Humanizing terrorists on screen is done in carefully regulated limits

Evidence

This careful regulation can be seen with the limiting representations of patriotic and victimized Arab and Muslim Americans and the carefully managed efforts to humanize terrorists, and reference terrorist motives, while restricting audience sympathies or identification to veer toward “the terrorists.” The four sitcoms discussed above, however, offer an intriguing alternative. They seem to incorporate some elements of media co-optation of difference by including elements of caricaturing yet at the same time offer possibilities for future diversions from representing all Arab and Muslim characters in contexts exclusively focused on terrorism and solely in supporting or inconsequential roles. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1417