A million little Osama's
The Image of Arabs in American Popular CultureHollywood is arguably the most important ISA (ideological state apparatus) in modern America. More than from parents, school or church do children get their ideas and values from the celluloid. This imposes on the movie industry's executives the great responsibility of not only entertaining people, but also to be the guardians of the set of values the Western world holds dear: equality, freedom and maybe most importantly, respect for one another. According to Professor Jack G. Shaheen, Hollywood is not taking this responsibility when it comes to one ethnic group: Arabs. For Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies A People, Shaheen screened over 900 films that have come from the Mecca of American film since 1898 and he came to a dazzling conclusion: Hollywood depicts Arabs as evil villains. They are either crazed terrorists who want to destroy America or wealthy oil-sheiks with large limousines, who aim at taking over America by simply buying it. Shaheen's argument is in concordance with the writings of Edward Said, who in Orientalism showed how Westerners view Arab culture as a whole, neglecting the fact that it is as diverse as 'European culture, and
After establishing this, Kavanaugh points out that the ruling class uses tools of ideology rather than force to keep the lower classes happy, or at least from revolting. Works CitedBaudrillard, Jean. Shaheen comes up with a whole array of possible causes: the situation in Israel, politics, the absence of Arabs in the film industry, the emancipation of other potential 'convenient villains' like Jews or blacks and many others (Shaheen 6, 28-33). Even as technology progressed and special effects became more and more important, no film can survive a reviewer's critique without a good story. Perhaps America is more similar to the Middle East than it is to Europe in religious terms, as historian Thomas von der Dunk argued recently in an article in Vrij Nederland. This can lead to situations such as we have seen in Nazi Germany, or, as Shaheen argues, in America. In this essay, I will try and find out why Hollywood uses Arabs when the need is there for some "convenient villains" (director John Cameron quoted in Shaheen 504). As Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said (about The Siege): "Given how vulnerable Arab-Americans are to defamation, was this film really necessary?" (Shaheen 430). However, he does not answer the question which to an American Studies scholar is relevant: why are Americans in such dire need of an enemy and why the Arabs in particular? In this essay I will argue that the conscious construction of Arabs as opposites and enemies of American culture can be explained in terms of racial and religious differences and prejudices, fueled by political aims. How the state uses the medium of film to present a negative image of Arabs is best reflected in the shady practice of the Department of Defense's support of 'certain' films. It seems as if producers and consumers have made a pact: Hollywood produces offensive material about Muslims and consumers buy it, no questions asked. The recent troubles in Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan are certainly no heralds of improvement. Hollywood seems to want to convey the message that no two peoples are more dissimilar than the Arab and the American people.
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Acceptance Essays
