Real bad Arabs

The film “Real Bad Arab” is a documentary that discusses the grossly inaccurate and offensive portrayal of Arabs and the Middle East in Hollywood.  The film presents research of hundreds of movies across generations and how they portray the Arab people. The research shows that throughout the beginning of film making Arabs have been cast in a horrible and inaccurate light. In nearly every movie throughout movie making history Arab people have been cast in the same role. They play the part of the villain. They are often depicted as unintelligent, primitive, and downright evil.  Having seen the Arab and Middle Eastern people portrayed throughout their whole lives as these horrible types of people, the American people begin to associate that image with Middle Eastern and Arab people in the real world. This has a terrible effect on our culture and the way we treat the Arab people.

            In the film Dr. Jack Shaheen takes us in to Hollywood’s Arab land. In the documentary we find that Arab land is filled always with the same type of people and situation. There is always an old sheik that kidnaps the blonde white western woman to make her his concubine. The Arab men in these movies are portrayed as heartless and with only one goal in mind, to take over the world. The Arabs are depicted as the evil vile people who will stop at nothing to get power and money. These villains are always shown as greedy rich men. Those Arabs that are not portrayed as evil, rich master minds are more often than not shown as primitive fools.  

            The women in these movies are portrayed no better than the men. The women are dressed always in one of two things. They are either shown in thin see through belly dancing outfits or there bodies are completely covered in black dress and veil. The Arab women are never put into a position of power. In fact they are rarely even put into a position of respect. They are shown as servants and as belly dancers. They are placed in a position where there only purpose is to please the man. Men are shown as having power over these women. The documentary shows a scene from the very popular movie, “Father of the Bride”, in which an Arab women attempts to speak while her husband is making a deal to buy a house and she is yelled at in gibberish by her husband. After being yelled at the woman then becomes very submissive keeping her eyes on the ground and sealing her lips. The documentary brings up a couple of films where the Arab woman is in a position of power. However these depictions are no better than the rest. When the Arab women are not shown as man’s property, she is depicted as a terrorist.

            I was shocked to see that I recognized many of these movies. Some of these more racist and offensive movies were amongst my list of favorite movies, such as “Aladdin”, “Father of the Bride”, and “Indiana Jones”.  “Aladdin” in particular had left a very lasting impression on me. I always thought that the villains in this movie were the scariest. As I grew up I also loved watching the Indiana Jones movies. In the documentary they show a clip from “Indiana Jones” of a very primitive looking Arab man making a show of attacking Indiana with a huge, long sword.   Before the man can take two steps toward him, Indian shoots the man and walks away shaking his head. When I was young and first watched this movie, I remember thinking that Indiana was so cool in that scene. Looking back now, I’m able to recognize the injustice to the Arab people that scene shows. The movie depicts the man as very arrogant and stupid.  The Arab people in this movie were primitive and Indiana Jones, an American, was made out to be much smarter and better than these people.

            “The Father of the Bride” was another movie I was shocked to realize had such racist and stereotypical depictions of Middle Eastern people. This film portrays more than one stereotype placed upon the Arab people. The Arab woman is depicted as submissive to the man, and her husband is shown as both incredibly rich and greedy.  He is not only depicted as rich and greedy but he is also heartless. The man shows no sympathy for the protagonist of the movie and he even mocks him for his emotional connection to his home. 

            Why is it that Hollywood can be so caviler with vilifying an entire group of people when doing so to any other race would be considered unthinkable?  Many people would say that America’s involvement and conflict in the Middle East is part of what allows Hollywood to vilify the Arab people. I would agree that America’s conflict does contribute to the overall acceptance of vilifying the Arab people. However Hollywood has been vilifying the Arab people since the beginning of movie making. I believe that the acceptance of vilifying the Arab people is a result of ignorance. While America is a very diverse county, they lack an overly strong and recognized community of the Arab people. Throughout history the Middle East has been painted as a type of scary place full of imminent death. America has failed to let go of this image. The culture in the Middle East has never been something that has been widely discussed in American society.  Our lack of knowledge on the culture in the Middle East makes it easy for the American people to accept Arabs as villains because we are not connected to them in any emotional way.   

            The result of this mass stereotyping of the Arab people as these heartless, violent people in American cinema is dangerous. It dehumanizes the Arab people in the eyes of many Americans. When these people are dehumanized, we cannot form any kind of sympathy for them. We see them all as the same horrible, cruel picture Hollywood has painted them as and we feel no remorse in their death. Americans are very quick to stereotype all Middle Eastern people into this one group of bad guys.  Having seen the Arab people as the villain throughout our lives has made it easier for us to take on the war in Iraq because we already saw the Arab people as bad guys. It is important that we break these stereotypes in America so the Arab people can have the same chance to establish their true culture in the eyes of Americans the same way all other minorities in the States have. In order for this to begin, Hollywood most stop “villianizing” the Arab people and start painting them in a more realistic light.