From flip-flopping stereotypes to desecuritizing hybridity: Muslims as threats and security providers in Danish broadcast drama series

Abstract

Muslims are making their way into filmed entertainment in Hollywood and Europe. Critical reception has uniformly acclaimed the quantitative progress, however, disagreeing on the quality of the representation. One position laments how the increased representation of diversity is structured by negative stereotypes; another is encouraged by how the very same stereotypes are ironically taken to extremes. Bearing in mind the intimate relation between identity and security, however, the stereotypical representation of difference is never innocent. The overall narratives of Danish public service broadcast series such as The Killing, Government and The Protectors rely on stereotypical security policy narratives identifying Muslims as threats. Even when stereotypes are creatively articulated to reverse the negative valuation, Muslim roles are distinctly charged or ‘securitized’ when compared to non-Muslim roles. However, placing the ‘Muslim’ character centre stage allows a separate level of representation of a distinct role in the way stories articulate stereotypes, facilitating hybrid identities.