Thursday, June 21, 2007

Little Mosque on the Prairie

"It is an opportunity to see Muslims as having the same concerns as other people, like school, relationships and family life. I think it is surprising to people because it is so normalizing."

I dont know how many of you have heard of this setcom. It is news to me. (am i really so behind??)I was looking through islamonline and i came accross the show that is supposed to humanize muslims to the public...and i couldnt but stop to ponder about the use of word "humanize"....and then i read that this has the same intention that the Bill Cosby's show had in the 70s/80s and that is to humanize African Americans.....How many more ethnic/religion groups need to be humanized?? Do you think this is a good step??? Any thoughts??

"On one episode, an embarrassed Baber explains to a recent convert of Islam why his daughter does not wear the hijab, saying that the wind blew it off her head. The scene continues as the daughter exclaims "Dad, for the nine zillionth time, I’m not wearing it!" Baber then blames teenage hormones for his daughter’s apparent lack of faith."

I want to watch it....Do you?!

10 comments:

a_akak said...

Happpy, Happy, Happy ..... and i am always happy to see a new post for Happy

You are a bit late as i have seen ALL the episodes of "Little Mosque on the Prairie", however, unfortunately it has been discontinued and they only released about 7 or 8 episodes

DaMoon: Stand in line :P

Fe Aman Allah

DaMoon said...

LOL ya 3an shkhasheerek ya ahmed...lol sbagtni
I've heard of it and I hear it's soooo damn funny, I am going to have to ask someone to download it for me..lol and then I'll hook u up gurl

mani said...

salam there Happymoi. Sorry for a late comment to say congratulations on your well-earned freedom from the tyranny of exams! Please enjoy it. your life seems even busier now and more hectic, but hey, at least you can make it to the keyboard eh?

Im happy you missed your show :P TV is the biggest time waste I can think of.. especially now you can choose what to watch online. I got nothing to say about a show like this 'muslim' show thingy.. dont really care too.. not into the apologetic mentality of muslims who feel they need to prove their humanity to people. stereotypes do not change this way, rather become more justified. alternatives are abundant.

I can feel the old me coming back onto the blog scene again.. which means I'll prob be commenting on posts for some time before I shift gears and start posting solo :P

Salam

Happymoi said...

damoon i told u u should give up and start competing for 2nd spot loooooooooooooool...read my comment to u on my previous post!!

akak: :( so im so behind :(:(:(..i dont know where i was..seriously..how can i not hear about it?!!!! where can i get this series?! damoon if u get it make sure u lend it to me after...please..ok..i wanna c it too...

Happymoi said...

mani: u sneaked on me..lol..yeah i dont think a show is capable of changing much...it would be interesting to know the Bill cosby's show-did it change how people think about African Americans? Is it a gradual process? is this step number one???i dont know..but still i really wanna watch it...im curious...welcome bk to the blog world mani:)

PH said...

I actually have it on my cable and couldn't bother to watch it, even though I have been actively watching other series's, but because I can't bear watching muslims making fun of themselves to apppease others :) I overlooked this one ...... btw, it was probably discontinued because of its low approval ratings, its been given .66/10 on this site I use .....and 6/10 on this site.

salaam

Happymoi said...

Ph:
yeah probably the rating was low....
im still curious to see it, but slowly losing interest!!!!
I dont like the use of word humanize though...its obvious to the blind that muslims are just like any other person on this planet..

Anglo-Libyan said...

Safia Speaks blogged about this funny series last year.
I found few episodes on YouTube, I enjoed watching them

aisha said...

i watched the show on youtube, and I didnt like it too much. I thought that it could have been used more as a spreading knowledge about Islam and dispelling misconceptions, but its just funny (if you find it funny), with no real gain of knowledge or dispelling of stereotypes. The only real benefit to Muslims I see in this show is demystifying Muslims lives and proving that they are not so different than the average person (in which I would have to disagree with Mani in saying it is ONE of the alternatives, and the tone of the show is by no means apologetic)
The creator of the show, Zarqa Nawaz, is a very talented film maker, and I am looking forward to seeing more of her work.
I read in a magazine interview with Zarqa, that season two of Little Mosque on the Prairie was going to begin airing in September. And it did pretty good, considering its an all Canadian sitcom that aired on the CBC at the same time slot as such popular shows as American Idol.
My two cents :) Take care ya happymoi and keep intouch :)

Romana said...

i actually do want to watch it, where are they airing it??
as far as ur question goes happymoi, i dont know maybe more ethnic groups and religins need to be humanized, it depends on the humans's growth of mind...something very rare nowadays, its sooo sad that we are resorting to a sitcom to explain ourselves to the world..so sad!