CREATORS, BE AWARE, AFGHANS WILL CALL YOU OUT!
The Afghan diaspora won't stand for character assassination anymore. After living on the margins of US society for 40 years and inspired by people of color demanding their true stories be heard, we're speaking out and combating the belittling and marginalization of the Afghan story in the media, plays, television, and movies. Creators beware.
On July 14th, this Tweet from an Afghan-American woman…
started a twenty-four protest on social media by the Afghan diaspora, resulting in Charlie Sohne’s off-broadway musical stream, “The Boy Who Danced on Air” marketed as the ‘modern’ Romeo and Juliet with a love ballot “When I have a Boy of My Own”, to be canceled by San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre.
Let me translate what got us riled up. Yes, bacha bazi is practiced in Afghanistan but it’s illegal, and the trafficked children are not queer by default as portrayed in the musical. That would be like me, an Afghan, writing a musical about Jeffrey Epstein’s child trafficking crimes and marketing it to Afghans as ‘an ancient American tradition’ with a love song gleefully sung by the raped victim called, “When I have A Girl of my Own.”
After deflections and rebuttals by Sohne, who won the $100,000 Kleban Prize for the book and lyrics, Diversionary and Sohne had a conversation with Afghan community representatives. His second apology was more in line with what the community was outraged about in the Tweetstorm.
For the past 19 years, since the United States launched the war on terror, creators have been intrigued by our downtrodden county, and out of that has come books, movies, television shows and theatrical productions—some with powerful voices from or community such as Khaled Hosseini, Tamim Ansary, Nadia Hashimi, Fariba Nawa, and Nilofar Pazira, and many others without. It’s disheartening that Afghan characters in mainstream film and television continue to be one-dimensional orientalist stereotypes—hashish-smoking, monosyllabic, emotionally stunted characters who end up being subpar partners to the brave Americans who have come to rescue them, as portrayed in the newly released film by Roger Ebert, The Outpost.
Most production teams want to get it right and they try, but it’s when they don’t know what they don’t know, that cultural misrepresentation and cultural appropriation sneak in.
I believe the Afghan diaspora, one of the newest POC communities in the US, has finally found a foothold in the United States and feel empowered to speak up with the racial and representation reckoning that has swept across America with the BLM movement. In this instance, we came together and in one powerful voice, reclaimed our culture, our traditions, and our representation.
The Black and Asian filmmakers have made headway in Hollywood with, Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, proving that films made by POC have mass appeal and box office success. And, in 2018, the transgender community spoke up and won, when Scarlett Johansen stepped down from playing a transgender man in the film “Rub and Tug”.
Now, it’s time that we Afghans are heard. We ask you, non-Afghan, writers, directors, and producers to engage with our community in a meaningful way when you are creating works that are set in Afghanistan. Bring us in when your script or teleplay is being written. Hire actors who actually speak our language, correctly. You can reach out to us through MENA Theatre Makers Alliance or MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition. Let us help you understand the context of the story you’re trying to tell, from an Afghan perspective so you don’t run into what Charlie Sohne had to face.
Writer’s note: I wrote this post because representation matters to me both professionally and personally. I feel it’s important that POC are heard when their stories are being told by people who are outside their communities. I don’t believe in censoring artists and monopolizing our stories but I do believe it’s important to bring people of a minority culture in the room when you are telling their stories. Here is a little about my background and the work I’ve done.
HUMAIRA GHILZAI (Afghanistan Cultural Advisor) has been working with notable professional theatres and artists for the past ten years, utilizing her extensive knowledge of Afghan people, culture, religion, and history. Credits include the world premieres, US and UK tours of the adaptations of New York Times best-selling author Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner; Tony-winner J.T. Roger’s Blood and Gifts (La Jolla Playhouse); Kevin Artigue’s The Most Dangerous Highway in the World (Golden Thread); Gabriel Jason Dean’s Heartland (five theatres rolling world premiere); The Prepared Table, A Feast of Foods and Stories From Iraq, Afghanistan and the F.O.B.(Alice Arts); Slow Falling Birds (University of San Francisco); and Zealot (South Coast Repertory).
Film credits: Merry Friggin Christmas and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and short film, Away and Together. Humaira is a part of the MENA THEATRE MAKERS ALLIANCE NETWORK and a reader for the 2020 BAY AREA PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL.