In Hasan Minhaj Netflix original, Patriot Act, Minhaj covers many modern cultural and political landscapes with satire and comedy. In the episode “Saudi Arabia” Minhaj explores the topic of Saudi Arabia in an informative yet comedic way, which not only engages his views to keep on watching but, also illustrates the tropes of Islam in an understandable way. Through his methods of referencing pop culture and common inside jokes from his culture, Minhaj creates a sense of understanding and relatability with all his viewers.
The main topic covered in the first part of the Saudi Arabia episode is the death of a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The journalist death caused the western world to start thinking that the crowned Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman (better known as MBS) isn’t the “reformer” that he portrayed himself to be. However, most Muslim people and people from Saudia Arabia already knew this. In this section, the trope of the “Muslim Mind” is quite relevant since most people trying to stop MBS aren’t the people from the more “elite West”, it is the Muslim people of Saudi Arabia trying to push back against MBS. Another trope that I found quite prominent in this episode is the trope as “Islam as inherently violent”. In the descriptions of Khashoggi’s death, the news broadcasters explain his killing as brutal and violent, with MBS sending a hit squad to dismember him. Also, in MBS’s rise to power his predecessor Mohammad bin Nayef was subject to excruciating pain until he abdicated his throne. These are just a couple of examples, but there are many more in this episode alone that reinforce the trope that Muslim people and “Islam is inherently violent”. Yet, Saudi Arabia only makes up two percent of the Muslim population.
Nevertheless, throughout all of this, the United States continues to keep good relations with Saudi Arabia for oil and weapons. It feels as though whatever MBS does, he will always get away with it and in consequence, the whole Muslim community in and outside of Saudi Arabia will suffer from his wrongdoings.