*To protect the confidentiality of clients (or potential clients), any examples I provide have been altered, to the extent that even the clients themselves would not be able to recognize I am referencing them Several months ago, I received an e-mail from someone specifically seeking a South Asian Muslim male…

The following post contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Clone Wars animated series, the prequel films, and Battlestar Galactica. At the time of this writing, episodes 1–5 of Obi-Wan Kenobi have aired on Disney+. Edgar Allan Poe once wrote, “The death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most…

Major Spoilers for Dune below. Disclaimer: I’ve never read the novel by Frank Herbert (though I remember paging through it during my high school days and noticing the Arabic words and Islamic references). I’ve seen the Sci-Fi channel’s miniseries and David Lynch’s version (in that order). I really enjoyed the…

The Little Things was kind of forgettable overall. It kept me engaged, but I was underwhelmed by the “twist” and the ending didn’t pay off well. It seems that the director thinks the movie is more subversive than it actually is. …

Warning: Major SPOILERS ahead for The Rise of Skywalker. In his acceptance speech for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1991, George Lucas stated, “I’ve always tried to be aware of what I say in my films because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers. …

This post was originally published in December 2011. It seems impossible to talk about the events of Karbala without also acknowledging the spiritual diversity within Islam. Unfortunately, Orientalist discourse on the differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims have produced many misconceptions and distortions about Islam. It is also disheartening when…

Another X-Men movie is out and, once again, it’s time to debunk problematic claims that Magneto is Malcolm X and Charles Xavier is Martin Luther King Jr. In an article about the X-Men film franchise in The Hollywood Reporter, Phil Pirrello described Ian McKellen’s Magneto as “taking a more Malcolm…

Edward Said and Jack G. Shaheen did not do the work they did so that movies like Aladdin would still get made. I say this as someone who has had a complicated relationship with the 1992 Aladdin animated feature. I loved it when I was a kid. For a long…

Warning: Spoilers below for Supergirl seasons 1–4, including the Elseworlds crossover episodes! If you had asked me who my favorite superhero was three years ago, I would have answered without hesitation, “Superman.” When people complained that the man of steel is “too overpowered,” I would encourage them to look beyond…