The need for diversity in film and television is no secret in Hollywood. While films such as Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians have broken sales records this year, the films represent only a small proportion of what Hollywood produces. That's why there's a new measurement of Muslim representation trying to eliminate stereotypes and push for realistic portrayals.

The Riz Test — created by Shaf Choudry, Isobel Ingham-Barrow and Dr. Sadia Habib - is inspired by similar measurements like the Bechdel Test for female representation, the Vito Russo Test for LGBTQ representation, and the Maisy Test, which measures sexism in children's programming.  

The inspiration for the test's namesake came from Riz Ahmed, the British-Pakistani actor best known for his work in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Night Of. In 2017, Ahmed discussed the importance of more diversity in television and movies, during a speech at the British House of Commons, notes A Plus.

_BBC.com

The Riz Test comes at a time where people are demanding to see characters of colour be presented in a complex light like their White counterparts in film and television. For Habib, it's important to try and bring attention to this sooner rather than later.

The criteria for measuring whether or not a film or television show passes the Riz Test comes down to five questions:

1. If there's an identifiable Muslim character — based on either their ethnicity, their clothing, or language they speak — do they talk about, are the victim of, or a perpetrator of Islamist terrorism?
2. Are they shown as being "irrationally angry"?
3. Is the character anti-modern, culturally backwards or superstitious?
4. Do they get presented as a threat to the Western way of life?
5. When it comes to the gender of the Muslim character, is a male character presented as being misogynistic? Does a female character get presented as someone who is oppressed by males?

Few films pass the Riz Test, especially post-9/11 films set in Muslim countries such as American Sniper and Zero Dark Thirty. TV series Homeland, all of the Iron Man films and Sex and the City have also passed the test. The same can be said for older films Back to the Future and Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Meanwhile, TV shows such as Community and Mr. Robot have passed the test because the Muslim characters on each show go beyond stereotypes.

"Images of Muslims as backward and barbaric have existed for a long time — and they continue to persist," Habib said to Vice. We feel that it's important to challenge this because otherwise, they will continue to persist."

The Riz test is all set to become a fully functioning website in the coming months. Vice reports that the founders are hoping that with enough momentum, the Riz test will ultimately be a repository where folks can see how many movies and TV shows pass and/or fail (and how badly they fail) the test; and a hivemind that serves as a cultural reference point to ultimately also be able to influence the industry into creating better, more complicated, and diverse Muslim characters on-screen.

Good news, considering that Jack Ryan is about to release soon, and I’m not too optimistic for the Middle East trips the agent is about to undertake to solve ‘terrorism’.