Based on Southern Illinois University professor Jack Shaheen's book by the same name, the new documentary, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, discusses the treatment of Arabs in more than 900 films released between 1896 and 1999. Films included in the "worst" list (in alphabetical order):
Back to the Future (1985), The Black Stallion (1979), The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero (1994), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Chain of Command (1993), The Delta Force (1986), Freedom Strike (1998), Iron Eagle (1986), Ishtar (1987), The Taking of Flight 847 (1988), Killing Streets (1991), Navy SEALs (1990), Operation Condor (1997), Protocol (1984), Rules of Engagement (2000), Terror in Beverly Hills (1988), True Lies (1994)
Eric Hooglund's review of the book, published in the Journal of Palestine Studies (Vol. 32, No. 1. (Autumn, 2002), p. 117), provides a short summary of Shaheen's findings:
Only 5 percent of the films reviewed, about fifty movies, depart from the depiction of Arabs as villains and actually presented some of them as "admirable characters" (p. 34). None of the rare Arab good guys include Palestinians. The latter, Shaheen found, uniformly have been depicted as terrorists in the forty-five movies featuring Palestinians. Surprisingly, the majority of anti-Palestinian movies have been released since 1980. This cinematic "defamation" of Palestinians is so total, says Shaheen, that one may ask, "Is there an unwritten cinematic code stating Hollywood will present all Palestinians as irrational and bad, all Israelis as rational and ood?" (p. 26).
Peep the trailer
Buy the book
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11 comments:
This cinematic "defamation" of Palestinians is so total, says Shaheen, that one may ask, "Is there an unwritten cinematic code stating Hollywood will present all Palestinians as irrational and bad
I don't think it's Hollywood that presents all Palestinians as being irrational and bad, QuiQui. I think it's Palestinians.
Racism. I know. I know.
Look at the Palestinians on this blog. Are they irrational and bad, or are they rational, and good?
Simple question. Right?
Will someone please ask this flatulent asshat craig to stop posting here? He's bereft of a single original or witty thought and seems to exist solely to defame Arabs.
Please go directly to Little Green Footballs or Masada 2000 or some other lunatic cesspool where you can scratch and splash with your Ziopals, Craig. We all already know what you're going to say, so your actual attempts are redundant.
Alright, alright. I'll do it:
Craig,
You like the sound of your own voice more than anything, you don't want to engage in a dialogue, you don't listen, you have preconceived opinions about everything, you are a petty and intransigent knowitall.
I had thouroughly enough of you, good bye and good luck with your miserable sad paranoid life and don't bother to reply because I won't even look at it.
(I think the last time someone told him that, it actually worked.)
He's bereft of a single original or witty thought and seems to exist solely to defame Arabs
A Palestinian accusing me of having no sense of humor?
Just so you know, it's only Palestinians that I enjoy defaming. And this blog is run by people who claim to be Palestinians, and it exists solely for the purpose of defaming Americans, so I'm claiming self defense defamation. That's a valid legal concept, isn't it Fadi?
QuiQui you fat ass cow,
(I just defamed a Latina, did you guys see that? And I actually like Latinos, except fro QuiQui and Maytha)
You like the sound of your own voice more than anything, you don't want to engage in a dialogue
The person who posts three pieces of over-the-top anti-American bigotry in a single day, says I don't want to engage in dialog?
Well, you are right. I learnbed about 20 years ago that you don't "engage" a bigot... you ridicule them. Engaging a bigot lends their opinions credibility they don't deserve. Making fun of them can sometimes embarrass them enough that they change their behavior.
you don't listen, you have preconceived opinions about everything, you are a petty and intransigent knowitall.
Thanks. That's some valuable insight coming from a disaffected socially stunted anarchist such as yourself.
I had thouroughly enough of you, good bye and good luck with your miserable sad paranoid life and don't bother to reply because I won't even look at it.
What happened to the feisty latina who was so anxious to "engage" that she even fabricated a whole life-story for somebody she doesn't even know? I'm disappointed. I haven't even started telling any lies about you yet, and already you run away?
(I think the last time someone told him that, it actually worked.)
If you mean Nomad, Nomad used to be a friend of mine, and we still have mutual friends.
You don't have that status with me. You're just another idiot on the internet. Worse than most, since you have had to resort to being a contributer on a "Palestinian" blog even though you an American latina. Couldn't you get a spot on any leftist American blogs? You are about as relevant on this blog as... what? I can't even come up with a comparison.
What is your purpose here, anyway?
"What is your purpose here, anyway?"
So, what about you Craig...?
Are you using this blog to groom young Arab virgins so you can rape them and set them on fire...?
Once a Marine................
We had an interview with Jack in May's NOX...
The link below has a lengthy abstract on it...
www.nox-mag.com/features/may07/feature2.html
lowfields, I'm not a blogger here. QuiQui is. You are correct to point out how absurd that situation is. Why would the KABOB people invite QuiQui to contribute here when she's got nothing relevant to say? They might as well invite me to be a blogger here. I'll straiten this place out right quick, won't I?
Yes, you sure will straiGHten it out, Craig... if, of course, by straiGHtening out you mean turning Kabob Fest into a series of paranoid, anti-Arab, anti-Islam racist screeds – with moronic spelling – then I'm sure you'll be a big hit.
Then you could write to your heart's content about how those poor Iraqi girls needed to be raped and set on fire for the safety of the union...
You didn't get the college education the Army promised, did you.........
I'm anonymous 6:09pm, the guy who asked someone to clue craig into his worthlessness. Quiqui, thanks for taking up the task. But I should face this one myself.
Boors like craig thrive on the responses they get from the folks they defame. Does anyone here think that anything would be lost if no one ever spoke to this ethical pygmy again? Note that I'm not suggesting in general that we ignore those with whom we disagree-I think it's important to engage with one's opponents. But I do think that one can make the judgement that one's opponent is not serious and can therefore safely be ignored.
I propose that craig fits the bill, and that kabobers would do best to simply ignore his sorry and pathetic attempts to get someone to notice him. The excessively virtuous may wish to initiate a psychotherapy fund for the wretched little misfit.
best to ignore trolls like craig
Craig runs this shiznit, calling you small brained terrorist apologists out for any rational minded people that stumble across this blog. I applaud him.
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