Reel Bad Arabs

         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.