America is believed to be the land of opportunity for all, but is the opportunity really for all? Americans have seen numerous acts of racism, inside and outside of our borders. Nazi Germany was racist towards Jewish people. Racism was applied to African Americans in America for a majority of the country’s existence. We now believe that we give equal treatment to people of all races and religions, but this is not true. Americans are unaware of the racism against Arabs and Muslims that is still present today.
The documentary Reel Bad Arabs, discusses the influence that the film industry has on public opinion. Over 1,000 movies in the past century have an Arab character. More often than not, the characters are antagonists. We as Americans have accepted the idea that Arabs are people of anger, hatred and fierceness. This racism is in all genres of movies, none more evident than actions movies that feature heaps of violence. This racism is also in children’s movies such as Disney’s Aladdin. The song Arabian Nights which is featured in the opening credits contains the lyrics “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey, its home.” This depiction of ‘Arabland’ is one of many racist stereotypes in this movie. Another genre that is guilty of this prejudice is comedy. Father of the Bride 2 features an Arab character who portrays the clichéd trait of an Arab man have complete power of Arab women. The man is also portrayed to be money obsessed. Another movie that features fierce racism is Rules of Engagement. I believe this movie is the worst of the three listed because of how it demonizes all Arab people. It is easy for most people to connect with the women and children of a race, and this movie takes even that away from the Arabs. A little Arab girl is shown shooting at a group of American military men, along with various members of her community, including other children and women.
What makes this kind of bigotry so acceptable? I believe that if these characters were to have been of any other race, it would not have been tolerated. No one gets upset about these movies. There are no groups of Arab-Americans getting together to revolt. Movie makers have learned that Arabs are a group that can be used repeatedly as a villain, and no one will speak out against it. This then becomes a cycle. We see these racist labels and we believe them, which makes us think this is really how these people act. We become emotionally detached from the group since we believe they are pure evil, and it then becomes perfectly acceptable to treat them this way.
I personally have seen only one of the movies that was shown in the documentary Reel Bad Arabs, and that is Aladdin. I found this to be particularly disturbing that this children’s movie was so full of discrimination. I found it even scarier that I had no idea that it was racist, until I saw this documentary. Even though I have not seen any of the other movies, I was disgusted with how the other movies depicted these people.
There are so many lessons to learn from this documentary, and from what our country has done to this group of people. I would say the most important, is that just because one small group of people from a country commits a terrorist act, does not mean that the country is filled with terrorists. Just because the Ku Klux Klan is a group of white Christian males that hates all other religions and races, does not mean that all white Christian males believe the same thing. Another thing to learn from this is that most Americans, unless they have visited the Middle East have no idea what it is really like. Everything the media feeds us about this area and the people that inhabit it have been passed down from a skewed idea that came from early European travelers. It is also important to know that this idea that ‘Arabland’ is this place that never changes, and never evolves is false.
It is obvious that we as Americans are not as race friendly as we thought we were. Something needs to happen to change this racism. First and foremost, we personally need to change our thought process. Break the chain between words like Islam and Arabs, and words like anger and aggression. Try to connect with Muslims and Arabs so that you have that personal experience with a member of that group. It is also crucial to realize that a revolution cannot take place if the people do not want it. We need to become more accepting of all people, and rid our minds of racist thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment