Fatima Bhutto awaits apology from TV shows, films depicting Muslims in bad light

The author says people might have to wait a 'few more forevers' for it to happen


Entertainment Desk June 10, 2018
PHOTO: THE GUARDIAN

Last week, ABC's hit crime drama Quantico was heavily criticised after it  featured Indian nationalists framing Pakistanis in a terrorist plot.

The episode received a lot of social media backlash and Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra - who plays the lead in the show - also garnered a lot of hate for being part of a project that showed Indians in bad light.

'Quantico' under fire for recent episode featuring India-Pakistan conflict

While the network and Chopra extended their apology, Fatima Bhutto is now hoping for other TV shows and networks to apologise for showing Muslims in bad light as well. The author took to Twitter and wrote, "We'll be here waiting an apology from Homeland, 24, Tyrant, Rambo, Zeri Dark Thirty, American Sniper, Munich..."



She left ellipses at the end of her tweet signifying that there are countless other Hollywood films and TV series that have wrongfully portrayed Muslims. Bhutto stressed that it's about time that masterminds behind these projects should also come forward and admit to their wrongdoings.

She added that people might have to wait "a few more forevers" for it to happen. Bhutto later tweeted that she earlier held a talk on Hollywood and propaganda, specifically how Muslims are treated in films.



In her discussion, Bhutto said, "In Homeland, all the good people are white and all the bad people are not. And when Homeland wants to portray a white person as bad, all they’ve got to do is have him convert to Islam."

It’s my right to criticise Pakistan because I love it: Fatima Bhutto

She concluded her speech stating that cinema is a very powerful tool but it’s not innocent. "Cinema smoothes the ground for us to accept a lot of unacceptable things. It has the power to also smooth down our resistance to things like torture, like war and many other atrocities. It’s not innocent, it normalises a lot of things that it really shouldn’t," explained Bhutto.

PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES

The 36-year-old author was born in Kabul and is the niece of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. She has written several books such as Songs of Blood and Sword, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon and Whispers in the Desert. Bhutto's next book titled The Runaways will hit shelves in October this yeaer.



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COMMENTS (3)

Pakistani Baluch | 5 years ago | Reply Well done Fatima Bhutto Thank you for speaking up
Tyggar | 5 years ago | Reply Pakistanis looking for false equivalence as usual
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