Communication
Arabs and Arab- Americans for a long time now have faced stereotyping in Western films as a result of the negative way in which their cultures socialization and beliefs are depicted. This uncouth prejudice of Arabs has been as a result of being affiliated to terrorist and criminal acts. Stereotyping involves having false thoughts and ideas about certain people concerning their way of life, values and virtues. This misrepresentation of Arabs and Arab- Americans in films has led to a lot of negativity in the society surrounding these groups of people. As a result of the characteristics of Arabs defined in these films, and false opinions on the character of the Arabic people are formed. This cataloging creates a leeway for oppression and discrimination of this group of people by others. In this persuasive essay, I will be discussing the stereotyping of Arabs including some examples in films, how it affects them, studies done concerning this categorization and the way forward.
According to Yasmeen Elayan, a student at the East Tennessee State University, on page 2 of his thesis entitled “Stereotypes of Arab and Arab-Americans Presented in Hollywood Movies Released during 1994 to 2000,” the depiction of Western representation of the Middle Easterners is in ways that make them seem to possess barely any morals and humanity. These misrepresentations affect the audience’s ideation, decisions as well as perceptions and are a regular occurrence in Hollywood movies. Characteristics displayed mainly include speaking in accents, hostility, aggression, primitiveness and rebellion. The most common depiction of Arabs is as victimizers rather than victims giving birth to the idea that they are barbaric. These views have become widespread and now consist of most folks’ beliefs about Arabs because Hollywood is one of the greatest international entertainment industries meaning that they have quite a huge film turnout. By watching films, the ideas they present are unconsciously absorbed into our minds then generated into beliefs (Elayan 7).
According to Stuart Fischoff, a previous Senior Editor of the Journal of Media Psychology, on page 2 of his article “Media Psychology: A Personal Essay in Definition and Purview," the purpose of the media is to teach, give people hopes and dreams as well as make them aware of various fears. The media influences the social, physical, educational, political, technological and religious sectors in the society. It feeds us a web of views and opinions which in turn become our own. Once fed, our imagination and minds are affected by these ideas affecting the way we make our decisions, behave and formulate beliefs. Thus, through what the media feeds its viewers, classifications are created in turn causing discrimination. Formulation of stereotypes is done to understand why things are the way they are. Stereotypes can bring harm to an ethnic group of people or race when wrong ideas about them are brought out. The media depicts all races in a bad light, but some seem to be bigger targets than others such as the Arabs and Arab- Americans (Elayan 8).
According to Bayraktaroğlu Kerem , a research Ph.D. student at the University of Exter in the UK on page 351 of his article entitled “The Muslim Male Character Typology in American Cinema Post 9/11,” passing on wrong ideas about a certain community to others aggrieves the cataloged members of the community. Stereotyping thus can lead to psychological and physical harm to the group members. People react differently; some can commit suicide due to too much prejudice and hatred which diminishes their self- worth and thus the purpose to live. Others can get aggressive and violent when they are attacked with the stereotypical ideologies because they may have difficulty making decisions that are morally upright and rational as a result of their distress.
Film directors and script writers in Hollywood, as well as other film scenes, are inspired by fictitious stories about Arabs to create films. These films lead to unfairness in the placement of Arabs in roles that are antagonistic. This replication may lead to the firm plantation of negative abstracts about Arabs to other people (Elayan 7). Nadra Kareem, a journalist, based in Los Angeles on page 1 of her article “Common Stereotypes of Minorities in Film and Television,” supports this argument by saying that people of color such as Arabs in films are commonly presented inadequately by getting demeaning roles which are a form of bigotry. Arabic women mostly play belly dancers, prostitutes or abused women who are suicidal due to lack of self-worth while men mostly play terrorists, abusive men, oil sheiks or uncivilized natives who travel by caravans and camels (Kareem1). Jack Shaheen and Jeremy Earp, writers of the ‘Real Bad Arabs’ film, explain on page 1 of their review the rare depiction of Arabs as being intelligent and talented like other world communities.
The classification of Arabic characters in films is in five basic ways, evil villains, Sheiks, maidens, Egyptians and Palestinians with the goal to terrorize believers of the Jewish and Christian religions. There are various movies that fill people’s minds with wrong ideas about Arabs. They include The Siege, Aladdin, The Sheik, Sex and the City 2, Rules of Engagement, Back to the Future, True Lies and Black Stallion. For example, in the movie rules of engagement, which had quite a large viewership, Yemeni demonstrators, are viewed as violent including children killing some US Navy soldiers who come to save the victims trapped inside the US embassy (Elayan 10). According to Alice Hall, A media scholar, on page 402 of her article “Film Reviews and the Public's Perceptions of Stereotypes," the Seige film instills radical perceptions in viewers of believers of the Islamic faith as being terrorists. The American- Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee disparaged the ideas in this movie by saying that it unfairly puts together Muslims and Arabs yet not all Muslims are Arabs and depicting them are terrorists.
Some events have prompted people to have false ideologies about Arabs with the media encouraging this falsehood instead of leading people towards deeming a few people responsible for the negativity that originated from those events. The 9/11 bombing is one such event where most of the bombers were Saudi Arabian and all of the Muslim faith thus further deepening the false ideologies of Arabs and the Muslim faith. This event led to an increase in security checks as well as racial profiling of Arabs at the airport before boarding planes as a result of the belief that they may be armed (Kerem 353). These occurrences show that the influence of people’s ideas is by the social and political events happening at that time. However, after the 9/11 events, Arabs are now less stereotyped in movies and displayed more as decent. For example, in the movie The Kingdom, Arab characters are seen to help the FBI capture Saudi extremists who killed some Americans brutally. However, there is not much change as the focus is now more on their economic and ethnic status than their religion (Kerem 358).
The Oklahoma bombing is an event pinned on Arabs and Arab- Americans despite them not being involved. This bombing led to a lot of hate crimes against Arabs as well as discrimination because of people’s views of them being acts of terror criminals. The mass media and film industries were at the forefront in throwing Arabs under the bus shifting the blame on them. Mass media have a lot of influence on people’s beliefs and opinions because many folks believe in what they see in films and the information they receive through mass media. They believe that the mass media is the eyes and ears of the people always striving to spread the truth. Thus, the media is a very powerful tool in a society which can make or break people. When stereotypes continue to navigate the way in which people perceive Arabs and Arab- Americans in the society, then the majority of this group of people will continue to endure suffering from rejection and discrimination (Elayan 54).
The categorization of Arabs has existed since the early days of silent films and is present up to date in the most famous movies in Hollywood according to the Reel Bad Arabs film. The presentation of Arabs is as thieves, aggressive with animalistic behavior, violent, angry and nomadic armed with weapons while the depiction of women is as sexual objects and servants for men as well as shallow. Such views make Arabs appear inhumane without proper behavior and morals. Such depictions create negative ideas in youngsters making it very difficult to view Arabs as role models. Writers of the Film ‘Reel Bad Arabs,’ continue to say that these representations even instill fear in them because of viewing Arabs as dangerous criminals who are heartless (Shaheen and Jeremy 2).
The book ‘Orientalism’ written in 1978 by Edward Said, Previously a professor of English, History and Comparative Literature at Columbia University shows that prejudice against Arabs as well as other people of color began a long time back. In this book, the West is depicted as having overbearing views and fictitious ideas about the East. Stereotyping people of the East acts as a platform for the fulfillment of ambitions of Colonial countries and powers. These ambitions are having access to the unlimited resources in the East being that it is full of rich lands. These resources will lead them to have greater control of the market, business and technological fields. Thus, their view of Arabs is as either terrorists or oil suppliers both of which do not depict the West’s value of their humanity. The West created a way of thinking called Orient that brings out the East as unable to fit into the lifestyle and ways of the West. This kind of thinking deprives one of understanding the value of others (Edward 1).
The negative portrayal of Arabs is disheartening with the media being a great contributor towards this negativity. Good movies do not have to be necessarily inspired by ideas that will cause others the pain of being discriminated. Making others suffer because of one person’s mistake from that ethnic community is for lack of another word barbaric. Thus, filmmakers have other alternatives to draw inspiration from while making their films and prevent the stereotyping of Arabs. Filmmakers can give Arabs protagonist roles in films. This change in roles will help the audience learn the good traits that Arabs possess and understand that not all Arabs are evil (Elayan 10).
Filmmakers may inform viewers that the plot is fictitious at the beginning of the movie to help viewers understand that Arabs are not really of the character portrayed in an antagonist. Viewers will appreciate the filmmakers’ creativity rather than fill their minds with false ideologies about Arabs. While making films, film directors can get into contact with experts on Arab culture and religion to help provide ideas on the Arabic way of life. This approach will make views generated in the film more factual. The public through media can learn positive facts about Arabs, their culture, religion, and morals. A platform for Arabs can be created to be heard and viewed as who they are instead of always having to defend their lifestyle due to the false ideas about them being spread by the media (Elayan 11).
It is time for our cultures to change and provide balance by ensuring quality experiences for all. This change can be achieved by refusing to subject innocent Arabs to the negativity of prejudice and helping them have normal lives without people being afraid of them or viewing them as aggressive and dangerous (Elayan 11). Arabs are normal people who have normal lives and are unable to lead those normal lives with all the falsehood about them going on. Arabs need to be viewed as people capable of positivity and thus should be presented as role models to children. Arabs should not have always to defend themselves, their heritage and culture just because of the existence of negative ideas and images about them.
The cycle of Arab stereotyping may go on if something is not done to stop it. A call to action against this unfairness towards Arabs should be made by ensuring that they are not subjected to this unfairness and understanding that the isolation of communities’ aggrieves them to cause hurt as well as harm from their reactions. Also, the differences between different races should be appreciated and we as one people should work towards understanding and appreciating each others’ cultures and beliefs. The media being that it is a trusted source of information should avoid misusing their power position and learn to respect other people as well as promote oneness among different communities. Rather than fulfill their political ambitions to benefit themselves, the people of the West should strive to build relationships that are mutual benefiting all parties. They should also learn how to value others and their humanity rather than viewing and treating them like savages. The display of positive images of Arabs leading normal lives should be done publicly to change the false abstraction about Arabs in existence. Filmmakers should strive to achieve this because there are barely any images depicting positivity in Arabic culture and beliefs, and it has the power to stop the unfairness.
Works Cited
Elayan, Yasmeen. Stereotypes of Arab and Arab-Americans Presented in Hollywood
Movies Released during 1994 to 2000. Tennessee: Digital Commons. 2005.Print.
Bayraktaroğlu, Kerem. “The Muslim Male Character Typology in American Cinema Post 9/11.” Digest of Middle East Studies 23.2 (2014): 345-359.Print.
Fischoff, Stuart. "Media Psychology: A Personal Essay in Definition and Purview."
American Psychological Association 10.1 (2005): 1-21. Society for Media
Psychology & Technology. Print.
Hall, Alice. "Film Reviews and the Public's Perceptions of Stereotypes: Movie Critics'
Discourse about the Siege." Communication Quarterly 49.4 (2001): 399-423.
Print.
Kareem, Nittle. N. "Common Stereotypes of Minorities in Film and
Television." About.com News & Issues. N.p., 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
Reel Bad Arabs. Dir. Sut Jhally. Perf. Jack Shaheen and Jeremy Earp. Media Education
Foundation, 2006. DVD.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. Print.
