"Reel Bad Arabs"

Last night I watched the short film called, “Reel Bad Arabs” for my ENGL 1100 class. Our focus is on Middle Eastern Literature and Film, and in this movie Jack Shaheen explains how Hollywood vilifies Arabs in accordance with several different agendas. The way Arabs are vilified that I found most interesting was in the case of American films portraying Arabs using a negative stereotype according to the U.S. government’s political agenda. Shaheen explained how three different events changed the Arab image after World War II, including the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the Arab oil embargo, and the Iranian revolution. In the case of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the U.S. government sided with Israel which put Palestine in a negative light. Shaheen explained that especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s Washington policies dictated how the country viewed Palestine, it was primarily seeing them as terrorists rather than people. So, for instance films like “Rules of Engagement” show a slaughter of people by American armed forces as a righteous killing. In the film, as in real life as well, if Arabs are not seen as human then anything can be justified. I think this is an important connection to make to the Holocaust of World War II. The mass genocide by Hitler shows how downright hatred for a group of people perpetuates violence because that group is seen as less than human. There is no emotional connection for those committing the violence to make, which is also a connection that can be made with African Americans in the United States. A group of people vilified because of the way they look or the images and stereotypes that surround them. Overall, I thought it was interesting how much Washington policies dictate American film. We see it now, a governmental push for an environmentally-friendly country and some of the more recent films out of Hollywood mirror that same push such as “Wall-e” or “The Happening.” I did like the film “Reel Bad Arabs” though; I think for our class it will be important to see how literature and film influence our cultural ideas on the Middle Eastern world.