The American film industry has
played a key role in shaping the attitudes and beliefs of moviegoers since the
creation of the silver screen. From supplementing to breaking stereotypes and
generating tears and laughter, watching movies together has been a way for
society to create bonds and connections through social interaction. Movies can
be the setting of a first date, a break up, a friendly gathering, or even an
awkward attempt to break social barriers.
The documentary film, Reel
Bad Arabs, address the overlooked issue of how American films continuously
stereotype Arab characters, giving the same few stock character roles
associated with the Middle Eastern race. Several specific moments and topics
presented in the film stood out amongst the others, one of these is the
character of the villain that is most frequently played. The film gives several
examples of movies where an Arab plays the villainous character, always being
portrayed as the bad guy that is set out to destroy the American people. His
character shows no mercy to his victims, seeing this behavior again and again
conditions people to believe that everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist
and we as Americans should show them no mercy. Even in Disney movies geared
towards young children such as Aladdin,
the Arab race is seen as a violent people. Our minds are taught young to build
prejudices against an entire race of people. The problem with this is that no
one seems to have any problem with it. If the same parts were portrayed as a
Jewish or Black character society would backlash against the film, yet the fact
that the character is an Arab makes it okay. In some movies like Father Of The Bride Part Two, a
character is Arab without any reason. He is simply given the part because of
stereotypes.
Another stand out factor is that there is never a film where
the Arab people are humanized. In the Eighties and Nineties alone about thirty
films were made portraying Arabs as American haters. We never see the people in
the Middle East in refugee camps, injured and homeless, like many of them are
in reality as a result of the destruction created by Americans. Americans even
offer relief efforts to countries in need, yet we do not offer relief to the
countries where we created the need for relief. The ways we see those people in
films make it difficult for us to see them as real people, we cannot imagine
sympathizing with them because we see them as a people that are entirely
different from us. They are full of hatred, only hatred for us, they show no mercy,
and constrain their women. Only we are no different, because of these
stereotypes we have learned we are also full of hatred, for them, we hate an
entire people based on the actions of one single group. The American people are
quick to judge and place blame to use them as a scapegoat. In the Oklahoma City
bombing the media and the government declared the bombing to be an act of
terrorism made by a group in the Middle East, when the only information they
had was that the bombing took place and what type of bomb it was. The real
culprit was a white Irish Catholic male, even though he was the true enactor of
the terrorism we did not assume every white Irish Catholic male to be a
terrorist, this one man must have been a fluke. Even the Ku Klux Klan can be related
back to similar ideals. Even though they were a group of white middle-aged
Christian men who had a strong hatred against black people, no one assumed that
every white middle-aged Christian man was apart of the KKK. Americans have
broken past the stereotypes of many races of people, yet for some reason we
continue to encourage our stereotypes and prejudices against Arabs.
The film industry may project Arabs in such an offhanded
way, because it is the way things have always been done. There has yet to be a
time when American films constantly provide audiences with an Arab character
that is not portrayed in a villainous or comedic way. If American films
continue to shed such a negative light on an entire group of people then our
views of an entire race of people will never receive a chance to change.
Stereotypes have been changed before, they take years to overcome, but it is
possible. It takes on person and then others joining in to create a change of
thought, the film industry has more power than any other industry to change the
beliefs people have.
When it comes to movies like Rules of Engagement, the audience begins to feel compassion for the
people in a city whose lives were destroyed during a shooting with the military
forces. An investigation is underway to determine who started shooting at whom.
As the investigation process begins overseas we are shown images of people who
are injured and broken, people who have suffered great losses as a result of
the massacre. We are given the sight of a young girl who has lost her leg in
the battle as she walks away with deep brown eyes filled with tragedy. These
tear-jerking images are meant to provoke the audience into compassionate and
sympathetic mindsets. While the images of devastation continue the social barriers
are beginning to break down, we suddenly feel emotions we have been taught not
to feel. Once we begin to accept that these are real people, with families,
homes, and lives we are suddenly thrust back into our old beliefs as the plot
changes and we are brought to a recording that details the events leading up to
the massacre. The military did not, after all, shoot first. The first shots
came from the citizens, the little girl with one leg that we had minutes before
felt sorry for, has a gun in her hand aimed at our own people in uniform.
Many of the other movies included in the documentary I had
never before seen or heard of. The ones that I had heard of though, I had never
given any thought to the roles the characters were playing. Seeing it has opened
my eyes to the fact that the films we watch sway our beliefs. What we see on
the screen is often what we tend to believe is true. We see other characters
accurately depicted, so Arabs should be no different. Only, they are different,
it is not right for Americans to judge an entire race based on what we see on
the big screen or from the actions of a select few. Not all the people in the
Middle East hate Americans, so we should not hate all of them either. Our
hatred towards them only fuels the fire more; they see our hatred and feel the
need to retaliate. This cycle we have created will never end until someone
decides to put an end to it.
Changing the way we view other people can also change the
way the world operates. If we had no stereotypes or prejudices against Arabs
then maybe the aftermath of 9/11 would have been different, maybe instead of
placing the blame on an entire people and their lifestyle we would have kept
the blame where it belonged, one group of men who were the center of the destruction.
Popular culture has the power to change individual and group beliefs, if only
it would use that power to change beliefs for a greater purpose.
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