Battered by criticism that FX’s Tyrant shows stereotypical and damaging depictions of Arabs and Muslims, executive producer Howard Gordon defended his show as a “family drama” not a polemic on the Middle East.
“No one is trying to fulfil an agenda that’s propaganda, that’s something else entirely,” said Gordon of the controversial show, which premiered June 24 for a 10-episode run. “What appealed to me was that this was the story that’s happening. We’re seeing it, unfortunately, unfold every day in the newspapers, to tragic effect. And so there is a kind of tragedy happening and it felt like this was an opportunity to get under the skin of that challenge. What do you do with power?”
Gordon is no stranger to controversy: he was a producer on both Homeland and 24, which have also been criticized for negative portrayals of Arabs and Muslims.
The show centres on a fictional Middle Eastern country. A pediatrician living in the United States, Barry Al-Fayeed (played by Adam Rayner), is drawn back to his homeland to attend a wedding and into the intrigue of the region.
When the pilot first aired, it met with condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, America’s largest advocacy group for Muslims.
“In the pilot of FX’s Tyrant, Arab Muslim culture is devoid of any redeeming qualities and is represented by terrorists, murderous children, rapists, corrupt billionaires and powerless female victims,” said CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper. “In Tyrant, even the ‘good’ Arab Muslims are bad.”
A rape scene in the premiere brought condemnation from some Muslims. Other critics took offence that the star is a British/American actor.
“The biggest thing that struck me when we finished the screening was I said, ‘Howard, you have three female characters, Arab characters, in this movie. And the first one is getting raped, right?’” Aseel Albanna, head of programming at the Iraqi Cultural Centre in Washington, told journalists at a Television Critics Association panel discussion. “The second one is serving tea and the third one got slapped in the hospital scene. Where are these characters going?”
Albanna said Gordon took her aside and explained that the women will develop into full-fledged characters as the story develops.
Aware of early criticism of the project, producers have taken the rare step of inviting Arab and Muslim consultants to work with the show to ensure that future story lines are not out of bounds. And FX took the bold step of inviting their detractors to the Television Critics Association to start a dialogue.
“This is not about taking dictation from someone. . . . But what really appealed to me about the story is it’s a story about brothers. It’s a story about fathers and sons,” said Gordon. “I just liked the story about two brothers, about one of whom was abused by the father because he was never up to snuff, who finds . . . his destiny is defined by his birth order, but the guy doesn’t want the job. That’s a good story. That’s good drama.”
Tyrant‘s pilot was shot in Morocco and filming for the rest of the series has been in Tel Aviv. However, war in the Middle East has meant producers had to relocate shooting last week to Turkey for the last two episodes. The show was created by Israeli writer Gideon Raff. FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said he had not yet decided whether to renew the series for a Season 2, but “the trajectory is positive.”
So far at least, producers have been co-operative with community members, including changing one scene in episode 4 that some deemed offensive. And for some in the Arab and Muslim community, the attempt to foster dialogue is a start.
“We want more shows about Arabs and Muslims so that it humanizes not only Arabs and Muslims overseas, but us as Arab Americans and American Muslims,” said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. “We’re not here to tell the creative people what to say but, at the same time, we feel that this is a time where we can get things accurate, get things authentic and, hopefully, tell a good story that humanizes these people that I think every American wants to know more about.”