Oppositional Banality: Watching Ordinary Muslims in Little Mosque on the Prairie
Date
2015-03-01
Authors
Advisors
Journal Title
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ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Amsterdam University Press
Type
Article
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
This paper interrogates how the globally-syndicated series Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007-2012) mobilises one of the most beloved television formats – the situation comedy – to insert a banal and normalised gaze towards Muslims and contest hostile representations of Islam in Western media. Through what I have termed ‘oppositional banality’, the show relocates Muslim identities to the realm of everyday life and out of the confines of global terrorism. Rather than being under the scrutiny of news cameras and viewed through cataclysmic international events, Little Mosque’s Muslims are made comical and timeless, subjected to the emotional entanglements of ordinary life.
Description
Keywords
Islam, Muslim identity, Muslim comedy, television situation comedy, cultural resistance
Citation
Chao, J. (2015) Oppositional Banality: Watching Ordinary Muslims in Little Mosque on the Prairie. NECSUS European Journal of Media Studies, 4 (1), pp. 27-45