TLC show flawed, crucial step

TLC's new show All-American Muslim has the nation by storm: Muslims and non-Muslims alike remain stubbornly divided on the narrative of the "Muslim experience" projected by this storyline, that follows five Lebanese-Shiite families in Dearborn, Mich. Skeptical of anything with "All-American" in the title and equally cynical of anything on TLC, I decided to dive right in, but with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, my lack of commitment to any notion of neutrality with regards to religion and ethnicity in the United States seems to have taken me from the gray-area middle of the spectrum to another boundless territory defined only by complete disbelief; nonetheless, for the purpose of exploring both sides of the debate, I decided to take on a more forgiving stance. So, what is the All-American Muslim? Does this show come close to representing that demographic? Or is representing that demographic even the point? What is the point?

A Lebanese-American friend of mine from Ann Arbor, Mich. responded to my Facebook query with an email that stated, "Being from Michigan, I know that this show does not portray ‘American-Muslims.' Instead, it shows a very closed community of mostly Lebanese Shiites. Because of the nature of the location of the show, I do not think it portrays the lives of American Muslims, rather it portrays the lives of Lebanese people living in Dearborn." This part of her statement wasn't really shocking, because the Muslim community is up in arms about the relatively narrow demographic selection that the show focuses on. Instead, what I was most struck by was her concluding remark: "I believe this show is just like any other reality show—it shows the extreme." Is the All-American Muslim really just like any other reality show? That of course, begs the question of if the all-American Muslim is really like any other American. And let me propose one final question: is the all-American "American" represented accurately by this show?

I truly appreciate that the show attempts to highlight some of the more liberal members of the Muslim community: a tattooed rebel whose Irish-Catholic husband converts, a scantily clad businesswoman that ambitiously pursues opening a nightclub in a patriarchy-steeped environment and of course, the patriotic cop that declares his patriotism at every close-up. I, at least, feel personally offended by the character selection on behalf of the Muslim community—do we have to be clumped into "extremes" in order to get a half-hour slot on the "learning" channel? Is the Muslim woman "all-American" because she has tattoos and drinks? Is the football coach "all-American" because he has to juggle Ramadan but still manages to maintain the "all-American" spirit of the pigskin? Is the cop an "All-American" cop because he reaffirms his love for the United States of America on screen and knows how to work a gun? Why is it that when the Muslim-American experience is finally addressed, it's within the discursive framework of a set of "extremes?" Would TLC have decided to run the show if it was about a Muslim-American in her freshman year at Vassar College? Or is that too divorced from the reality of the American imagination of Muslims?

I posed an equally embarrassing amount of open-ended questions to my housemate, trying to fashion some sort of nuanced understanding of the show within the American dynamic. What about African-American Muslims? What about Sunnis? What about South-Asians? What about the intersection of race and religion and the fact that Lebanese-Americans are often categorized as Caucasian? She looked at me and said, "Think about what TLC is. It's directed towards women who are bored at home. It's demographic is the middle American stay-at-home mom." I retorted, "I just don't think it's as radical as they make it out to be." And then, she said, succinctly, "I think saying it's not radical is underestimating it. I think that is underestimating how a lot of Americans in Middle America think." The thought of having to succumb to out-of-the-ordinary portrayals of an "all-American" life in order to gain a media-narrative still seems problematic to me, but if a "normalcy" has to be surrendered for the sake of religious understanding, so be it. I guess a half-understanding via TLC is better than none at all.

—Noor Mir '12 is a political science major. She is president of the South Asian Students Alliance.