Mtv Networks: the Arabian Challenge

Like other ethnic minority groups in America, Arab Americans face daily challenges in their overall development and well-being. These challenges take the form of discrimination, stereotyping, and general negative reactions to them as an ethnic group.

What are Arab Americans? An individual can be classified as “Arab” if the person speaks Arabic, practices Islam, and identifies with the traditions of Arabic-speaking peoples. (Aguirre and Turner 276)These individuals are usually subject to negative and differential treatment by others. It is essential to identify the differential treatment of Arab Americans by others in society. The mistreatment of Arabs in the United States can be contributed to many factors; however, there have been certain events that have occurred in the United States, which have increased and enraged these strong emotional feelings in many Americans. Discrimination and stereotypes of a culture or group mainly develops from a lack of understanding. We can become a

When it came to Arab culture there were many restrictions and less freedom with appearance and fashion. Even though the Arab culture may have many restrictions when it came to fashion it has been modernized. The Arab culture prohibits a few dress codes that may be considered norm in American culture. As an individual who grew up in an Arab culture household you have to adapt to the culture and rituals. Just as Andy Hinds mentioned in his article, I’m considering Becoming a Sports Fan How Do I Pick a Team? “In both of these exchanges, I had that old familiar feeling of not having a clue about something that was supposed to be important to me as an American male.” It may also prohibit multiple actions that may be dealt and interpreted in other cultures in a different way. Arab culture is made up of hundreds of years old traditions. Many fashion styles are considered disintegrating in the

Coming from an Arab American household, there has always been an emphasis on higher education and higher socio economic status. I believe that it is something that can be found in various Arab American Communities in the United States and these standards set in the household show when you look at the statistics as to where Arab Americans stand on both educational and socio economical scales. This paper will look into the history of Arabs in the United States, as well as the demographics of the Arab community in the U.S, and cultural and physiological backings that may all have influence on education. My goal for this research paper is to find the reasons behind the Arab American strive for education and socioeconomic success and whether the Arab culture has a positive or negative influence on the success of Arab Americans.

After several incidents that happened around the world, peoples view on Arabs changed. The media played a big role in “the stereotyping of Arabs”. It is one of the main reasons for people to think the way they are about Arabs. Many

MTV, formally known as Music Television, is one of the most viewed networks on television today. Roughly thirty-three years old, it has changed the American culture drastically in more than just one way. Specifically targeting teens and young adults, the MTV network provides all of the most up to date gossip on celebrities, highlights the latest fashion trends, promotes versified lifestyles, and defines the music industry of our generation. However, this so-called “idolized network” has not always been this way. The American culture has been affected by MTV through the creation of the network, the transformation from simply just music television to inappropriate reality shows, and the promotion of inappropriate content.

As America headed into the 1980s, two decades of social and political upheaval have left the nation rattled and the economy weakened. The Iran hostage crisis shook America's confidence and many looked for a new kind of leader to steer the country into the new decade. Ronald Reagan led America into a new era of prosperity leaving the soul-searching of the 60s and 70s behind. The nation was ready to enjoy itself and with plenty of new toys to play like VCRs and video games, Americans spent more time at home and soon something called cable TV would make it even harder to leave the living room. With the new innovation of the TV, one of the ideas for a channel was a marriage between music and television. This new idea for a channel devoted to something called music videos would end up revolutionizing and often scandalizing an industry that had no choice but to embrace the fact that music in the 1980s had to have a face with videos. By having these music videos, they would change the way we look at music and the way we look at the world. This cutting- edge idea was a new medium perfectly suited to a new generation and that idea was called, MTV. This leads to the question: How did MTV influence pop culture of the 1980’s? This topic is worthy of investigation because the coming of MTV has had a significant impact on the way people see pop culture. Before researching the topic, the writer had limited knowledge on MTV and only knew about the music itself. In the paper, the writer was

Hollywood and the creation of stereotypes about Arabs As humanity moves forward, as the societies develop, relationships between civilizations amend. Connections that unify several cultures became victim of change. As time passes, and with the occurrence of several wars and conflicts, everything changed. The Arabs who once were experiencing the golden era, now became just a bunch of terrorists and an image of stupidity and danger. In the past few years the west has become more powerful and in control of everything and has now surpassed by far the Arab world.

Arab people stem from many different regions including 22 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen ("Arab American," 2014). The Arab culture include several ethnicities such as Shias, Sunni, Druze, Ismalites, and Nusayr (Matusiak, 2013). It is important to know Arabs are not a race, but a diverse culture ("Facts about Arabs," 2014). The Arab people are measured as being among the “most educated” population with a higher percentage of college educations than the American population (Matusiak, 2013). Family is important in the Arab culture. Many Arabs live within close proximity of family and have close relationships ("Arab American," 2014).

The Arab world as we know it includes countries in the Arabian peninsula and northern Africa where Arabic is the primary language. Among the most well known are Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and many others. When talking population, this people group, encompasses over 300 million people within these Arab countries. If someone is considered Arabic however, this does not mean they are a certain race. There are people of many different races in Arab countries. Additionally, there are many different ethnic cultures and people groups within these Arab countries such as Kurds, Armenians, and the Berbers, just to name a

One of the most important people in the business of emulating and converting American culture for the enjoyment of the Middle East is Amro Hosny. Poplak describes the work Hosny does as “reculturating” as he is responsible for taking the most stereotypical American films and shows and converting them into thoroughly Arabic titles. While people like Hosny work hard to bridge the cultural gap, some differences cannot be mended. The stereotyping of Arabic culture with films portraying the region in such bad light (such as Disney’s Aladdin) only brings divisions between the East and West. As a result, organizations like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee are formed and efforts are made to alleviate this tension. Such efforts are made

To be considered Arab, you or your ancestors live or lived in the Arab world and speak Arabic. The “Arab world” is made up of 22 states and territories whom are part of the Arab League. However many people in these states do not consider themselves Arab, thus the Arabic language is the unifying factor among the Arabic people. A lot of the individuals who speak Arabic today are very diverse. There is a myriad of dialects of Arabic and over 150 million people speak it. Twenty-five countries consider Arabic an official language (even if few are fluent in it). They vary from African to West Asian countries, however Arabs also live as minorities in many other nations. For example, the United States (Banks, 2009).

MTV was first to establish principles of popular culture. MTV became an iconic presence in popular culture, inspiring visual media culture. Over the years, MTV has played a major role on popular culture on a global scale. MTV has advanced in becoming a leading style of popular culture for younger generations. MTV and its culture has spread world-wide resulting in MTV’s expansion into different channels and countries such as MTV China, MTV Canada, MTV India, etc. however, all the channels belong to one mass media source: MTV.

The misrepresentation of minorities is frequent in Hollywood films and Arabs are one of the many minority groups Hollywood misrepresent. Arabs are portrayed negatively in films for long time even before 9/11. The Arabs characters are portrayed with always having accent, wearing traditional attire, untrustworthy, aggressive and almost always associated with terrorism. The continuously falsification could lead to stereotypes, misjudgment, and damage to Arabic culture.

Emirati animated sitcoms emblemize the idiosyncratic concerns and ethnolinguistic identities in the United Arab Emiratis (UAE). They depict various social, political, economic, religious, and other day-to-day topics in a wryly humorous fashion with a socio-moral outcome as a part in the process of reproducing the Emirati group recognizability, thus consolidating their social citizenship (Silverstein 2003b: 538). Shaabiat Al-Cartoon [Paperboard Neighborhood] (SAC) (2006), is one of the earliest and most successful Emirati animated sitcoms in portraying the tapestry of the UAE’s ethnic, racial, sexual, religious, and linguistic diversity. As a popular television show during the month of Ramadan, it enjoys an unprecedented loyal fandom (Alriyadh 2014) (Abdul Hamid 2016) and internet forums to discuss its episodes and characters. Ultimately, its popularity makes it an essential tool to examine how this television show is generating a myriad of localized interpretations and negotiations of political dynamics and social nuances. Depending on the episode, it subtly challenges, or reproduces, or selectively furthers and complicates social personas in the Emirati society.