8/9/2019 Reel Bad Arabs - Documentary Review

1/3

Mustapha Khokhar

Middle Eastern Studies 20

Professor Hesham Issa

Session 6 Assignment

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People"The Arab serves as the ultimate outsider, the other, who doesn't pray to the same God, and who

an be made to be less human." !r. a#k $. Shaheen

%ased on his &ook of the same name' !r. a#k $. Sheehan(s do#umentar) goes into an in depth

anal)sis of "*irtuall) e*er) feature that Holl)+ood has e*er made" #ontaining an appearan#e &)

an Ara& or a depi#tion of +hat Sheehan #alls "Ara&land", the non-spe#ified Middle Easternsetting filled +ith all the stereot)pes asso#iated +ith "the Ara& i.e. *eiled +omen' sheiks' desert'

&ell) dan#ers' terrorists' et#./!r. Shaheen speaks at the &eginning of the do#umentar) a&out the

etent to +hi#h Ara&s fa#e slander and manipulation in Holl)+ood' #ommenting that he has

formulated this *ie+ of his after ha*ing seen hundreds of films produ#ed' in the past and at the

present. He also talks a&out ho+ &leak the *ie+s are' those of +hi#h ha*e &een formulated &) the

1estern #i*iliation. !r. Shaheen also regretfull) admits ho+ these *ie+s dire#tl) atta#k the

Ara&s3 humanit).2

Personall)' I as an a#ademi# of Middle Eastern de#ent +as *er) enthralled to see su#h an

un&iased *ie+ epressed &) a person of su#h respe#ta&le a#ademi# standing. 4he +a) !r.

Shaheen anal)es the di#hotom) &et+een the +a)s in +hi#h the Ara& is per#ei*ed in 1estern

Media opposed to the realit) of the situation outlines a fe+ fundamental stru#tural fla+s in the

outlook of 1estern people to+ards the Middle East. Ha*ing &een &orn and raised as a Muslim in

and around the Middle East 5airo' !u&ai' 4urke)' Pakistan7' I at times am *er) frustrated +hen I

see depi#tions of Ara&s in the media as 8ignorant fundamentalists or 8terrorists espe#iall) so

+hen the media thro+s around the term 89ihad as if there is some Hol) 1ar the Muslims are

+aging against the 1est. It is e*en more distressful +hen m) o+n #olleagues sometimes ask me

:uestions a&out m) *ie+s on #urrent situations in the area su#h as Palestine *s. Israel and ask me

+h) some Ara&s epress so mu#h harsh anti-Semiti# sentiment. ;ften I am left &efuddled &)

these s#enarios and end up +ith more :uestions than ans+ers +ondering +h) the land I #omefrom and the people I +as raised amongst are so negati*el) per#ei*ed &) the media in +hi#h I am

no+ assimilated.

4his +as the #ase until I had a #han#e to *ie+ !r. Shaheens do#umentar)Reel Bad

Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People and &egan to realie that this situation +e find oursel*es

in no+ is not uni:ue to the Ara&. In his do#umentar) !r. Shaheen epli#itl) gi*es eamples of

ho+ the 1est has &een a&le to let go of its pre9udi#es of past ethni#ities &) #iting the %la#k'

// at the turn of the #entur). %ut

it is important to pause and noti#e that &a#k in the /= th#entur) +hen Afri#a +as a )et

undis#o*ered and ne+ found land to the 1est there +as a lot of attention paid to Afri#ans and

Afri#an Ameri#ans in the media and in Holl)+ood' +ith eamples in 1estern ?iterature su#h asoseph onrad(sHeart of !ar"ness standing at the forefront of a#ademi# de&ate and thought.

?ater then in the 20th#entur) +ith the e*ents of the 1orld 1ars the 1estern media and

1"Pro9e#t M@SE - eel %ad Ara&s - Ho+ Holl)+ood Bilifies a People."Pro#et $%& ( Reel

Bad Arabs ( How Hollywood Vilifies a People )review*. Hussein' ?inea. 1e&. /C ;#t. 20/D.

2Media Edu#ation oundation !oumentary, +ilms, hallen-in- $edia."eel %ad Ara&s." (.

8/9/2019 Reel Bad Arabs - Documentary Review

2/3

Holl)+ood found relief in del*ing into Asian' ussian' and European stereot)pes +ith images of

most hinese and Korean men as $enghis Khan looking indi*iduals or e*en depi#tions of ussia

as a &arren +asteland' full of drunkards that is *er) mu#h &a#k+ards from 8modern 1estern

thought. M) point &eing that it is not 9ust the Ara& at the root of the issue as !r. Shaheen

mentions &ut more so the fa#t that 1estern Media has a ha&it of sheltering its people &)promoting unne#essar) stereot)pes and pre9udi#es against other ethni#ities and #ultures.

;n#e the

do#umentar)(s histori#al timeline rea#hes the mid-t+entieth #entur)' !r. Shaheen takes theIsraeli-Palestinian #onfli#t as a starting point for a ne+ +a*e of the *ilifi#ation of Ara& people'

#laiming that mo*ies su#h as Eodus 5/=607 pla)ed a part in esta&lishing ne+ Ara& stereot)pes.

4hrough !r. Shaheen(s anal)sis it &e#omes #lear that the stereot)pes of the Ara& or Middle

Eastern person is not 9ust the result of the ne+s' &ut of a #ontinued ha&it on the part of Holl)+ood

to present them as *illains' terrorists' and &ad people.F

1hat I found most appalling ho+e*er +as !r. Shaheen(s take on mo*ies sponsored &) 4he @S

!efense !epartment. Shaheen sa)s' has assisted in the making of some parti#ularl) insulting anti-

Ara& fare' su#h as "Iron Eagle" 5kid flies 9et to sa*e dad from radi#al Middle Eastern state7'

"

8/9/2019 Reel Bad Arabs - Documentary Review

3/3

"Pro9e#t M@SE - eel %ad Ara&s - Ho+ Holl)+ood Bilifies a People 5re*ie+7."Pro#et

$%& ( Reel Bad Arabs ( How Hollywood Vilifies a People )review*.