In "Reel Bad Arabs," the stereotype and facts stated about the Palestinian and Isreali people are extremely true and noticable in movies, news, and media overall. They are projected to be villified and dehumanized at every chance possible. Especially in movies, they are stereotyped in the same particular way each time...from the setting and surroundings (usually encountering a desert or some isolated location) to the characters and their personalities, the arabs play a degrading and unequal role. For example, in the classic Disney movie, "Aladdin," the opening song plays the lyrics, "we'll cut off your ear if they don't like your face, it's barbaric, but it's home." From the get-go, this movie already holds the stereotype of the arabs and the normality of all of it.
One aspect I learned were the three occurances in history that have helped to share the Arab stereotype/image:
1) The Palistine/Isreali conflict, in which the United States supported the Palistinians.
2) The Arab oil in the 70's, which made gas prices in the United States rise and angered the American people.
3) The Iranian Revolution
As the video played on, I was surprised at very large number of movies that involve Arabs and give them the same degrading and villan-like stereotype. They are always portrayed as the terrorists or viewed as lesser compared to the American characters. A more modern example would be the movie "Rules of Engagement" (2000), The U.S. soilders go over and kill innocent Arabs and victimize all, including women and children.
Overall, this video had me nodding my head in agreeance frequently because it is quite obvious that this stereotype is very true all around. While the Arabs are portrayed as the terrorists or the "bad guy" in movies, the question was posed...What do the Arabs think of us? There are thousands of American movies that involve Arab characters as terrorists or have them play in degrading or dehumanizing roles. While this is so, have we ever thought about how this makes them feel? To always be viewed as the bad guy, to be ostracized throughout a single country? They are people, they hold just as equal of rights, they have feelings and the same faults and successes that we all possess, yet are still thought of in a negative light. Personally, I believe this stereotype and these movies bring us farther from peace and are simply just seperating the different people of the world. While it is said to embrace our differences and how great diversity is, we are doing the opposite and what is worse is that we are putting these actions in the media for the world is see in full action.
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I hate the fact that even though I have seen many of the movies that were mentioned I never truly put together the ideas that this was how the west always portrayed those in the Middle East. Now more than ever it hits me as to just how much the west puts a negative spin on people in that culture.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I saw the clip from Rules of Engagement, I thought the whole movie looked pretty ridiculous. I don't know that I would ever have taken it seriously to begin with. Did you think the same thing?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to read that you felt these stereotypes were obvious, since many of them are meant to be rather subliminal and deemed as "just a movie." Of course when the film is presented as a montage of these stereotypes, even without the narration, the message becomes clear. Have you seen these movies before seeing the montage? If so, how did you feel about them then? I hadn't seen most of them, nor heard of them, besides Aladdin and the Indiana Jones film -I'm not a big 'movie person' though.
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 reasons for the Arabic stereotyping that are mentioned both in the film clip and in your blog. One of them is the Iranian rev. I find that interesting, since Iran is not Arabic. Iranians speak Farsi.
Your response to the film makes sense to me. I think what you meant above was that the US government supported Israel, not Palestinians...
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