About the show
The series is a satirical parody of the middle class American lifestyle. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and is based on the daily lives of a dysfunctional family. Homer Simpson, the head of the family works as a safety inspector at the local nuclear power plant. He is portrayed to be a careless and immature man, who often hurts himself trying to take on nonsensical tasks. His wife, Marge Simpson is a stereotypical American housewife and mother who tries her best to hold the family together. They have three children : Bart, the ten year old trouble maker; Lisa, a precocious eight year old girl who is a saxophone-playing vegetarian who is also portrayed to be quite the young activist; and Maggie, the baby of the family who rarely speaks, and is seen sucking on her pacifier most of the time to convey emotions. The Simpsons holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest-running primetime animated television series and the most guest stars featured in a television series, making it an integral part of American television culture. Thus its assimilation into American society helps it perpetuate and normalize various forms of racism and religious intolerances: specifically the misrepresentation of various facets of Islam and the perpetuation of ridiculous stereotypes.
Islamophobic examples in the simpsons
This example shows a misrepresentation of Islamic law. It claims that the Michigan does not celebrate Christmas as it is governed by Shariah Law. The end of the clip shows one of the characters wearing a niqab with two stereotypically dressed muslims in the background, further perpetuating the misrepresentation of muslims.
In this example, the Canadian law officials try to arrest Apu (a character who works in a convinience store), for what they call "expressing his faith". Apu is shown yelling because of drinking a hot beverage; he is also wearing a white turban on his head which is further representation of the homogenous representation of Muslim people.
Although the religion of the store clerk remains ambiguous, the racism that ensues is very apparent. Fox plays into its self created stereotypes to bolster racism through humor.
Current day significance
While the technology available today has done leaps and bounds to make the world a smaller place, it is our own prejudices and false preconceived notions that get in our way of a truly global community. The media plays a huge role in influencing the minds of its viewers; and with fox completely disregarding any kind of factual basis in its shows, it fuels Orientalism and fosters anti-muslim sentiments. This is very apparent from the countrywide hate crimes and hysteria against Muslim people. The root cause of Islamophobia is the lack of knowledge, this coupled with misrepresentation of the Muslim people creates a general sense of animosity. As Edward Said said himself, "ideas, cultures, and histories cannot seriously be understood or studied without their force, or more precisely their configurations of power, also being studied."Our struggle now, is to create enough awareness about the issue to force about a change in the "manufacturing of Islamophobia" which will ultimately result in a more inclusive society, devoid of discrimination based of race and religion.