“The ‘Phobias’ of Horror Pt.2: A Review of Muslim Representation in Midnight Mass” by Isaiah Green

In this second blog I will discuss the hit Netflix original series Midnight Mass, from director Mike Flanagan, and how it incorporates Muslim beliefs as an integral part of the story. If you have not read my previous blog, I advise doing so as I discuss the concepts of analyzing post-9/11 horror stories there. If you choose not to, I would still like to give a spoiler alert: if you are interested in viewing this series, I highly suggest you do not read any further, as this blog will discuss significant plot points of the show.  But let’s go ahead and dig into the spooky stuff!

Midnight Mass presents a complex tale that pervades traditional storytelling elements, focusing not on one central protagonist but rather on the horrifying story of a small New England island’s religious revival. This revival begins with the advent of Father Paul Hill, a new priest for Crocket Island’s Catholic church, sent as a temporary replacement for their unwell previous church leader, Monsignor Pruitt, whose illness only grew worse from a pilgrimage to Israel. Upon Father Hill’s arrival, a series of mysterious events take place, and over time, it is revealed that Father Paul Hill is, in reality, Monsignor Pruitt, who has healed and returned to a younger version of himself. Through flashbacks, we discover that during his pilgrimage, the Monsignor wandered off into a desert and discovered a Djinn[1]-like creature, a vampire, among the ruins of an ancient site previously lost to the sands. Beguiled by the vampire’s powers, the Monsignor mistakes this powerful entity for being an angel and brings it back to the island. As the church’s community becomes increasingly cult-like, the majority of the congregation eventually turns into vampires at an Easter ritual, and they begin to massacre anyone who refuses to join them as they plan to dominate the world.

However, in this analysis, I will focus on one character, Sherriff Hassan, a devout Muslim and one of the story’s heroes who helps lead the resistance to the cult that prevents them from spreading vampirism across the US. Many scenes in the series depict various aspects of Muslim beliefs and experiences in the US. These appear in moments such as people referring to Hassan as “Sharif,” his conversation with his son about why he converted to Islam, his discussion with an island local about his time as a police officer in New York City during the 9/11 attacks, and many others. But two specific scenes in the series center on Islamic theology and practice in a way that not only educates viewers about what Muslims believe and practice but also gives a moving depiction of the struggles that many Muslims face with xenophobia in the US that stems from an unwillingness to engage in meaningful interfaith conversations.

The first scene occurs during the episode “Book III: Proverbs,” a parent-teacher conference at Crocket Islands K-12 school. The purpose of this meeting is to allow parents to converse about the distribution and discussion of Bibles during class, but a debate arises between Hassan and Bev Keane, a teacher and zealous parishioner of the Catholic church. This conflict not only raises questions about the practice of religion in public schools but also highlights the Muslim minority experience in the US. Hassan takes no issue with his son studying other religions but strongly disapproves of the evangelizing nature in which Bev distributed biblical texts. We see a detailed monologue by Hassan on Muslim beliefs and the Islamophobia that Muslims often face in the US, where he directly denotes the various forms of prejudice he is experiencing from members of Crocket’s Catholic church.

The second scene ensues at the end of the series after many of the church’s parishioners turn into vampires, including Hassan’s Son, and they begin to murder all the island’s inhabitants who refuse to join the cult, burning every building but church grounds along the way. All the while, Hassan and a group of other islanders resist the cult, seeking to prevent them from leaving the island by burning down the church grounds, which are the last buildings offering the vampires protection from the sun. Hassan gets shot in this process, and while the wound will eventually be a fatal blow, he and the other resisters accomplish their goal, which ultimately kills all the vampires on Crocket. Hassan and his son go to the beach for their final morning prayer in life before dawn, and he tragically dies a Martyr, bleeding to death, worshiping Allah.

The character Hassan in Midnight Mass brings the Muslim experience into the forefront of popular American Horror in two ways. The show persistently forwards Hassan’s experience as a Muslim living on a majority Christian Island post-9/11 as a part of this community’s broader story. Hassan constantly faces the struggle of being a Muslim and civil servant who deals with violence of various forms of implicit racism and religious prejudice. Still, he continues to make his voice and experience heard on the island in a way that makes the viewer understand the burden and horrors of xenophobia. We also see Hassan taking a lead role as one of the story’s heroes at the end, stopping the evil and zealous vampiric Christian cult that arises on the island, subverting normative Islamophobic narratives that portray Muslims as villains in popular media. All the while, viewers, who are typically a white American audience, may learn more about Islamic culture and beliefs by watching this deeply interfaith story.

As horror media continues to be produced, I hope that we continue to see the inclusion of Muslim voices in ways that challenge Islamophobic stereotypes that have persisted throughout the genre through characters like Hassan that diversify and highlight minority experiences in horror stories. Thank you for reading these blogs and as always, have a happy and safe Halloween!

FOOTNOTES: 

[1] A type of powerful incorporeal spirit within Islamic cultural beliefs, often compared to demons and angels in Christianity. But the term djinn does not necessarily denote the entities morality, but rather it defines who they are spirit beings within Islamic cosmology and the powers may hold.

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Isaiah Green is from Haywood County, North Carolina and is a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. His research focuses on musical expression and sound in cultural traditions of southern Appalachia and their connections to the environment.