Reel Bad Arabs Stereotype

           Contrary to popular belief of most Americans, Muslims have been discriminated against for many years, not just since the attack on the World Trade Center. Throughout history, Americans have tended to pay particular attention to conflicts in the world that involve Muslims like the Middle East oil embargo, the Iranian Revolution, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine. But for some unknown reason, extreme amounts of Arabic people are often misconstrued as evil villains that are always out to get Americans.  The film Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People accurately illustrates Hollywood’s tendency to victimize Middle Eastern people through depictions in movies.

            The absolute most controversial aspect of this film to me was the inclusion of Aladdin on the list of movies that stereotype Muslims. Prior to watching this, I had never made the connection that Aladdin did this to a specific group of people. What surprised me more is the fact that Aladdin is a children’s movie and because of that, I will no longer look at this movie under the same light. So, the Hollywood movie producers are trying to portray Muslims as bad people to the future leaders of our country. They are trying to instill an understanding and acknowledgement that Muslims are bad people from the very beginning so that its continued exposure to the public is socially accepted. This is the exact reason why the movie industry is so comfortable with stereotyping Muslims. Muslims have been stereotyped for so long that the continuation is highly overlooked. If we put it into context, we would never see African Americans of Jews stereotyped in such a universal way. In fact, stereotyping these people would result in a lot of argument and shame. Oddly enough, I never recalled an occurrence in Aladdin where they bluntly stated that Arabs were bad people. They just tried their best to show them as mean, aggressive people to subliminally convey a message of hidden racism. Personally, I think this overgeneralization adds fuel to the fire of many victims. From an American perspective, we always feel like Muslims hate us for no reason. From a Muslim perspective, they may always feel like we hate them because of the inaccurate depictions of them serving as the constant villain in our current and historical cinema. Showing this sort of hatred in films may contribute to a huge misunderstanding between Americans and the Islamic community.

            The other movie that grabbed my attention was Rules of Engagement, and to be honest; I have not seen this movie. However, from the brief part that was shown in the documentary, I picked up on the controversy. In Yemen, there was a standoff between the American military and a Yemeni squadron. In this particular film, it was originally portrayed that the Americans massacred these civilians with no cause other than the fact that they were Muslims. The Americans are looked at as being heartless people with absolute internal hatred toward this group of people. After further investigation, Samuel L. Jackson’s lawyer is taken to the hospital by a one legged girl who was in the midst of the fire in order for her to show what the Americans did to her people. While at the hospital, the lawyer stumbles across a tape of the incident that took place from the perspective of the Yemeni people. As it turns out, the one legged girl initiated the fire along with the rest of the Yemini people. People originally perceived the one legged girl as an innocent child that got caught in a bad situation, however after the footage was recovered, that innocence and feelings of sadness by Americans was completely shattered. As it is seen from our point of view, we are always the good people and they are always the bad people. Hollywood is very reliable in making this clear to the public no matter the actual circumstance. The American film industry may be so arrogant in the way they depict Arabs because it is socially acceptable within the North American boundary. Also, another reason why the film industry is so cavalier about Arab culture and Arabs in general is because we are misinformed. Americans are so egocentric when it comes to understanding other cultures. Generally Americans and Christians are not entirely accepting of other faiths and ways of living. Because of this inaccurate portrayal, there is definitely tension between Americans and Arabs. Also, it puts out a vibe to other countries that Americans are ignorant and unaccepting. Hollywood needs to stop singling out individual groups of people to represent the “bad guy”. Only harm results from the current system.

            Of the movies that were presented, I personally have only seen two: Aladdin, and Back to the Future; however I recognized many more than that. Truthfully, when I saw the Libyans approaching Marty and Doc in a white van, it screamed trouble to me. My hunch was then reinforced when the Libyans shot down Doc. I have definitely been influenced by movies in this way. When I go on planes, I do get a little nervous when I see an Arabic man boarding the plane. The many movies and the few bad encounters with Arabic people have put a negative message in the back of my mind that signals a little bit of fear. As bad as it sounds, when I see Arabic people in movies, I do associate them with fear and aggressiveness. After watching this documentary however, I believe that my thoughts will change for the better. Arabs are just people like everyone else. The overwhelming majority of them have great life intentions while only a few of them mean any harm at all.

            Thematically, this documentary screams that we must not judge a book by its cover. What may seem like one thing can actually be the complete opposite. Just because someone is Arabic does not make him or her a bad person at all; so do not conform with popular opinion just because one’s particular culture shares that opinion. This documentary also preaches not to believe everything on television. Popular culture can definitely shape conceptions of groups of people. Developing stereotypes of people are not necessarily bad, just make sure you are well informed and do not go strictly off of what is portrayed in movies and such.