On November 15, Fox aired an episode of the popular cartoon show Family Guy. One of the protagonists, Peter Griffin, claims that a recently-acquired radio is “worthless, like my Palestinian alarm clock.†The show cuts to an alarm clock that shouts “Allahu akbar†and then explodes. Some critics have supported the joke by stating that the show also makes light of Judaism and Jews as well as creationism in general, but this isn’t about religion; this is about Palestinians. Indeed there have been a number of cheeky gags about Muslims – the ‘liberation’ of Iraq for one, where success hits Iraq in the form of women trading their niqabs for bikinis. There have been jokes about Osama bin Laden and most Muslims and Palestinians laugh along too. But insinuating that Palestinians, by nature, are suicide bombers brings us to a delicate generalization. One thing I’m dying to know (no, not in that way) is why it is commonly assumed that a suicide bomber shouts “Allahu akbar†before detonation. I’d like to meet the witness to that allegation. We would never see a joke on Family Guy about Baruch Goldstein or Kadima party leader, Tzipi Livni’s father, both of whom were Israeli terrorists. And whilst it is good to make light of a situation when an audience is otherwise being bombarded with fear, this joke creeps into the unnecessary. It would not be offensive if there had ever been a cutaway about America’s disregard for human rights abroad (cue a characteristically distasteful Abu Ghraib joke) or if Peter Griffin had once said to his neglected daughter, “Meg, I care about your day about as much as Israel cares about Gazansâ€. But that would never happen. I’ll admit the fourth time I saw the clip I did smile a little. If it had been written by a Palestinian, it probably would have been hilarious. The trouble is that cultures of the Arab world are perceived to be commandeered from the outside. Negative perceptions of Arabs are often perpetuated by American popular culture- in the form of Family Guy or American Dad or even Fox ‘News’. Positive perceptions of the Middle East, such as its exoticism, are frequently hijacked. Arab movie heroes such as Aladdin and Jasmine are Americanized, whilst the regular citizens of their city, Agrabah, are stupid and barbaric and have generic “ethnic†accents. Perhaps this is an overreaction, but the fact remains that an Iraqi would not be chosen to play a character that is quintessentially American on the big screen, so why have Brad Pitt portray Sinbad? If a television show is going to include what are currently highly sensitive political references, it ought to demonstrate some consistency. Of course this type of joke should not be prohibited, but a jibe in the other direction wouldn’t go amiss. I’m guessing that the network would have something to say if the next episode of Family Guy criticised Israel’s politics as opposed to tongue-in-cheek jokes about Judaism. BM
