Rami Malek did an interview in Arabic and I'm SHOOK.

Calm yo tits, you'd say. It's not that big of a deal, you'd say. Well, for you, who is always used to see people that look like you on screen, who share the exact same culture and beliefs than you. But for me, who has a more ecclectic identity, when the major parts of my roots are denied to appear in the media, - except when they want to talk shit about it -, yes, it is indeed very refreshing.

As you may know, Rami Malek is an actor mostly known for his role as Eliott in Mr. Robot. An American TV Show relating the story of a young hacker secretly working on a digital revolution. He is also the first non-white actor winning the Emmy's Best Actor in Drama in 18 freaking years. Rami being of Egyptian decent, it was a celebration for People of Color to have an Arab play a lead role that is interesting, complex and not totally related to terrorists (isn't hacking a form of terrorism tho? lol), and being recognized for his work.

But still, everytime I saw notorious people from Arabic or Muslim descent (1) , there was always this sort of detachment from their origins, giving the impression that it is something that is not part of their lives. That they just have a color, without all the cultural background that it may imply. In a sane world I might not care if someone publicly displays or not their cultural or religious background, but in this world we live in, it seems like we need to somehow look as white as possible to be acceptable in the mainstream media, especially when we show ethnic distinguishable traits, which creates a big deficiency in the notion of representation.

I was about to say that, until recently, I had, for instance, no idea that Aziz Ansari was familiar with Islam, even less him being actually from a Muslim family. But now that I think about it, I grew up thinking that nobody could possibly be familiar with Islam. As if it was this unknown, tribal religion, that I happen to be part of. When it is actually one of the largest religion in the world, and very much implanted in the West.

Celebrities could, for example, talk about their Chrismas in interviews, proudly celebrating Hannukkah on Instagram, but no Eid in sight. It's like, as Muslims in the Western world, we did not exist in any narrative. Nor fictional, nor real. Except of course, when propagating a rhetoric of terror and barbarism. And even if all Arabs are not Muslims, the West already made its sentence by joining those two and giving it a shared vilifiying label. It is understandable that concerned public figures were afraid to be publicly related to that, with the high risk of affecting their career.

Since I am not a celebrity, I can not talk as a concerned, but I can talk as a member of the audience, and the first time I saw someone publicly wishing a happy Eid was way too surprising to me. Like all these years there was this injunction to be silent about what we were, to be presentable. I say Muslim here, but I am sure that any despised minority felt the same way at some point.

So seeing Rami, an American-Egyptian Copt, with whom I share not only the Western world, but also the Arab world, talking Arabic, reinforces the quality of representation in the mainstream media. Casually, he says that he will sound like a ten-year-old kid when talking Arabic, as I totally would myself. Talking in Arab-English sentences, as I totally would myself, by mixing French and Arabic, and even Turkish words in my sentences. He even seem to understand Arabic waay better than me.

"That happened fi Masr" (2)

He talks about the fact that he would watch Egyptian movies as a kid, and that he would enjoy the idea of playing in one, one day, but that he needs to akkabar his arabiya chweya (3) first. He shares that his parents expected him to be a doctor or a lawyer, but he ended up being an actor instead. Adding that, as an Arab, he unfortunately had to pass by a terrorist role, but that he was lucky enough to be given more diverse roles later (we also have to be honest about the fact that he does have a whitepassing). He also compared his character Eliott, with the youth during the Arab spring that happened in Egypt, which makes him seem aware of some problematics that his parents' country faces.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, the model we display of child of immigrants in the media is a deal. Not only in fiction, but also in real life. The star system is a communicating universe where the audience identifies itself with. Not being close to our original background can be okay (I'm acting open-minded about this, but I personally think it is a pity, since generally it happens because immigrant parents wipe off their own culture when educating their kid, hoping that it will help the child to adjust better in the society, but anyways) but it is vicious to put assimilation as the norm.

So I want to celebrate every child of immigrants, including the ones who made it to the star system, who love their roots publicly, in a world when they have been told to be ashamed of it. I don't want to end this article without naming Riz Ahmed. A muslim british actor of Pakistani decent, that I discovered in the movie We Are Four Lions years ago, where he indeed also played a terrorist, but who is now known for his roles in Rogue One, The OA, The Night Of and American Gods. He is the first muslim actor to ever win an acting Emmy and he addressed numerous times the lack of representation and the excess misrepresentation in cinema.

I may have a flickering memory, but I notice that I don't have any notorious women actress entering the Arab or Muslim category. Since they denied us Jasmine (from Aladdin) to be middle-eastern, it makes me think that it might be harder for Arab and Muslim women of color to shine in the West. There might be Selma Hayek, who is of Lebanese decent, but she is mainly perceived as Mexican ... We do have very few actresses of Arab and Muslim descent in France, but they are nested in the same stereotypical issues yet with some own characteristics, that need a whole article itself to describe.

I may seem focused on Hollywood, and the Anglo-saxons star sytem but then again, whether we like it or not, there is this form of cultural imperialism that makes it the one that has an impact on the rest of the world.

(1) I especially talk about those two elements, because being parts of my identity, I can more accurately talk about it.

(2) translation: That happened in Egypt."

(3) translation: to improve his arabic a bit."

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#ramimalek #mrrobot #interview #bbc #arabic #diversity #tvshows #rizahmed #emmy