Orientalism: Depiction Of Arabs In Hollywood

8 Pages 1956 Words

Are Americans brainwashed by what they see on the silver screen? Is it possible that Americans form views about a certain people or culture just by the images on the silver screen? Hollywood’s images of Arab and Islamic people have an important impact on how we see the Middle East. When Americans see Hollywood movies that contain images of a mysterious, dark, fanatical Arab, that image has just become a filter that effects how we see the world. Orientalism is a way of seeing the Eastern world as exotic, dark, mysterious and erotic. Many Hollywood movies have displayed this Orientalist view on the screen. Three recent blockbuster hits made millions for their producers by projecting this incorrect image of the Near East on the silver screen: Paramount Pictures Rules of Engagement (2000), Twentieth Century Fox’s The Siege (1998), and Disney’s Aladdin (1992). Each of these films portrays a negative attitude about Arabs, or “the other”.
Orientalism is a concept introduced in 1979 by Columbia University professor, Edward Said. His theory implies that the Western world thinks about the Eastern world as an exotic far off place, which symbolizes sensuality, mysticism, darkness, and timelessness. This view of the Orient as “the other” is the basic element of Orientalism. Orientalism tries to understand why the West has this preconceived notion of the Middle East. When Americans examine the East, they look through a lens that distorts actual reality (Said, video). The misunderstood and misinterpretations of the East and Middle East form a barrier to the “communion of two worlds” (Salaam). The barrier could be called a framework that is made up of filters that influence a person’s thought about a topic, in this case their view of an Islamic Arab. Media are one of these filters. Every movie or news story or magazine story or television program has an influence on our thoughts and beliefs. The entertainment that we love so dear...