Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Part of a series on |
Islamophobia |
---|
Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States have been presented in various forms by the
“Billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers”
A report titled 100 Years of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim stereotyping by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, director of media relations for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, describes what some in the Arab-American community call "the three B syndrome": "Arabs in TV and movies are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires" a reference to Arab men being portrayed as either terrorists or wealthy oilmen, and Arab women as sex objects. The report also says that cartoons have been insulting to Arab and Muslims, and people who live in the US are the most affected by these stereotypes, which don't only cause psychological harm but also help feed into dehumanization that can lead to physically attacks. According to Mazin B. Qumsiyeh:
Thomas Edison made a short film in 1897 for his patented Kinetoscope in which "Arab" women with enticing clothes dance to seduce a male audience. The short clip was called Fatima Dances. The trend shifted over the years and was dominated by the "billionaires" for a short while, especially during the oil crises of the seventies. However, in the last 30 years, the predominant stereotype by far has been "Arab bombers."[3]
In a piece in the Los Angeles Times published July 28, 1997, Laila Lalami offers a 12-step guide to making a successful Arab-bashing movie, including such items as "the villains must all have beards", "they must all wear keffiehs", "they must all have names like Ali, Abdul or Mustapha" and "threaten to blow something up."[4][5]
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, Arab-American actors have found themselves even more likely to be typecast as terrorists.[6]
- Iron Eagle (1986)
- Navy SEALs (1990)
- Patriot Games (1992)
- Executive Decision (1996)
In
Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different god, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens.[8]
The movies Shaheen identifies as the five worst in terms of negative portrayal of Arabs in modern films are:
- Rules of Engagement (2000); "a film which "justifies" US Marines killing Arab women and children."[8]
- The Delta Force(1986)
- Death Before Dishonor (1987)
- True Lies (1994); "Arnold S. INC." shoots dead Palestinians like clay pigeons"
- Wanted: Dead or Alive(1987); "Arab thugs... plan to ignite Los Angeles... killing millions."
These stereotypes are the main focus of the semi-autobiographical film Driving to Zigzigland, where the actor/taxi driver Bashar Daas finds himself being invariably
Another stereotypical character is
Airport racial profiling after 9/11
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian origin and all were Muslim, Arabs and Muslims complained of increased scrutiny and racial profiling at airports. In a poll conducted by the
Stereotypes in film and their effects
Stereotypes that the west has of the Middle East have made their way into the film industry, including that Muslims are terrorists, that all Muslims and Arabs look alike, and that the women are oppressed and abused, are only housewives and don't work.[17] The tv series Homeland portrays a Palestinian as a terrorist. In the show Arabs are shown as "backward, violent, and uncivilised".[18][unreliable source?]
When impressionable children in the US who may not have much experience with Muslims or Arabs see negative depictions of Arabs they come to believe that this is reality. Children who had had some exposure to Muslims or were familiar with Islam viewed Arab Muslims more positively than less knowledgeable children.[19]
See also
- Anti-Arabism
- Reel Bad Arabs
- Ethnic stereotype
- Flying while Muslim
- Islamophobia in the United States
- Orientalism
- Orientalism, a 1978 book by Edward Said
- Racial profiling
- Stereotype threat
- Stereotypes of groups within the United States
References
- OCLC 841367217.
- S2CID 143796258.
- ^ Qumsiyeh, Mazin B. "100 Years of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotyping". The Prism. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ Lalami, Laila. "Why Hollywood Owes Me Money". MoorishGirl. Archived from the original on 2002-06-09.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ "The Portrayal of Arabs in American Media". Archived from the original on July 13, 2006.
- ^ a b Kessler, Jim. "Patrick Harrington interviews, Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs". Thirdway.org. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
- ^ Driving to Zigzigland – Official site. Retrieved Oct 2012.
- ^ Driving to Zigzigland IMDb, 2006. Retrieved Oct 2012.
- ^ War on terror drives Arab actor to "Zigzigland" Reuters, 14 Dec 2006. Retrieved 2 Oct 2012.
- TheGuardian.com. 8 May 2018.
- ^ "Official: 15 of 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi". USA Today. 6 February 2002. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- The Huffington Post. 16 August 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- Daily News (New York). Archived from the originalon 12 October 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ Change, Teaching for (2017-04-08). "Countering Arab Stereotypes". Social Justice Books. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Excellence in Student Writing | Rhetorikos: Excellence in Student Composition". Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- . Retrieved 29 November 2023.
Further reading
- Richardson, John E. (2004), (Mis)representing Islam: the racism and rhetoric of British broadsheet newspapers, ISBN 90-272-2699-7
- Presumed Guilty: American Muslim and Arabs Presumed Guilty: American Muslims and Arabs on Making Contact
External links
- Arabs in Film and Television: A Bibliography via UC Berkeley library
- Images of Arabs and the Middle East videography of films on video and DVD in the UC Berkeley Media Resources Center