''Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People'' is a documentary film directed by

Sut Jhally Sut Jhally (b. 1955) is a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose work focuses on cultural studies, advertising, media, and consumption. He is the producer of over 40 documentaries on media literacy topics a ...

and produced by Media Education Foundation in 2006. This film is an extension of the book of the same name by

Jack Shaheen Jack George Shaheen Jr. (; September 21, 1935 – July 9, 2017) was a writer and lecturer specializing in addressing racial and ethnic stereotypes. He is the author of '' Reel Bad Arabs'' (adapted to a 2006 documentary), ''The TV Arab'' (1984) and ...

, which also analyzes how Hollywood corrupts or manipulates the image of Arabs. The documentary analyzes 1,000 films that have Arab and Muslim characters, produced between 1896 to 2000, out of which great majority, 936 titles, were negative in their portrayal, arguing that the slander of Arabs in American filmmaking has existed since the early days of the silent cinema and is present in the biggest Hollywood blockbusters today. Jack Shaheen analyzes a long series of "demeaning" images of Arabs through his presentation of various scenes from different American movies which he has studied. He argues that this image is characterized by showing Arabs either as bandits or as a savage, nomadic race, or shows Arab women as shallow

belly dancers Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...

serving evil, naïve, and greedy Arab sheiks. Most important is the image of the rifle in the hands of Arab "

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

". The film then attempts to explain the motivations behind these

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

about Arabs, and their development at key points in American history, as well as why it is so important today. The film showed for the first time in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

on 8 June 2007 and then in Los Angeles in the 20 June 2007. The run time of the film is 50 minutes, with Arabic and English subtitles. Soon afterward, the film was shown successively in more than a dozen of international film festivals between 2006 and 2009 The film's estimated budget is $100,000.

Synopsis

Shaheen speaks at the beginning of the documentary about the extent to which Arabs face slander and manipulation in Hollywood, commenting that he has formulated that view of his after having seen over a thousand films produced, in the past and in the present. He also talks about how bleak the views are, those of which are borne by the Western civilization (and he refers to it as our civilization), admittedly confessing how the views directly attack the Arabs' humanity. Furthermore, he mentions how the same image took shape in several patterns to feed the same substance that is continuously demonizing the Arabs, thus. The image had to repeat over and over and was depicted in scenes in several films that heavily abuse the Arabs' behaviors and morals. All through the documentary, Shaheen's statements are illustrated by clips from the films he describes. Shaheen reviews some of the images about Arabs he perceives as distorted, and argues this causes a process of feeding/poisoning the minds of the younger generations with these infected ideas about Arabs that characterizes them with such heinous and harmful descriptions as in the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

motion picture, '' Aladdin''. Shaheen also turns it around: what must viewers from the Arab world think of America and Americans when they keep seeing these images in American films? Shaheen also argues that the image of the Arab woman is distorted and does not represent her. Arab women in films are either bellydancers or faceless, anonymous shapes in black robes. More recently Arab women are also portrayed as terrorists. The truth is, they are just like all other women in the world: talented, intelligent, and equal in all areas and fields. Shaheen then argues that politics have a big role in affecting Hollywood's image about Arabs, and moreover, both Hollywood and politics feed and empower the other. He stresses that filmmakers openly acknowledge this interaction between Hollywood and American politics by citing Jack Valenti, longtime president of the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

: "Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA". Political and economic events like the crisis of high oil prices in the United States as a result of the Arabs refusal of exporting it to The States, the revolution in Iran (a non-

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

country) as well as Al-Qaeda activities, the events of 9/11 and others, all exported a bad, faded image about Arabs to every American home... It is a truly a very distorted picture. Both the book and the film to reveal the American film scene history, where they exposed a blatant pattern of profiling to stereotype the Arabs and they also showed the similarity of this stereotype with the racist, anti-Semitic caricature and cartoon art throughout history. Alleging a political agenda, he says out of 1,000 films that have Arab and Muslim characters (from the year 1896 to 2000), 12 were positive depictions, 52 were neutral portrayals of Arabs, and 936 were negative. Although the negative imagery of Arabs and the Arab world in the film is a hundred years old, Shaheen also voices optimism about the future. Showing some examples of films that portray Arabs as ordinary people, he expects the negative images to change, due to the works of a new generation of filmmakers, who see things differently.

Arabs stereotypes reportedly found in movies

# The bad Arab character that is always evil and portrayed as a "terrorist" causing explosions, shootings, stabbings, offenses and attacks. # The shallow or silly Arab character that is always naive, pursuing only fun, lust, and extravagance. # The Bedouin Arab character, that is remotely far from civilization and science and is often accompanied by "tent" and " camel" images. # The arrogant Arab character that is very nervous, repressive of women, and the farthest possible from emotions or romance.

Films which reportedly depict these stereotypes include

*'' The Sheik'' - 1921 *''

A Son of the Sahara ''A Son of the Sahara'' is a 1924 American silent drama film produced and directed by Edwin Carewe and co-directed with René Plaissetty. It stars Claire Windsor and Bert Lytell. First National handled the distribution of the film. Plot As de ...

'' - 1924 *'' The Thief of Bagdad'' - 1924 *'' A Cafe in Cairo'' - 1924 *'' The Son of the Sheik'' - 1926 *'' The Desert Bride'' - 1928 *'' Invitation to the Dance'' - 1956 *''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

'' - 1960 *'' Harum Scarum'' - 1965 *''

Cast a Giant Shadow ''Cast a Giant Shadow'' is a 1966 big-budget action film based on the life of Colonel Mickey Marcus, and stars Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson. Melville Shavelson adapted, produced and dire ...

'' - 1966 *''

The Black Stallion The Black Stallion, known as the Black or Shêtân, is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the Arab stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay. The series chronicles the story of a Sheikh's prized stallion a ...

'' - 1975 *''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

'' - 1976 *''

The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington ''The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington'' is a 1977 American comedy film directed by William A. Levey. It was the sequel to '' The Happy Hooker'', which was released in 1975. Joey Heatherton replaced Lynn Redgrave as the lead character of Xaviera ...

'' - 1977 *'' Black Sunday'' - 1977 *'' Chapter Two'' - 1979 *'' Raiders of the Lost Ark'' - 1981 *'' Rollover'' - 1981 *'' Never Say Never Again'' - 1983 *'' Sahara'' - 1983 *''

Cannonball Run II ''Cannonball Run II'' is a 1984 action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds and an all-star cast, released by Warner Bros. and Golden Harvest. Like the original '' Cannonball Run'', it is set around an illegal cross-country race. This was the l ...

'' - 1984 *''

Protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

'' – 1984 *''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'' – 1985 *''

Young Sherlock Holmes ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (also known with the title card name of "''Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear''") is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters ...

'' - 1985 *''

The Jewel of the Nile ''The Jewel of the Nile'' is a 1985 American Action film#Action-adventure, action-adventure romantic comedy film directed by Lewis Teague and produced by Michael Douglas, who also starred in the lead role, and reunites with co-stars Kathleen Tur ...

'' - 1985 *'' Hell Squad'' - 1985 *''

The Delta Force ''The Delta Force'' is a 1986 American action film starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin (in his final film appearance) as leaders of an elite group of Special Operations Forces personnel based on the real life U.S. Army Delta Force unit. Directe ...

'' – 1986 *''

Iron Eagle ''Iron Eagle'' is a 1986 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie who co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Alyn Elders, and starring Jason Gedrick and Louis Gossett Jr.Mann, Roderick"Sidney Furie leads the cheer for 'Iron Eagle'."''Los Angeles Ti ...

'' – 1986 *'' Death Before Dishonor'' - 1987 *'' Wanted: Dead or Alive'' - 1987 *'' The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story'' – 1988 *'' Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' - 1989 *''

The Bonfire of the Vanities ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City, and centers on three main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish as ...

'' – 1990 *''

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sm ...

'' – 1990 *''

Patriot Games ''Patriot Games'' is a thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published in July 1987. '' Without Remorse'', released six years later, is an indirect prequel, and it is chronologically the first book featuring Jack Ryan, the main character i ...

'' - 1992 *'' Aladdin'' - 1992 *''

Son of the Pink Panther ''Son of the Pink Panther'' is a 1993 comedy film. It is the ninth and final installment of the original '' The Pink Panther'' film series starting from the 1963 film. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's ...

'' - 1993 *'' Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero'' – 1994 *''

True Lies ''True Lies'' is a 1994 American spy action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov and Charlton Heston. ...

'' – 1994 *''

Father of the Bride Part II ''Father of the Bride Part II'' is a 1995 American comedy film starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Martin Short. It is a sequel to '' Father of the Bride'' and a remake of the 1951 film '' Father's Little Dividend'', the sequel to the origi ...

'' - 1995 *''

Executive Decision ''Executive Decision'' is a 1996 American action film directed by Stuart Baird in his directorial debut. The film stars Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, David Suchet, and B.D. Wong. It depicts t ...

'' - 1996 *''

Ernest in the Army ''Ernest in the Army'' is a 1998 American direct-to-video comedy film directed by John Cherry and starring Jim Varney. It is the tenth and final film to feature the character of Ernest P. Worrell before Varney's death in February 2000. In this ...

'' - 1998 *''

The Siege ''The Siege'' is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks in New York City. The film stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Sh ...

'' - 1998 *'' The Mummy'' - 1999 *''

Rules of Engagement Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...

'' – 2000 *'' Gladiator'' - 2000 *'' Black Hawk Down'' - 2002 *'' 24'' - TV series *''

Sleeper Cell A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as ...

'' - TV series

Films which reportedly depict a positive image include

*'' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' – 1991 *''

A Perfect Murder ''A Perfect Murder'' is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film '' Dial M for Murder'', though the characters ...

'' - 1998 *''

Hideous Kinky ''Hideous Kinky'' is an autobiographical novel by Esther Freud, daughter of British painter Lucian Freud and Bernardine Coverley and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. It depicts the author's unconventional childhood in Morocco with her mothe ...

'' - 1998 *''

The 13th Warrior ''The 13th Warrior'' is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel ''Eaters of the Dead'', which is a loose adaptation of the tale of ''Beowulf'' combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account of the ...

'' – 1999 *''

Three Kings The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the ...

'' – 1999 *''

Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of Heaven may refer to: Religious * Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew) **Kingship and kingdom of God, or simply Kingdom of God, the phrase used in the other gospels * Kingdom of Heaven (Daviesite), a schismatic sect, founded by Will ...

'' – 2005

Cast

Filmmaker information *Narrator: Jack Shaheen *Director:

*Producer: Jeremy Earp *Post-Production Supervisor: Andrew Killoy *Editors: Sut Jhally, Andrew Killoy, Mary Patierno *Additional Editing: Jeremy Smith *Sound Engineering: Peter Acker, Armadillo Audio Group *Media Research & Collection: Kenyon King, Bathsheba Ratzkoff *Subtitling: Jason Young *Arabic Translation: Huda Yehia, The Translation Center at the University of Massachusetts *Graphic Designer: Shannon McKenna *Additional Motion Graphics: Janet Brockelhurst *Production Assistant: Jason Young *DVD Authoring: Andrew Killoy, Jeremy Smith *Additional Footage Provided by: Mary Patierno, The Newsmarket.

Reception

Film festivals

The film festivals that showed the documentary are: *Official Selection, 2009 Cinemateket, Norwegian Film Institute *Official Selection, 2009 Chicago Arabesque *Official Selection, 2009 Arab Film Festival, Calgary *Official Selection, 2008 Palestinian Film Festival, Sydney *Official Selection, 2008 Nazariya Films for PEACE Festival *Official Selection, 2008 One World Berlin Film Festival *Official Selection, 2008 Mostra Mundo Arabe de Cinema *Official Selection, 2008 Festival del integracion de Valencia *Official Selection, 2008 Our Island, Our World Film Film Festival *Official Selection, 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts *Official Selection, 2007 Arabian Sights Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Arab Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Cinema East Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Date Palm Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Brisbane International Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival *Official Selection, 2007 National Conference for Media Reform *Official Selection, 2006 Dubai International Film Festival

References

External links

''Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People''
documentary by

, 2006 * {{IMDb title, 948465
''Reel Bad Arabs''
on the

Media Education Foundation The Media Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1992 that produces and distributes documentary films about the impact of American mass media. Their films focus on topics such as gender, race and representation, health, cla ...

''Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People''
Text of interview with

on ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

''
Report - Dr. Jack Shaheen Discusses ''Reel Bad Arabs'': How Hollywood Vilifies a People
By Richard H. Curtiss and Delinda C. Hanley, ''

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region".

'' 2006 films 2006 documentary films Anti-Arabism in North America Documentary films about Hollywood, Los Angeles Documentary films about racism in the cinema of the United States Films about Islam Films about racism Films based on non-fiction books Media coverage and representation Arab-American literature Stereotypes of Arab people 2000s English-language films

Synopsis

Arabs stereotypes reportedly found in movies

Films which reportedly depict these stereotypes include

Films which reportedly depict a positive image include

Cast

Reception

Film festivals

See also

References

External links