(And this is true even if you go way back to Disney when messages weren\u2019t as overt. The Little Mermaid<\/em>? Disobey your parents [while of course having impossible body proportions]: you\u2019ll still get the person you love and your parents will eventually come around to your way of thinking. Aladdin<\/em>? A thief. Etc., etc.). The title itself should have given me fair warning that this wasn\u2019t going to be a mindless piece of entertainment (It\u2019s a spin off of Lawrence of Arabia<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n American Dad<\/em> revolves around Stan Smith, a CIA agent who is constantly on the alert for terrorist activity to protect his beloved America. He\u2019s a titular giant-jawed all American super-patriot with a blonde wife (Francine) and two kids: a surly feminist teenage daughter and a dorky pre-teen son. And for some reason there\u2019s an alien (Roger) living with them in the house.<\/p>\n You can watch the part 1 of the episode here<\/a> and part two here<\/a>. Or you can just read the synopsis here<\/a>. Since our job here is to critique portrayals of Muslim women, I won\u2019t really get into the way Saudi Arabia itself is portrayed. I\u2019ll just list some of the many horrendous generalizations and messages that made me gnash my teeth:<\/p>\n \u2022 The first clip we see is sand and desert, of course. Oops, that was a long list. But now on to the meaty stuff: women.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia, I\u2019m sure we all know, is a restrictive country when it comes to women. As pops up in almost any news story about Saudi women: Saudi Arabia is a patriarchal country where women have to abide by a dress code, need a male escort for many things, and can\u2019t drive. Though they can, of course, leave the house without a male escort.<\/p>\n But the way women are portrayed in this episode is just\u2026 there are no words. This clip of Francine complaining of what she doesn\u2019t like about Saudi Arabia will give you a small idea of what the episode is like:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/video.google.com\/videoplay?docid=-8691142418537649695&ei=JeDOSJXtJ4_EiAKnxKDBAg&q=stan+of+arabia&vt=lf<\/a>\n (Particularly horrendous for me are the men portrayed with their feet on women\u2019s head, and the man asking \u2018what\u2019s a clitoris?\u2019 i.e. an allusion to circumcision\/ clitoridectomy, which doesn\u2019t even exist in Saudi Arabia).<\/p>\n First off, the episode turns all women into a homogenous bunch, with no character or individual personalities. They all exist to serve men, and what\u2019s more, they\u2019re happy doing so. Stan\u2019s wife visits her neighbours, and all three women get up immediately as soon as \u201chusband is home,\u201d the first asking him how was his day, the second if he wants a snack, and the third saying she will draw him a bath, with the latter two actually carrying him into the house on their shoulders.<\/p>\n And the men of course tell Stan \u201cwhat do you mean you asked your wife and she said no? You mean you told her and she obeyed.\u201d Stan is ecstatic, because of course that\u2019s the dream of every man: that his wife obeys his every word (Stan actually sings \u201cI don\u2019t want a partner, I want a wife\u201d early on in the episode). Women in Saudi Arabia are also portrayed as property\u2014the police who bring back Francine at knife point when she goes out alone ask Stan, \u201cThis belongs to you?\u201d<\/p>\n Later on in the episode, Stan marries a Saudi woman as a second wife. She of course has a husky come-hither voice; arched eyebrows plucked to within an inch of their lives; Bratz doll<\/a> eyes (huge eyes with long eyelashes) and is wearing green eyeshadow. Because even though she\u2019s this oppressed woman having to cover her face and hair, well, she still must be exotic and sexual. Who cares if that\u2019s a dichotomy? And since she\u2019s Saudi of course she\u2019s just a mindless drone\u2014\u201dI will serve husband in this life and the next\u201d she intones. She cooks, she actually bows (!) when handing Stan a sandwich, and is seen by him as a maid to help Francine around the house. He can\u2019t pronounce her name so he calls her Thundercat (a reference to the animated TV series perhaps? Cat-like humanoid aliens?) She\u2019s just a Saudi woman after all; she doesn\u2019t really need an identity right?<\/p>\n Dress-wise, all the women are portrayed as wearing abayas, headscarves, and face veils (never mind that face veils are not mandatory in Saudi Arabia, nor are headscarves). The alien Roger is \u2018sold\u2019 to a fat old Saudi ruler who lives in palace where alcohol flows freely and the women there (of course) live in a harem-type setting, all in bikinis (but with their faces and hair covered), swimming in the pool, being fed grapes, getting massaged and fanned.<\/p>\n The first problem I see with an episode like this is that it selectively chooses the worse aspect of the culture to portray. Not to mention introducing things that are blatantly untrue. And not only that, but it takes truths and twists them or portrays them in a way to make them seem so much worse than they really are (for example, if you do go out alone, you\u2019ll immediately be trailed by men with swords who will chase you). It makes a mockery of aspects of Arab culture and reinforces all the stereotypes the \u2018West\u2019 has of Arab women: oppressed sexual beings.<\/p>\n The message here is clear: by going to Saudi Arabia, the fundamentalist Islamic state, the Smith family gets to see how much they appreciate America (in fact, while almost getting stoned for being infidels Stan fantasies about President Bush showing up to save them, bringing democracy, Bibles, and jeans to Saudi Arabia. Now that\u2019s a whole different post).<\/p>\n Popular culture is so much stronger than many people give it credit for. \u201cIt\u2019s just a cartoon\u201d some people will say, \u201cit\u2019s meant to be humorous and of course we know that it\u2019s not really like that\u2014you\u2019re not really going to be killed for singing or held at sword point for flashing your ankles.\u201d<\/p>\n But visual \u2018input\u2019 is rarely forgotten. Think of any movie you\u2019ve seen. Can you visualize at least one scene? Chances are, you will. (And this is real by the way, research it online).<\/p>\n Not to mention that for those who don\u2019t really know anything about Saudi Arabia, chances are they\u2019re not going to watch this episode and then immediately go and research the country and its culture and norms. And even if they do, what\u2019s going to be more memorable? A broadly stereotyped nightmare of the Middle East which made them laugh, or the Girls of Riyadh<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n
\nSo let me demonstrate this reality using the episode of American Dad<\/em> I happened to watch while waiting for iftar with baited breath: \u201cStan of Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBut basically, the story is that Stan gets his boss mad and is sent to Saudi Arabia as punishment.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 In the airport Stan says \u201cQuick cover your mouths, that\u2019s how they [Saudi Arabians] enter your body and lay their eggs.\u201d
\n\u2022 Stan locks the doors \u201cso [Francine] won\u2019t get beheaded when I\u2019m out.\u201d
\n\u2022 Everyone rides camels (you can even pack them onto the plane, haha).
\n\u2022 Everyone has a gun: the Smith family hears them in the car, a little boy has guns in his room, and the men have guns slung over their shoulders.
\n\u2022 Houses are castles straight out of Aladdin.
\n\u2022 The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice carry swords and run after \u2018whores\u2019 and \u2018harlots.\u2019 They shoot you for singing in public.
\n\u2022 Jews are horrible and Saudis hate them.
\n\u2022 Infidels are stoned in a big coliseum-type stadium, with people watching while wearing foam fingers. The stoning is shown on TV.
\n\u2022 Hypocrisy abounds: a Saudi man seduces Stan\u2019s daughter by telling her he was a terrorist; alcohol is available in certain homes, R-rated movies are sold in the bazaar, etc.
\n\u2022 The bazaar sells: guns, chickens, watermelons, carpets etc. The typical bazaar image. There\u2019s even a moustache shop. And background music is always Oriental music (you know what I\u2019m talking about).
\n\u2022 A woman was in jail for 23 years for stealing a candy bar. And her left hand was cut off.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonheroines.mailmidnight.com\/vidclips\/StanOfArabia.JPG\")
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