Muslims as the threatening “Other” are found not only in the news but also on popular television programming and in films. Arab and Muslim characters have been a part of the American film and television industry’s history from the beginning, though depictions of these characters adapted to the times. With the United States’ rise to global superpower status after World War II, violence and terrorism became central features in representations of Muslims and Islam, mainly because of events in the Middle East that increasingly occupied the United States’ attention, including the establishment of Israel (1948), the Six-Day War (1967), the Arab oil embargo (1973), and the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis (1979–1980). These events, covered extensively by the news media, fed the popular image of Muslims and Muslim-majority regions as sources of anti-Western, anti-American violence and terrorism.

XREF: Connects to Edward Said's orientalism and scholarship on media framing of Islam in American culture.

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 521