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NBC’s ‘War Stories” relies on stereotypes of Islam and Muslims.
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The life of a war correspondent is unique. Many of these individuals literally go to war without the aid of any weapons save for their own cunning and instinctual knowledge of how to get into and then out of difficult situations. It is a noble profession that few are called to and even fewer excel at. So NBC’s dramatic portrayal of journalistic life on the frontlines last Wednesday night was highly anticipated. Unfortunately what was offered up for viewers was an overly glamorized, inaccurate view of both the profession’s practitioners and their subject matter.
The show, War Stories, was originally intended to be the pilot episode for a television series. Boasting the marquee draw of actor Jeff Goldblum, it was billed as one of the next groundbreaking dramas from NBC, which has produced the likes of Law & Order, E.R. and The West Wing.
The plotline follows the adventures of a group of reporters who converge on Uzbekistan in a post 9/11 climate to cover a civil war that has broken out between the “repressive Uzbek government” and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which comprises remnants of both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The subject matter was timely, but the handling of that subject matter left much to be desired.
In the opening scene, Nora, a rookie photojournalist sent by the fictitious newspaper, The Baltimore Globe, finds herself in the airport in Tashkent where a little Muslim boy she smiles at returns her kindness by pulling a toy Uzi submachine gun from his vest and points it at her making firing noises.
If the intent was to show how war has shaped the lives of even the youngest people in that region, it failed. It instead set the tone for the rest of the program in which stereotypes of Muslims abound.
Not long after the opening scene, Nora is introduced to Ben (Jeff Goldblum) who is a veteran print journalist from the same publication. The two embark on their first assignment, driving out of Tashkent into the surrounding country. They don’t get far before they are stopped by a group of “militants”, presumably from the IMU, who force Ben and Nora from their car and proceed to interrogate the two as to their identities. When it becomes clear that Nora and Ben are indeed reporters, the militants begin a very contrived tirade about the lack of honest reporting about the situation in Uzbekistan. They complain about the atrocities committed by the Uzbek government in the local villages. To drive their point home, the militants begin undressing Nora as if to prepare to rape her.
Again, the scene is meant to impress upon the viewer how dangerous the life of a war correspondent truly is. This is done, however, at the expense of Islam and Muslims who are portrayed as nothing more than ultra-violent, sadistic killers.
The rest of the plot focuses on the U.S. bombing of a suspected militant stronghold that turns out to be a refugee camp. It is vaguely reminiscent of various incidents during American’s military campaign in Afghanistan where mistakes were made in the identification of targets.
This incident leads Ben, Nora and a host of other reporters to investigate the circumstances of the bombing. While in the field searching for information, the caravan of journalists are stopped by more IMU members who, this time, are speaking Arabic. The IMU orders all the reporters out of their vehicles and lines them up. Tensions rise as the IMU argue over what to do with the reporters. Then, after stuffing Ben and Nora in the back of a truck, the IMU ruthlessly gun down the rest of the party.
It is a horrifically violent moment in the episode and one that is given no context or explanation. It is left as a standalone event that adds to the image that has been crafted throughout the show of Muslims being irrationally and excessively violent.
Finally Nora and Ben end up in a cave in the hills where they meet Saeed Al-Hadaad, a notorious Al-Qaeda leader being sought by the United States. Hadaad has apparently been following Ben’s writings and feels that Ben is the kind of reporter to whom he should grant an interview.
The interview is ludicrous and horribly clichéd. Ben and Nora query Hadaad about Al-Qaeda’s violence and Hadaad responds in the most contrived of fashions, condemning American imperialism and societal excesses. But the most offensive part of the interview comes when Ben asks about the negative effects of so-called “fundamentalism”, pointing to the real-life incident in Mecca in which several schoolgirls were burned alive when religious authorities would not let them leave the burning building without Hijab. Hadaad responds to this by simply saying, “It is not for you to question the will of Allah.”
Hadaad’s response is cold and inhuman. And worst of all, it said within the context of his personal Islamic beliefs. It does not reflect the actual horror and condemnation that came from Muslims everywhere after the deaths of those girls.
The problem is not that there isn’t ample time given to sympathetic portrayals of Muslims in War Stories. In fact, the part of the plot that deals with refugee camp is very touching in how it shows the plight of Muslims in that part of the world.
Where the problem arises is the fact that the peace and kindness of the Muslims in the refugee camp is never attributed to the faith of Islam. With reference to the militants, however, it is made abundantly clear that Islam as a religion contributes to their acts of violence,
This is, in fact, exactly the problem that exists in real life. When Muslims are shown doing their duty to serve mankind, these acts are understood in the context of secular humanistic motivations; whereas acts of violence are understood in the context of religion.
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