ABC pulls out drama that upset Saudis

“Alice of Arabia” is a high-stake drama series which was scheduled to be broadcast by America’s ABC Family network but it has pulled the plug due to the backlash received from many Arab and Muslim Americans and a number of distinguished organizations such as CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations).
The news surfaced in the Saudi online media where Saudis expressed their anger and frustration at the drama’s stereotyping of Saudis.
The ABC Family has since issued a statement that it will not be going forward with the project.
Saudi-American mother Noran Rida is grateful to the ABC network for listening to all the “angry” voices and canceling the show. “After reading a copy of the script, part of me is glad that it was canceled due to it perpetuating a negative image of Saudi women. I understand that the author knows more about the Arab world than many Americans and as she said, she wrote the script with a good intention.”
She said: “But it saddens me that we as Muslims, Arabs, and Saudis haven’t done anything to change many of the wrong impressions,” and added: “A show like this has the potential to be an eye opener for so many people and we could have dealt with it much differently such as showing it from an Islamic perspective. Why don’t Arab authors come forward and write shows that project a positive image of us as Muslims and Arabs instead of just getting annoyed?”
The concept of the show was about a young teenage girl who was abducted by her Saudi relatives in the Kingdom after the unfortunate death of her parents. The young girl becomes a prisoner in the Kingdom and is then exposed to situations and a life she must escape from and find a way to get back to the US by any means possible.

“Many Saudis grew up watching cartoons and have always kept a memory of their favorite ones,” according to stay-at-home mother Najla Haddad. “The repercussions of airing such a racist and stereotypical show will not only give the false impression of a twisted Saudi society but will also reflect badly on Islam which is the bigger picture,” she said.
“The story line will bring forth a hate-filled generation venting their anger at fellow Arabs and Muslims living in the United States. The majority of viewers will be fed false information and evoke potential negative outbursts and feed the stereotype of Arabs and Muslims alike,” she added.
According to another concerned mother, Hadeel Jameel, Saudi Arabia’s society will not accept such scrutiny because it has come a long way. It is not just the matter of the abduction; it is what the series will present to its viewers. “To create a show based on a false idea of how life is in the Saudi Kingdom will only bring out anger and undermine all the progress the people of Saudi Arabia have accomplished,” she said. “It’s easier to show the negative than the positive. Saudi Arabia has progressed tremendously in the past decade in many fields and that will not cease, but to show a “Lewis Caroll” wonderland version of it will erase all that,” she added.
Sabria Jawhar, an academic and an opinion writer, had this to say: “I believe that Americans need to be exposed to Islam and it should be part of their TV dramas, but those shows should be based on facts. It is not acceptable to undermine the religion of millions of Muslims and Arab Americans. Such biased shows will widen the gap between non-Muslim Americans and the Muslim society. It will defy all the efforts to spread understanding and religious dialogue.”
The drama would have caused more harm than good. Issues of discrimination against Saudis, Muslims and Arabs, violence and bullying in schools and universities (bullying is a major problem facing American society), hate crimes and much more would come up. “Young audiences do not need more shows that depict hate and discriminate against a certain race or religion.
This will bring them back to the civil rights movement, an era that should certainly not be repeated,” said school teacher Wafaa Abdulmajeed. “The same goes for Saudis, Islam and Arabs everywhere. There is more to the script of ‘Alice in Arabia’ than the eye can see. Having spent time in the Middle East, one would think that the writer would create something positive,” she added.