Reel bad arabs film reflection
For decades, American movies have tarnished the images of Arabs as terrorists and antiheroes. Now the new managers and directors have challenged the gender and racial stereotypes about Arabs. Jack has, therefore, analyzes how American films have degraded the image of Arabs. He states that these movies show Arabs acting like bandits, slaves, and their women performing shallow berry dance serving evils. However, the films try to explain the logistics they use these stereotypes. The stereotypes used in these movies have made Arabs be viewed in a degrading way by the Americans. This is because the films are taken seriously by western people. As a result, they believe that is how American is. This paper aims to reflect on the film and analyze the issues presented in it.
As a result of these films, the western has developed a negative towards Arabs. This is one of the issues present in Jack’s documentary. At last, Hollywood films have a significant influence on western people. They, therefore, tend to believe that how the Arabs are portrayed in the movie is real. This is an issue that brings a negative attitude towards races. The western therefore take the Arabs just the way they see them in the films. This results in discrimination and degraded images of the Arabs.
Jack further shows how the persistence use of these images leads to a damaging attitude toward Arab beliefs. He, therefore, challenges viewers to see the need to have narratives that provide justice to the humanity and wellbeing of Arabic people concerning their history and culture. Jack argues that this should be changed since only five percent of the film depicts Arabs as standard human characters. Dr. Shaheen refers to this mythical attitude as ‘Arabland.’ He argues that this is a place that has never existed in reality, but they are only imaginations. He further argues that the continued use of the images has been extended to children’s movies.
Besides, Shaheen explains that there is a significant link between films and politics. He explains that in real-life politics influence stories told in the movie. Arguably, Jack explains that stories narrated in movies shape people to understand world politics. Besides, Americans have developed fear about Arabs and Muslims; they view them as threats. This has led to the deteriorated relationship between the Arabic countries and Americans. He further asks whether some Arabic invasions have been as a result of this negative attitude. For instance, he asks whether the Iraq attack of two thousand and three was a result of the stereotype since they are viewed as a threat, and therefore, they should be slaughtered.
To sum up, in his documentary, Dr. Jack has analyzed how American Hollywood displays Arabs as killers, inhuman, and villains. He explains that in some films, Arabs are depicted acting as killers, rapists, maidens, and their women act as shallow belly dancers serving evil. This has impacted many people’s minds in America. They have ended up believing that is how the Arabs look like. However, jack says all these are stereotypes which only exist in the imagination. Some of the issues he addressed in his document include Americans having a negative attitude towards Arabs, how films link with politics, and how continuous use of the pictures has been extended to children’s movies. Shaheen argues that there is a significant link between what is discussed in the film and real-world politics.