About the show
American Dad! focuses on a family living in the United States known as The Smiths. The husband and main character, Stan Smith, is a CIA agent who is portrayed as a Conservative Republican. He is sometimes viewed as inconsiderate, close-minded and stubborn. He proclaims himself as a proud American patriot working as an agent to serve his country, which is why the name of the show, American Dad!, fits with his personality. Stan's wife, Francine Smith, is a housewife who is portrayed as the only moral and intuitive character on the show. Their daughter, Hayley, is portrayed as a new-aged hippie who is very liberal minded and is always butting heads with her father's conservative values. Their son and youngest in the family, Steve, is a hyperactive and enthusiastic teenager who is portrayed as wimpy nerd. He is always striving to make his father proud but can never live up to his measures. You also have two non-human characters on the shows : Roger and Klaus. Roger is an alien whom Stan helped escape from Area 51 and seeks refuge in the Smith's attic. He is very manipulative and mischievous and often times canniving and evil. He has many alter egos which constantly get him into trouble on the show. Then you have the Smith's talking fish, Klaus. Klaus is a human being in a fish's body implanted by the CIA. Klaus is often the character who provides important advice but is never taken seriously.
ISLAMOPHOBIC EXAMPLES IN AMERICAN DAD!
In this example, Stan and Francine visit their Iranian neighbors and Stan rudely accuses them of being terrorists. He first asks them what part of "Islam they hail from?" as if Islam is a country and all Muslims come from one place. He then warns them not to blow up Cleveland as if they were terrorists. This example further perpetuates the idea that all Muslims are terrorists and groups all Muslims into one negative stereotype.
In this example, Muslim men are portrayed to be misogynists who see women as inferior to them. This is one of many typical stereotypes for Muslim men. They are seen as women beaters who treat women unequally and as slaves. People thus associate this type of thinking as part of Islam. While American values treat both genders differently, the media portrays Islam to value treatment of women unequally and to serve their husbands unconditionally. In the end, the two men in Guantanamo Bay are shocked when a woman takes one of their napkins and says, "The infidel has stolen my napkin". The other guy then responds, "Tonight we will cut off her lovely hands". According to Rosemary Pennington in her article 'Islamophobia'. Author Talks South Park and The Prophet', this portrayal of Muslim Men is common in most animated T.V. shows. “So we saw that Muslim men tended to always be typified as being very angry, as wielding swords, as being misogynists. And generally looking the same with an Arab facial stereotype,” Gottschalk says. “Muslim women tended to be seen as being very passive, as being victims, as being oppressed by those Muslim men.” He says it’s all too easy for people to buy into those staid stereotypes whenever something happens that seems to reinforce them".
In this example, Stan warns Francine about the Terror Threat level to be in Orange and to be on the lookout for any potential terrorist threat. The paranoia that Stan has mirror the same fear that all Americans have after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the growing Islamophobia in the West. The fear of another terrorist attack is associated with Muslims and thus creates the fear of not only an attack, but of all Muslims themselves. This clip demonstrates the increased fear and paranoia of a terrorist threat and the idea that something could occur at any time without anyone expecting it. When Stan says "be on the look out" he refers to watch out people who might be suspicious of committing a terrorist attack which in post 9/11 United States means all Muslim people.
Analysis of Islamophobic content
Islamophobic content in Seth Macfarlane's animated T.V. shows is not new in American Dad! , as stereotypical jokes about Muslims are also referenced in Family Guy. Particularly in American Dad, Stan is a conservative CIA Agent which makes him a viable candidate to be the paranoid character who things all Muslims are terrorists. While Stan's reaction to his Iranian neighbors as being terrorist attempts to make fun of conservatives and anyone who think all Muslims are out to bomb the U.S. and their irrational paranoia, it further increases the negative portrayal to the viewers. While Macfarlane uses these terrorist and misogynistic stereotypes in describing Muslim men, it is the only picture that is embedded in people's mind. All people see in the media is how Muslims are violent and irrational people and how Islamic values are in compatible with western values and democracy. People then build schemas about Muslims by what they are exposed to on T.V. and by watching negative stereotypes such as Muslims associated with anger and terrorism, their biased beliefs about Muslims are negatively misconstrued.
The portrayal of Muslims as terrorists and violent people with a religion that is different from Christianity as a source of joke on these TV shows strengthens the power that the West has on the Orient. According to Edward Said in his book Orientalism, he defines Orientalism as a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western experience. He explains how the West has made Muslims and Islam as a separate group from the West. People then cannot relate to Muslims and their religion and see them as others. T.V. shows such as American Dad! further alienate Muslims by portraying them as enemies of the U.S. and Western values such as gender equality and democracy. Islamophobia in the U.S. will continue to grow as long as the media and animated T.V. shows like American Dad! continue to portray Muslims and savages and violent people and do not take steps to educate people and make them see that all Muslims are not terrorists. Just like there is diversity in the U.S., there is also diversity among Muslims in different countries and are equal to any other group.
The portrayal of Muslims as terrorists and violent people with a religion that is different from Christianity as a source of joke on these TV shows strengthens the power that the West has on the Orient. According to Edward Said in his book Orientalism, he defines Orientalism as a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western experience. He explains how the West has made Muslims and Islam as a separate group from the West. People then cannot relate to Muslims and their religion and see them as others. T.V. shows such as American Dad! further alienate Muslims by portraying them as enemies of the U.S. and Western values such as gender equality and democracy. Islamophobia in the U.S. will continue to grow as long as the media and animated T.V. shows like American Dad! continue to portray Muslims and savages and violent people and do not take steps to educate people and make them see that all Muslims are not terrorists. Just like there is diversity in the U.S., there is also diversity among Muslims in different countries and are equal to any other group.