Orientalism And The Treatment Of Arabs In Western Media Research Paper Example

How many times have you watched a film or a TV show that shows Arabs as terrorists, idiots, or somehow lesser than any other race of man? Hundreds? Thousands? Maybe more. Arabs are typically stereotyped as terrorists, oil-hoarding sheikhs, and American-hating Muslim fanatics, not to mention brute murderers, sleazy rapists, religious fanatics, and abusers of women. Media can be defined as a method of communication that conveys ideas, concepts and events through various literary, visual, or aural means. Western media, in its portrayal of Arabs, has significantly harmed their image in Western society. Approximately 25% of Hollywood’s films portray Arabs as the butt of cheap jokes, or treat them as exotic novelties (Jack S., 2006). 1992's Disney film Aladdin, a program aimed at children, includes an Arab character speaking the phrase, “I came from a land where they cut your ear if they don’t like your face, its barbaric I know but hey it’s home.” Because children are these films' target audience, it cannot be any worse when a producer implants hate and racism in children’s mind. In addition to that, Hollywood has shaped the “three Bs” theory, which simply refers to Arabs as being belly dancers, billionaire sheikhs and bombers (Said E., 2003). Hollywood's continuous defamation of Arabs in the media is based on a small group of extremists who have nothing to do with Islam, taking a small section of Arab society and framing an entire society around it.
Edward Said's concept of Orientalism is "a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between 'the Orient' and (most of the time) 'the Occident'" (p. 2). To that end, a lot of Western media focuses on the Othering of the 'Orient,' personified here by Arab and Muslim society. The Western world had drawn the image of Arab-Muslims as the Bedouin Arab character, who is usually uncivilized, lives in a "tent", rides a "camel” and illiterate; however, this is far away from the truth. Whitaker, B. (2009) “Iqra,” which means read, was the very first word that was written in the Quran. It had been phrased as an "order" to emphasize on the importance of learning. Even though Arab-Muslims’ cultures flourished with development and knowledge; however, Western media insists on conceptualizing them as an inferior group by labeling them as the “other” or the “uncivilized”.
Moreover, the Western media's perception of Arabs does not extend merely to men; Arab women are also negatively represented in media. Muslim women are represented in the Western media as uneducated, has no role in decision making process, subservient to their dictatorial husband, and their biggest role is to get pregnant and do all the household tasks (Barlas, 2002). As harsh as this image may be, it is safe to say that it is based on prejudices, which stem from misunderstanding, relating to old tales, and stereotypes of the culture. The idea that women in the Arab world are just slaves and owned by men is promoted in a gigantic way in the western cultures. Whitaker, B. (2009) For example, Oprah Winfrey, on her talk show, once described Saudi women in generalizations, telling people that Arabs treat their women as if they were animals. Additionally, she added that Muslim women are not allowed to get out of their homes, learn or work, while the reality is quite the opposite. Pew Global Attitudes Project (2006) performed a study to see whether Westerns thinks that Muslims respect women; 83% in Spain, 80% in Germany, 69% in U.S and 59% in Britain think that Muslims don’t respect women. This is a fact that shows how much media affects public opinion of Muslims, as these messages come from the media.
It is also believed that women's liberation movements started from the West in the 20th century; however, these actually began right from the beginning of Islam in the seventh century. To illustrate, the holy book and the Prophet Hadith and Sunna emphasized the fact that men should treat their women with respect, whether their mother, sister, daughter, or wife, or even a total stranger (Awde, 2005). Dr. Maulana Ansari (n.d) said that “Islam has raised the status of women from below the earth to so high that paradise lies at her feet”. Additionally, Mohammed's last words, before he died, were “take care of the women”, demonstrating even its highest prophet's appreciation for women (Ali, 2004).Islam has defined the right and duties of Muslim women precisely in every aspect of life.
The current relationship between Arab-Muslims and the West can be considered as a tense relationship built mainly on prejudice and negative stereotypes of Muslims in the Western media. Through Western movies, books, news and other form of media Muslims are described as dangerous, extremist, irrational, violent and dangerous. For example, noted evangelist Jerry Falwell once said, "I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was a violent man, a man of war" (2002). The constant representation of Arab-Muslims in the Western media as violent terrorists continues to be a problem. For instance, in Hawaii Five-O, an American TV series, the producers find a way in every episode to tie any crime that occurs to a criminal of Arab origins. Image makers have maliciously connected peoples’ thoughts to Arabs as violent extremist fanatics. Westerners misunderstood Islam when they think that terrorism is a form of Jihad; this leads to a misunderstanding of the vast population of the Islamic population (Jack S., 2006). This opinion reflects upon the generalizations set against Islam from the West, which have endured for centuries, despite little evidence to support it.
The origins of many of these anti-Islamic portrayals stem from the post-9/11 environment, where splinter cells and jihadist terrorist groups were thought to be everywhere and commonplace. Shows like 24 and Homeland, even today, present the idea that Muslims are, more often than not, distrustful of Americans, devious and willing to kill to get what they want. The fact that they are almost always violent sends a bad message to the whole of the Arab community, as this is how they are almost always seen and considered. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to shake the images of violence and misogyny and focus more concretely on equality, noting Islam as an equivalent religion that is capable of co-existing with the rest of the world's faiths and societies.
The best solution for combating these portrayals of Muslims is to emphasize more positive role models and accurate portrayals of Islam as a peaceful, tolerant religion. These oversimplifications and generalizations about Muslims indicate that knowledge and expertise about Muslims in the West are lacking. It is surprising to see that Muslims are portrayed in such brutality, mischaracterizing the religion as defined by a few extremists. Islam is a religion that calls for peace and unity in every aspect of life. History books, such as The History of Art and Design, where the author stresses her amazement at Muslim art and architecture, particularly its peaceful messages. The Qur’an and the Sunnah also preach peace in their texts, demonstrating its primary goal as a positive way of life. Presenting Islam and Muslims in this negative way blinds Western cultures from the peaceful truth of Islam, which leads to hatred and misunderstanding between these cultures.
In conclusion., fighting stereotyping is a shared obligation for both the Western world and the Arab world. This fight would diminish this problematic issue, and facilitate peace, tolerance, and respect for both sides. Changing those negative images may be a hard task to do, but not impossible. It is unfair from the West to judge people who come from different background and have different cultural norms as uncivilized people who need ages to reach to their level in terms of education and developments. Labeling Muslim women as slaves and describing their personal cultural aesthetic in such a negative way is also unhelpful to modern discourse. The West must be open-minded and accept all kind of cloth, even when it comes to Muslim women. They must refrain from connecting every terrorist’s action to Muslims, and label them as destructive creatures. Positive media portrayals of Arabs and Muslims must be implemented into Western media in order to combat these stereotypes, without overtly Westernizing them and taking away the positive and productive aspects of Arab society.