Page 22 - Issue 26

Vol.1 Issue 26, December 2020 ELITE

How Hollywood distorted the

image of the Arabs?

Marwa Mahdy, 3rd level, political science

Try to think of the last Hollywood movie you watche d that Mecca, and the plane is full of Arabs and animals: goats,
featured an Arab, what do you see? A black beard, r obes and sheep, and chickens. What I mean is that they do no t go
turban, black glasses..and in the background is a l imousine, a anywhere without Their damned animals, we had to pu t
harem, servants, oil wells, camels and a desert.. o r a young plastic in the cabins. ”As he spoke this, his friend ’s features
man carrying a Kalashnikov machine gun and blind ha tred were showing signs of amazement and exclamation. In the
flying out of his eyes and the word of God on his l ips .. Is this movie "The Dictator" was his hero (Sasha Baron Cohe n),
not what you see? As Arabs, we have become accustom ed to who played the role of (Aladdin), a dictatorial fig ure who
the abusive stereotype that Arab and Islamic civili zation and appeared arrogant and stupid at the same time, and bore
culture appear in American cinema from time immemor ial, as deep connotations of violence that was associated w ith the
barbarism, backwardness and barbarism are vocabular y that Middle East in general. In the movie "Rules of
accompanies the Arab wherever he is, and this is wh at we see Engagement", the Yemenis demonstrate in front of th e
in tens of hundreds of Hollywood films that have cl assified American embassy to protest the American presence i n the
Arabs into four types, represented in: region, so the US Marines kill 83 of the demonstrat ors, and
1-The Bad Arab Personality Always -The one who alwa ys the FBI begins to investigate the matter, and it be comes
seeks to kill and harm friends before the enemies. clear in the end that the reason for the killing of these people
2-The personality of the stupid or no-intelligent A rab- where is that they shot the Marines, so it was the duty o f the
the Arab appears to be unaware of what he is doing and it is Marines. The soldiers defend themselves against the
easy to kill or deceive him. brutality and barbarity of the Yemenis. This is wha t the film
3-The Arab Bedouin Personality -This category does not refer shows, which proves with evidence the barbarism of the
to the original Bedouin who knows the secrets of th e desert, Arabs who reject peace, and embodies the participat ion of
the sciences of the stars, etc., but rather that Ho llywood children in the killing and terrorism of American p acifists in
depicts a part of the Arabs who do not know anythin g but Yemen. The seriousness of the stereotype that the A merican
desert and beauty. cinema has formed of Arabs and Islam: There is no d oubt
4-The Arrogant Arab Personality - appeared when the that the image formed by one of the peoples plays a big role
character of the Arab Sheikh is talked about, where he appears in determining the relationship of the other people s with it,
arrogant and stupid who controls everyone with mone y. and thus also contributes to determining his work
Perhaps the biggest reason for this is the control of the Jewish opportunities and the margin of movement in the reg ional
capital over the reins of affairs in the United Sta tes of and international arena, and studies have confirmed that
America, who see that Arabs and Muslims pose a thre at to Americans in general do not know about Arabs and Is lam
them, so they start striking them relentlessly, rel ying on lies other than the distorted image of them. Conclusion. . if you
and falsification, while the Arabs fall into a deep sleep, do not hurry to paint your image in America as you like and
unaware of the growing hatred of the street Western to them. want, there are those who volunteer to paint his im age for
Hollywood films mostly despise Arabs. In “The Bonfire Of you as he likes and desires, and in a way that serv es his
The Vanities ” one actor says to his friend: “We were going to goals and presence, not your interests and strategi es, and
that is the disaster, not the accident.
21