Jack Ryan and Terrorism on TV
See Something Say Something
Ahmed Ali Akbar
4.8 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2019
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack Ryan, Amazon's TV show based on the Tom Clancy character of the same name, features drone strikes, a Black American "good Muslim" character, and many of the tropes that have been around since Homeland and 24. So Ahmed decided to swallow his pride and try to watch it to see what he could learn. First, we talk to Salimah about the appeal of the show for your average Muslim TV binge watcher. Then, we speak with Professor Evelyn Alsultany, author of "Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11," to help give historical context to the depiction of Muslims in Terrorism TV. Also featured: the return of Halal or Not!
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Find Professor Alsultany on her website: https://evelynalsultany.com/.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, I'm Amadela Yuckber, and this is He Something Say Something. |
| 0:07.1 | This week, we're going to talk about something that I've avoided talking about on this show for a long time, terrorism on TV. |
| 0:17.9 | So in this episode, we're going to be focusing on Jack Ryan. |
| 0:20.3 | We're going to talk to Professor Evelyn Olsultani. |
| 0:22.4 | She's a professor of American Studies at the University of Southern California with a focus on representation of Arabs and Muslims in the media. |
| 0:28.5 | But first, we're going to talk to Salima about why she watches these shows in the first place. |
| 0:35.0 | If you see something, you better, you better say something. |
| 0:43.4 | Nothing at all, nothing at all. |
| 0:47.4 | Just as a warning, there's some honking in the background of this tape. |
| 0:50.6 | Sorry, it's New York. |
| 0:52.4 | And also some spoilers for Jack Ryan, season one and season two will follow. |
| 1:02.2 | So before this episode, I never watched any TV, which features terrorism heavily. |
| 1:07.8 | But Salima has. |
| 1:09.3 | Hi, Salima. |
| 1:10.1 | Hey. |
| 1:15.0 | You watched the whole season of Jack Ryan. Can you tell me why you did that? Yeah. So, well, I watch a lot of TV. Point blank period. And sometimes, |
| 1:26.0 | you know, I feel as if it is important for me to cast a very wide net in my TV watching. |
| 1:32.3 | And, okay, let me give you some context, right? |
| 1:34.6 | So I was on a bus on my way to Boston to go visit my cousin. |
| 1:39.2 | And I somehow had recently, like, downloaded Amazon streaming onto my phone. |
| 1:48.8 | And I was trying to do work, but none of the Wi-Fi wasn't working for my work. |
| 1:54.0 | But my data plan was working for the streaming service. |
... |
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