From Variety
by Ted Johnson
Aasif Mandvi and Miles Kahn have turned a sketch created for “The Daily Show” into the web series parody “Halal in the Family,” which mocks Muslim stereotypes in the same way that “All in the Family” skewered racial bias through humor.
Mandvi, in an interview with Variety‘s “PopPolitics” on SiriusXM, says that the the four-episode Web series is well timed, given the discussion of the role of Islam in the media, particularly in the wake of the insurgency of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Understanding of Muslims, he says, has actually gotten worse since 9/11.
“I think that conversation has been hijacked by the media, by politicians for their own purposes, and the answer is to be afraid,” he says. “The answer is they are the bogeyman, that sort of thing. There is a very low favorable rating of Muslims right now — I think like 27% of Americans. I think we are just a little bit higher than Congress. And when most Americans hear the word ‘Muslim,’ it is like hearing the word ‘cancer.’ They respond in that way.”
The series was posted on Thursday on Funny or Die and halalinthefamily.tv. Mandvi, producer along with Lillian LaSalle, stars alongside Sakina Jaffrey, with special guests including Samantha Bee, Tariq Trotter and Jordan Klepper. The show skewers surveillance issues, Sharia law hysteria and cyber-bullying.
Kahn, who directed the four episode series, says that TV dramas and movies too often paint Muslims as “our new enemy.”
“At one point it was the Russians, and now it is the Middle East and Muslims,” he says. “It is our new villain. That is not to say that there aren’t problems in the Middle East, that there are not huge things we have to deal with right now. … But there is very little nuance in the way that Muslims, especially American Muslims, are portrayed in the media, and that is what really attracted me to this.
“I would love if this the start of something where people say, ‘Hey, there are some American Muslims that are pretty much like you and me,’” he adds. “That is kind of the intent with this to say, ‘Look at these people. They are the same people.’”
