-fetched, but the image Hollywood created of Arabs has certainly not helped the Arab community in those days. Had the attack been perpetrated by Irish or (why not) Norwegian terrorists, the Irish or Norwegian community in the US would probably not have had such a hard time.
             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). 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). 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.
             "Those who tell the stories also rule society" (Plato, Republic)
             The art of storytelling is an ancient one. Even as technology progressed and special effects became more and more important, no film can survive a reviewer's critique without a good story. The basis of most stories is the struggle between good and evil, especially in the action and science-fiction genres. The choice of the 'embodiment of evil' depends largely on the social and political situation in a given society. No one protested as crazed savages from Dark Africa tried to lynch the protagonist and were later killed by the hundreds in yesteryear's films. The whole genre of the Western was based on the concept of white, courageous settlers killing wild Indians. Nazi Germany made great use of the relatively new medium of film to promote their hate message: ...