Practicing the Islamic religion on T.V

The show new girl is about 4 friends who live in a loft together and perform random, mischievous actions together. Whereas they are all similar in some ways, they are all different- bringing diverse personality to the show. The characters are a good mix of Caucasian, Indian, and Black Americans. They all grow and express their religion throughout the series, but one character in particular expresses her religion over an array of episodes and even throughout several seasons.

In the show new girl, Cece finds out she doesn’t have long before she becomes infertile. This scare drives her to find a mature, serious man who is ready to settle down and start a family within the next couple of years. However, instead of going after her normal type- white American men or European men, she goes after a man of her own religion- Islamic. She chooses to do so, so that he grandmother (who raised her) would approve and be proud. This incident then pushes Cece to live out her Islamic religion more and more in her everyday life. She no longer has sex- becomes abstinent- she dresses in the full head dress and robe, and she only goes on dates with men who also practice the Islamic religion. Despite her decisions to live out her Islamic life style, partake in Islamic worship, and participate in traditional Indian rituals, the show did not make fun of or look down upon the Islamic religion. The rest of the characters in the show supported her in her decisions- at least most of them. The only down fall portrayed in the show was that Schmidt was interested in Cece and knew that he did not have a chance due to her only dating Indian men. Her wedding day is when the Islamic religion became a target of comedy for the series. Schmidt being against it- because he is in love with her- plans to sabotage her wedding. He does so by poking fun at wedding guest, calling them terrorist and making fun of their clothing. This example exemplifies the Traditional General-Market News Media and Muslim/Islamic Identity that is talked about in Lasorsa’s article at the bottom of page 5- that Islam’s are immediately associated with terrorism.