Wajahat Ali: Ramy is refreshing -- I wish it was on when I was a kid

The New York Times

The Muslim-American CNN contributor, journalist and playwright says of Ramy Youssef's Hulu series: "Last time I checked, I was a human: Maybe there’s a place for media that convinces the general public of that. But when it comes to what I watch, I want much more. That’s why I wish that teenage Wajahat — who fasted during Ramadan, but also pined for Jennifer Lopez and Winona Ryder — had been able to watch Hulu’s Ramy.” Ali recalls being a 20-year-old college student at UC Berkeley on 9/11 when "overnight my worth, along with the worth of America’s millions of other Muslims, became linked to security....for my generation of Muslim writers at that time, that battle was often an exhausting, creatively bankrupt endeavor. It felt as if our fictional stories had to be potent talismans. They couldn’t afford to simply exist and breathe like our white colleagues’ narratives. They had to entertain, correct stereotypes, represent the community, educate Americans and fight Islamophobia. Mr. Youssef’s generation still suffers from the consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks, but he plays by new rules and refuses to be the perfect ambassador of Islam...In Ramy, the 'people living it' are messy, sinful, complicated, hypocritical — and hilarious. They are both good and bad. Mr. Youssef also wants audiences to do their own homework."

ALSO:

• Ramy Season 2 meditates on the pitfalls of self-righteousness: "In Season 1 of Ramy, audiences are introduced to Ramy Hassan—the character loosely based on the show’s creator, Ramy Youssef—and his Egyptian American family in northern Jersey," says Shamira Ibrahim. "With a formidable mix of surrealism and humor, Youssef explores the complexities of being a religious Millennial man, namely through navigating the difficulties that young Muslims face coming of age post-9/11. Season 2 is anchored in Ramy’s wish to find purpose and direction in his spirituality, but his obsessive need to present a righteous version of himself only sabotages his effort at redemption. The show is preoccupied with the idea that ritual for ritual’s sake—without deeper consideration of context or circumstances and without disposition of the ego—can often reveal one’s truest, ugliest self."
• After Brad Pitt said in an interview that he was a Ramy fan, friends suggested Ramy Youssef write him into the show: “I’m not going to say no if the guy calls me and wants to do it, but that could feel like I’m reaching a little bit,” says Youssef. “Maybe it will be sheik Brad Pitt next year, who knows?”
• How Ramy uses music to tell a millennial Muslim story
• Youssef says TV's lack of diversity with Muslim characters puts viewers in "an unfair position"