Stereotypes In The Film American Arabs

Billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers are what Americans see arabians as. The movie American Arabs proves those stereotypes wrong. Usama Alshabai, the producer, director, and editor of the documentary works hard to make sure that it is clear Arabs in America mean no harm. The arabians featured in the documentary are hard working, normal, strong people. So what is it that makes it hard for Americans to picture these people as such?

Americans love tv. As of 2015 40 million Americans had a subscription to Netflix according to expandedramblings.com. That being said we learn how to interact with others from what we see. If we are watching Fast & Furious 7 we see that the arabs are rich partiers with expensive cars. This is a classic example where Americans get the “billionaire” stereotype. Another popular movie that shows an example of the “bombers” stereotype is Iron Man. Specifically the scene when he lands and automatically starts getting shot at by dingey clothed arabs holding guns. Of course we are rooting for Iron Man and automatically start to despise the arabs for trying to kill him. To top the stereotypes off we have the “belly …show more content…
Is the question I ask when I see a woman wearing a hijab. Ive personally never been educated on why they wear them. Why are we not aloud to see her hair? Why is she wearing that towel? Why can't she just wear a hat? All these questions coming rushing through my head. Than I hear the women speak and she's completely normal no accent, saying like, literally, and obsessed every other words just like every other american girl in this country. I'll be honest every time it shocks me. She uses the same language, but skipped the fashion memo I guess. I know they must have a good reason if they have that much confidence to walk around wearing something that most of us American woman would not. A hijab is different the other head coverings because the woman is allowed to decide how much she should cover based on her comfort and