Brandon Glorioso
10/02/2017
Reel Bad Arabs Response Paper
Reel Bad Arabs Response Paper Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People is a short documentary based on the book of the same name by Dr. Jack Shaheen. In just fifty minutes, Shaheen uses the film to show how American culture has been trained to demonize Arabic culture; Hollywood and its political agenda being the main culprit (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). One point of the film’s focus is to make the audience aware of the many negative tropes against Arabs in television and film. Additionally, it also shows that most of our media does not show a realistic representation of Arabic culture. As a prospective content creator, I believe that Shaheen’s message is an important factor in …show more content…
Arab women are also subjected to stereotyping, as they are often shown as sexualized belly dancers or terrorists (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). From action blockbusters like True Lies to beloved children’s films like Aladdin, no Arab is safe from being shoved into one of these common themes. Personally, I found it interesting that both Reel Bad Arabs and our textbook both used True Lies as an example. The film is an example of extremely offensive stereotyping, casting nearly every Arab individual in the film as an idiotic terrorist. I believe that films like this just add fuel to the metaphorical fire, and allow fear and anger to become a normal part of society. Additionally, one scene in the film that I found extremely powerful was when Shaheen showed news coverage of the Unabomber incident. Almost every reporter or interviewee automatically assumed the culprit was of Arabic descent; however, the perpetrator was later found to be white (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). This unfair judgment is most likely due to the bad publicity that Arabs receive on an almost constant basis in our news …show more content…
For example, he first discusses the stand-up comedy scenes of Fahrenheit 9/11. He explains that Arabs have dealt with the various stereotypes directed towards them through different methods such as comedy (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). Shaheen points out that as we begin to show Arabs as they truly are, we can help to eliminate the stereotypes that have been in place for years. One scene from this section that really stuck out to me was when we viewed a short clip from the film Kingdom of Heaven. In the scene provided, an Arab Character sees a Christian relic on the ground, picks it up, and respectfully places it back on its altar. That is truly an example of what the media should be showing; people being actual people, rather than pawns to push a political
10/02/2017
Reel Bad Arabs Response Paper
Reel Bad Arabs Response Paper Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People is a short documentary based on the book of the same name by Dr. Jack Shaheen. In just fifty minutes, Shaheen uses the film to show how American culture has been trained to demonize Arabic culture; Hollywood and its political agenda being the main culprit (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). One point of the film’s focus is to make the audience aware of the many negative tropes against Arabs in television and film. Additionally, it also shows that most of our media does not show a realistic representation of Arabic culture. As a prospective content creator, I believe that Shaheen’s message is an important factor in …show more content…
Arab women are also subjected to stereotyping, as they are often shown as sexualized belly dancers or terrorists (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). From action blockbusters like True Lies to beloved children’s films like Aladdin, no Arab is safe from being shoved into one of these common themes. Personally, I found it interesting that both Reel Bad Arabs and our textbook both used True Lies as an example. The film is an example of extremely offensive stereotyping, casting nearly every Arab individual in the film as an idiotic terrorist. I believe that films like this just add fuel to the metaphorical fire, and allow fear and anger to become a normal part of society. Additionally, one scene in the film that I found extremely powerful was when Shaheen showed news coverage of the Unabomber incident. Almost every reporter or interviewee automatically assumed the culprit was of Arabic descent; however, the perpetrator was later found to be white (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). This unfair judgment is most likely due to the bad publicity that Arabs receive on an almost constant basis in our news …show more content…
For example, he first discusses the stand-up comedy scenes of Fahrenheit 9/11. He explains that Arabs have dealt with the various stereotypes directed towards them through different methods such as comedy (Shaheen & Jhally, 2006). Shaheen points out that as we begin to show Arabs as they truly are, we can help to eliminate the stereotypes that have been in place for years. One scene from this section that really stuck out to me was when we viewed a short clip from the film Kingdom of Heaven. In the scene provided, an Arab Character sees a Christian relic on the ground, picks it up, and respectfully places it back on its altar. That is truly an example of what the media should be showing; people being actual people, rather than pawns to push a political