Last night TLC premiered a new, anticipated show called All American Muslim.
It was to showcase the lives of five Muslim-American families through a documentary (with hints of mockumentary)-style show.
My family, as I’m sure millions of other Muslim and non-Muslim families, tuned in to see what this show was going to be about and if it would do a decent job of replaying the pretense of the show’s title: that American Muslim families are just like any other American family.
Because I’m still repulsed by TLC job, I’m going to list the pros and cons in bullet format.
Pros:
- Having a show like this, period. This was a nice step towards efforts to dispel misconceptions.
- Letting the families speak for themselves, in a reality/documentary format. Makes it more interesting to hear the “cast” speak from their viewpoint, rather than an overcast speaker explaining things, and in their own setting.
- Featured couples and families from young newlyweds expecting their first, to older families with adult children.
- All of the families featured are Lebanese. Apparently, all Muslims are Arabs, right? This was my biggest problem with the show. If they’re going to talk about Muslim American families, then a fundamental aspect of that is show the diversity of what an American Muslim family can be, from Asian Americans to Africans to South Asian Americans to Euro-Caucasion Americans to Mexican Americans to any race/ethnicity. Does that mean that they shouldn’t have had a Lebanese family? No, but they should’ve had just that –A, as in ONE, Arab-American family. Having families from different ethnicities would’ve been more inclusive. There’s a plethora of non-Arab Muslim families the producers could’ve included and if Dearborn, Michigan didn’t offer the diversity to choose from, then a different city might’ve been the answer.
- Within the realm of diversity, or lack thereof, they also failed to showcase the different levels of faith within Islam, as in any religion. The families they presented ranged from the moderately liberal to the extremely liberal and there’s nothing wrong that as it is a truth within the religion/community, but what about the conservative Muslims? The one family that might’ve fallen into that category got very little airtime, and maybe they’ll have more airtime as the show progresses, but it was a bad start all around.
- Another point to this is that by not featuring the very conservative end, meaning niqab –face veil– wearing women and their families (for whatever reason and I understand it could be that the women/their families didn’t want to be a part of the show), there’s a piece missing in the whole picture. By not having their voice and stories a part of the show, it does nothing to dispel how extreme and unAmerican-like they are presented in the media and educate the public. So that was sad.
The show heavily lacked diversity which is unfortunate on the account of being an American and being a Muslim. When I told Saad about the show a few days earlier he asked me what channel was hosting the show and I told him TLC. He responded with “Have low expectations.” He wasn’t wrong.
Twitter and Facebook were alive with discussion of how unrepresented people felt by the show and I totally agree, obviously.
So I hope they diversify the show if it makes it to another season.
–End soapbox–
I was on twitter seeing responses to this show and it kind of irks me when people bring up the show lacking “diversity”. I have family in the Dearborn area and Dearborn’s Muslim community IS mostly Arab (Lebanese, Yemeni, and Iraqi now). Had they named the show “Dearborn: All American Muslim” I think they wouldn’t be receiving this backlash for not including other ethnicities in the show because of the location it was based on.
Other than that, I think it was important to show the Arab Muslim community because when the average American thinks of Muslim, they think of an Arab terrorist. They don’t think of a Bosnian or Indonesian or African American terrorist. So showcasing normal Arab Americans might help dispel that horrible connotation. The only aspect of the show i dislike is the conversion piece…I felt that could have been left offscreen because it is a very personal decision with God and should not be entertainment.
Hi Medina,
Thank you for stopping by and taking time to comment on this piece. I think there’s merit in what you’re saying about portraying the Arab community and there’s nothing wrong with that, but to make an entire show whose premise is that Muslims are like any other American, and in reverse, that an average American can relate to an average Muslim, but then base that on only one minority in the religion is neither fair nor sensible.
I believe a better angle the show should’ve taken is to show that Muslim Arabs aren’t terrorists (and hell, that the majority of Muslims are actually NOT Arab; only 15% of Muslims are Arab, while 90% of Arabs are Muslim–big difference), and even more than that is that Muslims are as diverse as what it means to be American. An Arab family and families of other ethnicities would’ve displayed similarities and differences that everyone, Muslims/Non-Muslim and American/NonAmerican could relate to, thus sending a clearer message.
In regard to location, Dearborn’s population IS mainly of Arab decent, but there are also large cities across the nation with significant and diverse Muslim populations. So just because Dearborn is MuslimCentral doesn’t mean it has to be the ideal location to place the show. In fact, filming in a place where diverse Muslim communities are integrated into the larger community of the city would’ve done a better job showing just how threaded the Muslim population is into society. That Hey! We’ve always been here; we’re your child’s second grade teacher and your father’s doctor and your flower shop’s florist, etc.
You’re also right about Jeff’s conversion. There are so many elements of the show that seem to be “made for TV” rather than “made for America/the message” and I guess it’s the nature of the television beast, but hopefully some good will come out of what seems to be good intensions.
Again, thanks for stopping by and I enjoyed your input!
Wow. I had no idea. Now even though you say the show was bad, I’m intrigued. Mainstream peeps (myself included..especially coming from a strict SOUTHERN BAPTIST background as a kid) know very very little about Muslims. And while I never bought into the Muslim=terrorist notion, I have to say I have no clue about Muslim-Americans culture (except what I know of you through your blog). I know your blog isn’t dedicated to enlightening us dummies about your culture, but just so you know–I think it’s really cool that you do anyways
Thanks!
Thank you; It’s always nice hearing from you, Erika
The show’s going to air another episode tonight and I’m hoping for better viewing. Thanks for adding your thoughts! It’s always interesting to read what people are thinking or how they feel about something.
I really try NOT to get into anything religious or Islam related on my blog because it’s just not a topic of interest for me to blog about, but I’m glad that my ramblings provide a peek into THIS particular muslimah’s head ;P
The part where they only showed those who were immigrants from Lebanon bugged me too. Most Muslims in America are African-American whose ancestors came here as slaves. And most Muslims worldwide are actually in Asian countries. The whole Arabs=Muslim thing bugs me too. I personally think the ideal location for this show would’ve been someplace like Chicago, where there are a lot of Muslims, with all different backgrounds.
EXACTLY, Joleyne, exactly. The Arab=Muslim thing is ridiculously overplayed and grossly inaccurate.Thanks for stopping by and voicing your opinion.