{"id":1999,"date":"2005-08-04T13:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-04T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1999"},"modified":"2005-08-04T13:42:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-04T18:42:00","slug":"tv_series_aims_for_balanced_portrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2005\/08\/tv_series_aims_for_balanced_portrayal\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Drama "Sleeper Cell": TV series aims for balanced portrayal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n
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Sleeping with the enemy<\/div>\n

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On first glance, the new TV series \u201cSleeper Cell<\/a>\u201d should give Muslims pause. A show where fictional Muslims are mingling with neighbors and throwing birthday parties for their kids while leading a double life as a secret sleeper cell that is planning terrorist attacks inside the US, especially after the London bombings, could be seen as increase anxiety among ordinary Americans at Muslim expense. But a closer look at the upcoming Showtime channel reveals a more complex picture. The sleeper cell isn\u2019t your typical Arab stereotype<\/a> \u2013 it includes a wealthy white college student, a former French skinhead, and a Bosnian man whose family was murdered. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who look exactly like me who are terrorists,\u201d says Michael Ealy, who plays the hero of the series<\/a> \u2013 an African-American Muslim FBI agent working to infiltrate the cell. \u201cThat\u2019s extraordinarily important because if we believe that people of Arab descent are the only ones who are a threat, then we will continue to be ignorant of what\u2019s really going on.\u201d One episode explores hate crimes against Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslim, and another tells the real-life story<\/a> of a Yemeni imam who wins scholarly debates with al-Qaida sympathizers. <\/p>\n

The series<\/a>, which showcases the various motivations of terrorists and explores Islam\u2019s differing interpretations, is nuanced in part because three members<\/a> of the production team are Muslim themselves. \u201cWe\u2019re showing a Muslim FBI agent, someone who is devout, who is so motivated by both his patriotism as well as his sincere faith as a Muslim that he has to stop these criminals who are abusing his faith,\u201d says<\/a> scriptwriter Kamran Pasha, who is working on the series along with documentary filmmaker Abdallah Omeish and \u201cSleeper Cell\u201d director Ziad Doueiri. <\/p>\n

The film isn\u2019t all rosy with respect to Muslims, however. One Muslim actor in the show, J.D. Hall<\/a>, refused to perform in a scene where he felt that Islamic religious practices were being misrepresented (something about a co-ed dhikr with flutes and drums). \u201cThe producers of \u2018Sleeper Cell\u2019 are only nominally interested<\/a> in an accurate depiction of mainstream Islam,\u201d explained Hall. However, that attitude isn\u2019t shared by the remaining Muslims on the team, who say they are proud to work on a show with a Muslim hero and clear distinctions between extremist and moderate Islam. \u201cThe most enthusiastic people on the set are crew and writers who are Muslim,\u201d says<\/a> Oded Fehr, who plays the cell mastermind. \u201cThey are so proud of this show \u2013 it tells it as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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Another show about Muslim terrorists living among us? Perhaps, but inside word about the Showtime series “Sleeper Cell” is that is isn’t as bad as it looks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nTV Drama "Sleeper Cell": TV series aims for balanced portrayal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Another show about Muslim terrorists living among us? 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