How Hollywood Vilifies a People

I stumbled upon this fascinating and insightful documentary several months ago, which to my surprise retains its appeal and impact on me to this very day. Originally a book written by Jack Shaheen in 2001 and later directed by Sut Jhally in 2006, "Reel Bad Arabs" delves into the sad realities and practices of film-making's biased and pejorative depiction of Arabs. While films in itself are purely a form of entertainment and artistic expression -- unrestricted to the imagination, it however does not entitle filmmakers to represent a whole cluster of cultures or peoples into one single, universally negative and demeaning characteristic. This type of skewed interpretation, I think, is due to their lack of objectivity, knowledge and certainly sense of openness to foreign cultures. The mass media thus only enhances people's prejudices towards others, be it religion, nationality, color, sex or race.

Hollywood's myopic, stereotypical portrayals of Arabs only reinforce xenophobia, particularly in the US with the aftermath of 9/11. The mass media is a highly susceptible instrument in augmenting many of today's (false) prejudices and widely conservative beliefs of Arabs throughout the world.

From Indiana Jones to Aladdin, many more are critically analyzed. This documentary also touches on the symbiotic relationship between politics and cinema as a force constantly exhibiting fear of the unknown. Without further ado, sit back, pop a corn and enjoy this mentally stimulating documentary.

-Rasyid