Stereotyping And The American Cinema

One particularly interesting perspective is his opinion on how the conflict has somewhat freed the identity of Palestinians from a shared land, and that for some Palestinians that can escape the occupation, there is a the creation of a transnational, transgressive life. (Suleiman, 2003, 73) Thus exists multiple outcomes from one identity. He further supports this by commenting that Palestine does not have borders, does not actually exist in the sense of geography, but it still has a sense of space. The Palestinian people are this space, and the people are how we define what is, and what is not Palestine. People are separated geographically, but defined by identity and community, and this creates a unique sense of freedom outside of a defined nation-state. (Suleiman, 2000, 96) This lets the definition of this identity be more fluid. He says that in his work he purposefully moves away from a centralized view of Palestinian identity and uses cinema to present the differences in viewpoint, perception, and narration that exist within this conflict. Not only between Israelis and Palestinian's but between all Palestinian's. (Suleiman, 2000, 97) He purposefully moves away from a singular form of Palestinian identity and states “My films are Palestinian because I am Palestinian.” (Suleiman, 2000, 99) This movement from a

The film Ethnic Notions examines the various caricatures of African Americans in popular culture and the consequences of these representations from the 1800s to the 1980s. The film showed how America went through a face of injustice for a period of time. The internet defines stereotype as qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few. (Kemick) Throughout American history, African Americans have been victims of stereotypes in many ways. White majority use violence caricatures, stereotypes, dominance, subordination and the media as ways to overpower African Americans.

By continually representing the Muslim or the Arab as the heartless villain, even cartoon movies contain a biased perspective against the Muslim image in America. All that glitters is not gold, and this is true for films fresh off the reels of Hollywood, as some contain an unfair perspective of Muslims.

The documentary, Promises, introduced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the perspective of seven children. The film’s initiator, B.Z. Goldberg, initially interviews seven children, but gradually convinces the children to meet with peers of the opposite side in the conflict. Finally, by synthesizing the opinions of the children, the film achieves a lasting message at the end of the film -- everyone involved in the conflict is a human being, and thus one’s religion does not reflect his or her personality. Rather than enforcing this message upon the participants, the film has the children discover what it is like to be the person they hate -- a discovery which rather lingers throughout the subconscious of the film.

The media labels Latinos as “Latin Lovers” (oversexed seducers), the “Crook”, and thugs. As for the Asian population, Asian men are considered as geeks, math whizzes, and are viewed as non masculine. Usually, the only time Asian men are viewed as masculine is when they practice martial arts. Asian women can be considered to be one dimensional, sexualized representations, and can also shown as the “nerdy” type throughout multiple shows and films. Native American tropes include silent, stoic men or bloodthirsty warriors.

American media, as a whole, shows only what benefits the government's next plan with foreign policy. If the American government is against a certain region anywhere in the world, the entire area faces the same amount of stereotypical hate from the media. The "American values" that have become accustom to Americans are tainted by false imagery and ignorance of other religions. A film, Raiders of the Lost Ark portrays these same stereotypes in this way consistently in Cinema.

according to saheen cinema is a vehicle which fosters the stereotype of the evil arab. Post 9/11 attack the whole image has been changed . Saheen also says that the Hollywood accepts African American actors but express racist slurs towards arabs (Shaheen, J. G. (2003). Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588(1), 171-193.) There is no shortage of muslim villains and terrorists in Hollywood films and television programs. All of the muslims are pictured in Terrorists or villians or Barbaric or foreigners . The media potrays muslims in a very narrow boundry, a muslim women is either shown as belly dancer or a women wearing a hijab while mens are mostly shown as terrorist or either sheiks having huge oil spills in arab . the media never shows how good and how bright the muslim community has flourished with knowledge that they precive. One of the biggest media example is Disney potryaing muslins in Aladin. They present this community living in deserts and having swords with them all the time . did anyone has ever seen an ordinary muslim guy who carries a big sword with him always? No

I watch the film expecting a profoundly political dramatization is filling a progressing discuss the Israeli-Palestinian clash. I assumed that I would hear warmed political talk and see difficult pictures from a standout amongst the most challenged and awful geopolitical issues looked by the advanced world. I was mixed up. There is eminent scholarly pacing in "A Borrowed Identity," Eran Riklis' very much watched adjustment of two personal books by the Arab-Israeli writer and columnist Sayed Kashua.

In fact, they are “the most maligned group” and invariably portrayed as villains or terrorists; he notes the pervasive power of film and the link between the movie industry and the government, quoting Valenti of the MPAA, “Washington and Hollywood share the same DNA” (Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, documentary 2006). So, whether it is a movie done through the US Dept. of Defense, like Rules of Engagement in 2000, talk programs like the Rush Limbaugh Show, evangelical broadcasts, or even Disney flicks like Aladdin in1992, the prevailing picture of Arabs is negative, exerting a powerful influence over the minds of Americans from children to the top echelons of the government. (Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People 2001). What about the reverse image? How do Arabs see the United States of America? Is it as

Although its positive influences are evident, the art of Hollywood films is still developing and perpetuating racist stereotypes through the biased portrayal of Muslim characters which produces adverse impact on Muslims in the United States. A survey report on The Arab Journal of Psychiatry conducted by Dr. M. K. Hamza from Lamar University, Texas, showed the evidence of negative impact of the media towards Muslims in particular areas. The data was based on the survey of public perception on Muslims with a total of 90 respondents and collected from several Southeast Texas cities with ninety-two percent of the respondents were Christian, the other 8% represented other religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism with the exclusion of Muslims to

People constantly try to gain direction and insight from their evaluations of other people. One such way they do so is through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cognitive constructs involving an individual’s half-truths and distorted realities knowledge, expectations, and beliefs about human groups. As such, racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share certain specific characteristics. In America, the media and Hollywood play an integral role in entrenching and dispelling these stereotypes. However, Hollywood and the media create characters according to stereotypes to attract an audience, from which the viewers can reflect on and laugh at the stereotypes recognizable within American society. This paper seeks to discuss the common stereotypes in American society and how the media and Hollywood promotes those stereotypes and their impacts.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict is viewed in varied perspectives by both the filmmakers from the Arab countries and also the entire entertainment industry. Using movies to represent various challenges and differences provides insight, interpretations and also exposure to reality to the observers. That is a major approach that the Arab movie makers and other filmmakers use in their attempts to solve the conflict between Israeli and Palestine. Many filmmakers have produced films that focuses on the issue between the two countries and that helps in understanding the concepts presented. For example, ‘Parade Now’ is a movie that has created awareness about the problems that the

                There are handful of movies released featuring Arabs characters in a negative way although the one that caught my attention is Rules of Engagement. The film Rules of Engagement, was produced by Scott Rudin and Richard D. Zanuck, which was released in March 31st 2000. The film star leading characters are Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. The film illustrates how misrepresentation of Arabs culture and tradition is being normalized. The film is about a U.S. Marines whose base was in Yemen and had conflict with the civilians. The Arabs in the film were portrayed as violent people who were killing the Marines at the U.S. Embassy, where the civilians were protesting. The film set unacceptable image of Arabs.  In American society where technology is advanced image is a big deal because society perceive image as important. Hollywood as the biggest entertainer in the world set unacceptable image of Arabs and the images has a power to change people's perspective of how to view/interpret the

The graphic novel Palestine, published by Maltan journalist Joe Sacco in the early ‘90s, is a journalistic piece that represents his recollections of two months spent talking to and living with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. The casual narrative style, which some might say is too shallow for such heavy subject matter, in fact allows Sacco to avoid many of the pit falls that have made Western reporting on non-Western conflicts unhelpful at the very least and more often incredibly damaging.

Hollywood is probably the epitome of stereotypical Arab representation. The movie True Lies concerns Middle Eastern affairs. It only gives a “terrorist like” image of Arabic people. The whole movie is based on trying to resolve a terrorist plot. Another movie, Three Kings, also negatively stereotypes Middle Eastern people. Only once or twice during the movie did I see an Arab utter a few English sentences that actually made sense. The entire movie revolved around the gulf war and a fictional plot of smuggling gold. I have grown up viewing these images of my culture. What was I supposed to think at a young age when all I saw were images of my people doing things that I was told were evil. How am I supposed to shape my own identity around this preset coating of violence on my culture. Due to this, I have attained many negative examples of my people. I can’t even begin to explain how tarnished my Image of Iraq (my country of origin) has become due to the brainwashing depiction of it on the news. All I see are people who suffer and only want freedom from this “jail like” country. I have had no desire to visit my homeland because of this. It is sad that I have to