|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:40 am Post subject: How have Arabs been portrayed in US film culture? |
 |
|
I was flicking through a book some time ago called Reel Bad Arabs which examines how Arabs have been portrayed in the US film industry - and it did seem to corrolate with my own observations: that Arabs (well before 911) are portrayed in negative stereotypes that we wouldn't dare affix to black people or asians.
And just now I was reading an online article that touched on this:
| Quote: |
Over the years, the cinema has made great efforts to portray non-whites and non-Americans in a more respectable light than had earlier efforts. Blacks, Asians, and other minorities are presented in a more favorable manner, but not so the benighted denizens of the Middle Eastern wastelands. Numerous films, many churned out by the Golan-Globus * mill, depicted Arabs as treacherous, unreasonable, backward, fanatical, and bloodthirsty beasts who had to be nobly confronted and justly slain, mano a mano, by American warriors, often disillusioned Vietnam veterans, often the same actors who had earlier proven their valor and craft in the vengeance genre. Once again, our champions manfully operated outside the confines of spineless authority.
Though not necessarily well known among cinema-goers, such films did well with boys � the rank and file of our next wars � who learned that the only good Arab was one immolated or blown to bits. The nettlesome matter of collateral damage, with which only pacifists and defeatists concern themselves anyway, was deftly handled by the unguent credo proclaimed on the young war enthusiast's T-shirt of choice: Kill Them All - Let God Sort Them Out. World events, it must be admitted, did little to balance the Golan-Globus depiction of the Arab; but, it must also be admitted, neither did other filmmakers. The 9/11 attacks solidified the image, and while much of it remained with the war enthusiasts who stayed a-bed, it was also carried along by many troops going off to the Middle East. Rarely had an enemy been so demonized before the outbreak of war.
|
http://www.counterpunch.org/downing10302006.html
* On Golan-Globus (From Wikipidia):
| Quote: |
| Golan and Cannon Films have been heavily criticized for their pervasive anti-Arab stereotypes, often seemingly going out of their way to demonize Arabs. Even in films that otherwise had no relation to Arab/Israeli issues, such as Superman IV, Golan and Globus could not resist adding anti-Arab jokes.[citation needed] In particular, Arab American communications scholar Jack G. Shaheen has heavily criticized Golan-Globus films, and made special note of them in his book Reel Bad Arabs. |
I was just curious about others' thoughts on this - especially those who've lived in the US. Do you think it's fair to say that Arabs have (in the last 10 years of more) been more heavily subjected to negative stereotypes than other ethnic groups? Or is that just bunkum? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:48 am Post subject: Re: How have Arabs been portrayed in US film culture? |
|
|
| Interested wrote: |
| I was just curious about others' thoughts on this - especially those who've lived in the US. Do you think it's fair to say that Arabs have (in the last 10 years of more) been more heavily subjected to negative stereotypes than other ethnic groups? Or is that just bunkum? |
Probably true.. not sure about 'more' though.
I've heard even had British friends ask me about U.S. movies, and ask me why British are always the villians. I couldn't even answer that, as I never heard of that. I always saw British as the ones in the movies with the accents that the women swooned over. But the British watching U.S. movies saw something different - or at least the ones talking to me about it did.
Heard Germans say similar things with German representation, etc. The list goes on and on.
Most groups of people are more likely to see any negative representations way above any positive ones. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:52 am Post subject: Re: How have Arabs been portrayed in US film culture? |
|
|
| Tiger Beer wrote: |
.
I've heard even had British friends ask me about U.S. movies, and ask me why British are always the villians. I couldn't even answer that, as I never heard of that. I always saw British as the ones in the movies with the accents that the women swooned over. But the British watching U.S. movies saw something different - or at least the ones talking to me about it did.
|
There is a particular 'British accent' that Hollywood seems to employ when they want to convey a cold cruel intelligent character. It never fails to amuse me.
And my Korean students had seemed to pick up on the stereotypes and incorporated them into their view of the British. In my introduction classes, i'd do a 'get to know each other' thing where I'd put a lot of statements about myself up on the board - and they had to guess which were true and which were false. "I am British" was always assumed to be false. Apparantly I did not seem strict and cold enough! When cross examined as to how they knew the British were cold and strict - it always seemed to point back to Hollywood movies they'd watched. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Meegook
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| .....are portrayed in negative stereotypes that we wouldn't dare affix to black people or asians. |
Basically, the same way Christians have. But then, what should we expect?
Holywood is owned by Jews. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Meegook wrote: |
| Quote: |
| .....are portrayed in negative stereotypes that we wouldn't dare affix to black people or asians. |
Basically, the same way Christians have. But then, what should we expect?
Holywood is owned by Jews. |
You mean "Christians are" or "Christians have been". But they havent been, not in mainstream films. The american population wouldnt accept it. So clearly you`re seeing things that aren`t there... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Neil
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: Tokyo
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
You'd think with Hollywood having a reputation for being liberal and PC they would use an Arab character in a positive light....even if just to show they were 'right on'. There is Sayid in Lost, yeah I know it's TV and the actor is Anglo Indian but maybe it'll start a trend.
The 'evil British' sterotype is quite fun, certainly not as bad as the poor Asians who for decades have only been depicted as martial arts instructors, gangsters and poor English speakers. Though that's changing too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Meegook
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
I might be wrong.
Give us one recent example of Christians being betrayed by the Jewish controlled film industry in a positive light. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Interested wrote: |
| Do you think it's fair to say that Arabs...heavily subjected to negative stereotypes...? |
Edward W. Said.
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:20 am Post subject: Re: How have Arabs been portrayed in US film culture? |
|
|
| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Interested wrote: |
| I was just curious about others' thoughts on this - especially those who've lived in the US. Do you think it's fair to say that Arabs have (in the last 10 years of more) been more heavily subjected to negative stereotypes than other ethnic groups? Or is that just bunkum? |
Probably true.. not sure about 'more' though.
I've heard even had British friends ask me about U.S. movies, and ask me why British are always the villians. I couldn't even answer that, as I never heard of that. I always saw British as the ones in the movies with the accents that the women swooned over. But the British watching U.S. movies saw something different - or at least the ones talking to me about it did.
Heard Germans say similar things with German representation, etc. The list goes on and on.
Most groups of people are more likely to see any negative representations way above any positive ones. |
I agree that British are often stereotyped as villians, but I think it might be at least as much related to Brits supposedly being more clever and sophisticated, as to their being evil. So, in a way, it's kind of a compliment.
Plus, it's usually not wall-to-wall British villians. Usually, other nationalities, including Americans, are shown as part of the criminal gang. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
riley
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: where creditors can find me
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
Why are the Brits portrayed as the villians? Why because they're from perfidious Albion, of course. (always wanted to say that) No, seriously, it's probably due to our culture differences, the British and the Americans during WW2 were frequently annoyed by the differences in how each thought. The British found the Americans to be simplistic and overeager, and the Americans found the British to be too rational and too clever. The last two adjectives also tend to be viewed as something that a villian would have.
Speaking of Arab stereotypes, it's sad, but when I first saw the president of Iran, I thought he looked just like the bad guy in some Stallone/Shwartzenegger picture. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
| Interested wrote: |
| Do you think it's fair to say that Arabs...heavily subjected to negative stereotypes...? |
Boring.
Edward W. Said.
Thirty-year-old analysis.
And the one-sided version at that.
The Arab world and the entire Middle East essentializes the United States at least as much as the United States (and are you not forgetting Britain and France?) essentializes the Arab world and the rest of the Middle East. (That is Said's own conclusion, incidentally. Ever read Orientalism?)
I linked a great example of a Turkish film that essentialized both "the Jews" and the United States in one fell swoop several months ago, by the way. I believe it had Jewish doctors kidnapping Arabs and selling their organs to rich New York Jews for fun...
Many in the Middle East besides Turkey, in any case, call us "the Great Satan" and chant "death to America!" while burning flags or planning to crash airplanes into buildings, etc.
Some of us call them "Axis of Evil," terrorists, and respond with wars, some of them just, others wholly unwarranted, etc.
Not a small number of them turn around and say, unsurprisingnly, "No, we are not terrorists, you are! You support Israel and tell them to kill our families for fun!"
Observing all of this, all you seem to see or care about is that we subjected them to "negative stereotypes," called them "the Axis of Evil..." and responded with an unjust war (and I am sure that you also see us supporting Israel and telling the Jews to kill Arab families for fun...)
Is there ever anything else going on on this board, by the way?
And did anyone even hear Ruth Benedict, so long ago, when she concluded that even the Pygmies do this...that it is a species-wide problem we all need to overcome?
How does pointing your self-righteous finger at the United States help us, as a species, overcome this problem? |
Self-righteous may be a description well used on yourself. As for boring...well people who are oversensitive about their own nation/culture tend to make me yawn....reminds me of the many nationalistic Koreans I encountered in Seoul....
However, to turn to what you have written...
I've seen ridiculous and cartoonish stereotypes of we westerners in foreign language films - both in Arabic, and more often Asian (usually Chinese) films. I kind of expect that nonsense from regions of the world that have yet to 'mature' and 'develop.' However, the US is supposed to be an enlightened nation - and it does seem strange how stereotyping is so common in US films. Almost as if the film-makers don't respect the intelligence of their audience. That's not to say that the US doesn't make some magnificent insightful and thought provoking films. It does. However, the kind of stereotyping I regularly see in many of the Hollywood blockbusters is not visible in films coming out of Europe or Britain. At least I can't remember recent evidence of it.
I'm curious of what US citizens think of stereotyping in their own films - pointing out that its prevalent in other cultures is neither here nor there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| the Americans found the British to be too rational and too clever. |
Those two adjectives were not the first two that came to mind. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Anyone see/remember The Wind and the Lion? Ok, Sean Connery is Scottish and he is playing Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent who is Berber and not Arab, but you can almost get an evil Brit and evil Arab at the same time. Especially if you are ignorant. But I am so swept away by S. C. that it really doesn't matter... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:25 pm; edited 5 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:26 pm; edited 5 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
