasting and Cable that the show is "taking everyday American-Muslim families and making them suspects…It's very dangerous and very disturbing." The same story stated that, to make amends, Fox agreed to broadcast a public service advertisement featuring the many positives of the American-Muslim community. But the outcry has continued to garner press and the public's attention as "24"'s featured Arab-Americans continue their evil deeds.
I must admit -- this is a tough subject with no easy, obvious solution.
On one hand, you've got to credit the makers of "24" for tackling head on the state of the world today without watering it down. No one needs any reminder that Middle-Eastern Islamic extremists who wrongly use their religious beliefs as an excuse to spread terror throughout the world do indeed exist. The possibility that a family like the one portrayed on "24" hides in plain sight on U.S. soil isn't entirely a figment of the "24" writers' imaginations.
And certainly, the first amendment must give filmmakers the right to tackle the intense and controversial topics, even when certain groups aren't depicted in the most flattering light. The show remains fantastic, one of TV's smartest, so I'm not about to label it as exploitive.
One would also hope that intelligent TV viewers realize that "24'"s depiction of three characters is hardly a universal put-down of the Arab-American community as a whole. (On the show, the sleeper cell family's ethnicity is clear although religion has yet to be specifically mentioned.) In season three, we had a bunch of sneering British villains, but I don't think the show intended to deliver a message that everyone from England must be pure evil.
"24" creator Joel Surnow makes an even better comparison. In a recent interview with The Calgary Sun, he said, "I refer to 'The Sopranos,' which I don't think represents the typical American-Italian family…"
Still, at the least, I can understand the concerns of Islamic Arab-Americans, who are only worried about their own well-being. I can't imagine how tough things must be on them, living in a country where their every move is met with fear and suspicion by the more ignorant members of this country's population. These are difficult times for all, but you've got to figure that honest, hard-working Americans of Middle-Eastern heritage are having a rougher go of it than Italian-Americans or any other group. These people already must face the stares and the stereotyping in their daily lives. It can't help when the more sinister aspects of their peoples' recent history is played out for shock value every Monday night at 9 p.m.
It may be of little comfort, but I can offer this to those who feel uneasy about this season's plotlines. Go back to the second paragraph of this column. Notice the words "seemingly" and "apparently"? Good. When you're a "24" fan, their usage is a necessity since almost nothing on that show is what it appears to be.
Just because the Arab-American characters on the show appear villainous so far, that doesn't mean that perception won't be turned completely on its head. (Aghdashloo's teenage son seems an early candidate to switch sides, perhaps rebelling against his misguided family.) Even Surnow was quoted as saying, "Our position has always been that what you see at the beginning may not be the whole story."
When it comes to "24," that's the only assumption that can be accepted as a universal truth.
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