Simplified complex representations fail to change viewers’ anti-Muslim stereotypes

Evidence

Despite the range of representational strategies identified above, viewer responses suggest that for most the dominant message remains the same: the United States is at war against terrorism because Arabs and Muslims are a threat. There is a tension between writers and producers’ intentions on the one hand and critic and viewer responses on the other hand. Writers and producers create multiple representational strategies to circumvent accusations of racism and to maintain the largest viewership possible. Yet most critics dismiss such strategies for being too politically correct, preachy, or artless, and many viewers take away the message that Arabs/ Muslims are a threat to U.S. national security despite the multiple representational strategies that would seem to counter that hypothesis. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 280 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Scholar Evelyn Alsultany refers to these strategies as “simplified complex representations”: “Simplified complex representations are strategies used by television producers, writers, and directors to give the impression that the representations they are producing are complex… . These representations appear to challenge or complicate former stereotypes and contribute to a multicultural or post-race illusion.” — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 529 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sympathetic TV portrayals coexisted with a 1600 percent surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes; Stereotype-avoiding TV strategies still fail when plots center Arabs on terrorism; Diverse human portrayals on television may still fail against entrenched prejudice (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Simplifying complex representations of Arabs in TV fails to change audience perceptions #corroborates (0.97) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 280
• Television uses token complexity to mask ongoing Muslim stereotyping #complicates (0.78) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 529