Comments on: Little Mosque cast to present forum on diversity

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:16:58 +0000

Dwight: I see that you responded to the only admittedly subjective part of my comments. I didn’t say that a Wheat Week plot line couldn’t be funny. I just didn’t think it was written well . Thinking about it further: the mayor pretty much says "let’s cancel it and blame it on the muslims". I think that a more real depiction would be for the mayor to say " let’s cancel it" and leave it more implied that she’s blaming it on the muslims.
By having her say it out loud, she is made to act more like a stereotype. In their eargerness to preach diversity, the writers are forgetting to make the WASP characters diverse.

Thanks for making me think a bit more about it, Dwight. Sorry to take so long about replying but I was busy taking down my Family Day decorations.

Regards,
Peter

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:38:05 +0000

Peter: I spent a good chunk of my childhood and teen years in Saskatchewan. I laughed out loud at some of that "Wheat Week" stuff. Am I wrong for believing that I got the joke, having grown up with the inspiration for it?

Donna: Are you sure it’s whitewashing? Or maybe McCarthy considers it another part of solving the bigger problem of getting all us humans to learn to respect each other, right along with her Amnesty work. I can see that argument forming already from here.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:26:57 +0000

Saudi Arabia is going to behead a woman, under Sharia law, because she is a witch. That would be a quirky episode.

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:56:43 +0000

Since I won’t be able to attend the Q&A, I have a question for Sheila McCarthy.

How do you reconcile being a spokesperson for Amnisty International seeking to help the Muslim women in Islamic countries who are regarded as property and subjected to horrific human rights abuses such as honor killings , stoning, and imprisonment with the whitewashing of Islam in Little Mosque on the Prairie?

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:35:49 +0000

I hope somebody shows up to ask them when they will extend diversity to the non-muslim characters. I don’t watch it that often but in some episodes I noted:
– A completely WASP non-muslim cast, ignoring the history of several waves of eastern european migration to the prairies.
– No first nations characters (Corner Gas has at least two)
– an episode about gay marriage where the couple eventually returned to "civilized" Toronto to get married.
– a redneck radio announcer who wears a string tie and cowboy hat.
– a recent episode on "Wheat Week" that somehow came across to me as patronizing of small town prairie culture (this is admittedly subjective, I think Corner Gas could have pulled it off as quirky and funny).
– shots that look like they were shot in sort of a neutral Toronto light, not the beautiful sharp summer light we get out here on the prairies. Again, compare to Corner Gas.

I am not muslim, so cannot comment on those aspects of the show but the depiction of prairie culture rings complettely false.

By: Arctic Dreamer

Arctic Dreamer — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:33:37 +0000

Awww…this is why I loved living in a southern city: forums galore!