SAMAR wrote on the "Hollywood Arab "in 11th grade

Samar Al-Ansari 11.5 Hollywood’s Arab: Still Stuck in the Desert

“Wow, you speak perfect English. I would have never guessed you were an Arab” is one of the many degrading frequently said comments in response to Arabs being bilingual. People are astonished by the fact that Arabs can speak a foreign language as well as their own and are completely ignorant to the fact that the English language is taught in all private and public schools in the Arab World. Arabs are viewed as primitive, illiterate, wealthy, and uncivilized. People gain this view on Arabs mainly through media sources such as television, books, etc., and when Arabs are being displayed in such a primitive manner, it is natural that the viewers will gain this impression of Arabs. Arabs have been portrayed in the same manner in the media ever since the movie Lawrence of Arabia; it might’ve have been a good portrayal for Arabs at the World War I period, but it is an inadequate and false portrayal of the modern Arab. Television has shown the progress of many ethnicities, but it remains stuck on the primitive days of the Arabian nomad. Latin Americans are no longer portrayed as donkey riders wearing ponchos and sombreros, so why are Arabs still riding camels and wearing long robes? Arabs are either shown as primitive nomads, or wealthy oil sheikhs with no scruples, or terrorists. There are countless movies depicting the rich oil sheikhs, Arab terrorists, and primitive Arab nomads. Books, bodies of work, encyclopedias, etc also depict the ancient stereotypes of Arabs. The portrayal of Arabs in such an ignorant manner is definitely an issue worth exploring, because the negative way in which the Arabs are portrayed detriment the Arab people in the end. First and most importantly, the Arabs are degraded when displayed in such a manner. Arabs have the right such as any other ethnicity to be portrayed fairly, their rights are being ignored as Hollywood portrays them as wealthy, snobby, and primitive terrorists. Second of all, the Arabs’ “untamed” image puts them in jeopardy; the U.S. gained support on its war on Iraq because many viewed Iraq as an underdeveloped nation, with “untamed” people that desperately needed US interference. This negative Arab image also leads to the spread of protectorates, a form of imperialism in which the country dominates another country in hopes of ‘helping’ to develop or democratize it.
Jack Shaheen’s article emphasizes the importance of the issue at hand, which is that the Arabs are displayed negatively through the media. Shaheen is against this form of portrayal of the modern Arab, and calls to change the image of the Arab into a more modern and realistic one. He says that the image of the Arab ‘influences public opinion, and limits the formulation of a successful policy in the Middle East’. In the article, he includes how the Arab male is portrayed: a primitive, ignorant, cruel, wealthy man who wears a kuffiyeh, flowing robes, sunglasses, and transports either by camel or limousine. As for the Arab female, she is either portrayed as a whore, belly dancer, or a veiled oppressed woman. Specifically in movies, Arabs are shown very negatively in very inaccurate settings. Arabs are shown as terrorists, armed guards, evil dictators, etc. and appear in desert settings; modern Arab cities are not included in today’s movies. Finally, Shaheen ends the article saying that the image of the Arab must be changed to a more modern and realistic one, because films are meant to be entertaining and educational, and they can not be those things when a people is dehumanized.
As an Arab, I take this issue personally, and definitely agree with Jack Shaheen. I have grown tired of answering questions on my travels such as, “do I live in a mud house?” or “how do I get from place and place, by camel or Roles Royce?”. I am tired of the Arab being displayed as the either of two extremes, either he is extremely rich or extremely primitive. I don’t go to school on a camel or on a Roles Royce, and yet there are no Arabs such as me shown in the media. I am an Arab woman, but I am not a whore, or a belly dancer, or a veiled oppressed woman who was married off to her cousin at the age of 12. The false images of Arabs have been portrayed in so many films, books, etc that I am having trouble narrowing down the examples I want to include. The movie “Rat Race” is about a competition in which the grand prize was winning millions of dollars; the millions of dollars were contributed by various wealthy individuals. In the beginning scene, the wealthy contributors are sitting in a meeting room discussing the competition, and an Arab wearing a thoub and ghutra incorrectly is sitting amongst them. This depiction of the rich Arab is rather infuriating, because people fail to realize that there are large factions of Arabs who don’t have enough money to afford meals. Not all Arabs are rich individuals who spend their wealth carelessly. Another example of the depiction of a rich Arab is in the book, The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot. In this book, Mr. Hakim Baba is a rich oil sheikh married to a Swedish ex-supermodel, living in a penthouse suite in New York City. Mr. Baba’s daughter has to go everywhere in a limo with an accompanying bodyguard. Mr. Baba’s family back in Dubai, UAE are mentioned in the book as girls who have to go everywhere wearing mallayahs, cloaks covering them from head to toe. First of all the fact that his name is Mr. Baba is degrading, Baba is a term used for father, and it is clear that the author just chose the first word that came to mind while creating his name. He is also displayed as being corrupt and westernized because of his wealth; not all Arabs grow corrupt because of their wealth. Being wealthy doesn’t mean they forget about their culture and home; the real wealthy Arabs don’t flee to penthouse suites as soon as they become millionaires, and not all of them marry foreigners. As for his relatives in the UAE, they are displayed in a false image; it is mentioned in the book that they have to wear the mallayahs, while in fact, it is optional. Even in the Pre-September 11 period, Arabs were still viewed as terrorists. In the series, 24, the main character Jack Bower works in the Central Terrorist Unit of the U.S. Government (anti-terrorist unit) and one of his main tasks is to protect the president. In an episode, a group of Palestinian terrorists have made plans to endanger the president, and there is a scene where they speak in Arabic. The mention of the nationality of the terrorists was completely unnecessary, the terrorists could have spoken in English; they didn’t have to speak in Arabic. Speaking of unnecessary scenes, I recently watched “Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason”. In the movie Bridget arrives at Heathrow airport, and in the background are three Arab men wearing the thoub once again incorrectly. That scene had nothing to do with the plot, and shouldn’t have been included. It just provided a silly image of Arabs who were wearing their traditional dresses while abroad. Some Arabs do that, but most of them do not. I searched on the Encarta Encyclopedia 2002 Edition for articles on Arabs, and I was amazed to see that a globally recognized encyclopedia has pictures of primitive Arabs, and not a single picture of modern Arabs. There are some pictures depicting the modern Arab cities, but I mainly saw pictures with such titles as “Desert Road, UAE (picture on title page), the road system in such cities as Dubai weren’t shown, but one in the desert was shown. Even the pictures of “modern” Arab cities are relatively old; I found a picture of a mosque when I searched for pictures of Dubai rather than its impressive and modern buildings and sky scrapers.
I agree with Jack Shaheen, and believe that this issue should be addressed immediately in order for the support of modern imperialism to diminish and in order to preserve the pride and integrity of the Arab people. First of all, movie producers should drastically change the image of the Arab in their movies by doing extensive amounts of research. This could be achieved by visiting various Arab nations and observing and interviewing all factions of society (the elderly, the middle aged, teenagers, and children). By interviewing the “real” Arabs, producers would see that Arabs are not as what they appear to be in movies. Also, we should try to decrease the amount of ignorance by introducing a Middle Eastern Studies class in the school curriculum in Western societies; Arabs learn a great deal about Westerners at their schools. Children must be educated about Arabs in order to not fall into the same thinking traps as the generations that preceded them. Another way to improve the false image of Arabs is by updating pictures and articles in encyclopedias, for it is pitiful to see such ignorance in globally known encyclopedias. Recently, while reading John Laffin’s The Arab Mind: A need for understanding, I came across a quote that said, “Arabs are human, but not humane”. This quote offended me a great deal, because as an Arab I find it humiliating when my entire ethnicity is labeled as inhumane; Arabs shouldn’t be judged because of the actions of Arabs before them or because of the way they are viewed in the media. As any other peoples, the Arabs contain different types of individuals, the conservatives, the liberals, the humane, the inhumane, the rich, the poor, the snobby, the humble, the ignorant, and the aware.