Reel Bad Arabs film

                  Reel Bad Arabs was not a new film for me.    Though I think that is a very solemn film, and deserves careful consideration, I also have a few issues with the film.  There is no doubt that the producer has a way of grabbing our attention, and even making viewers feel guilty (not that he was totally wrong in doing so), though I do not think he was totally fair in all of his accusations.

                  First, there is no doubt that Hollywood has its prejudices and stereotypes, many of which are negative.  There is also no doubt that Hollywood desires to influence its viewers with these stereotypes and prejudices.  But just because it is attempting to influence its audience does not mean that it is actually representing them, or even that it is successful in its pursuit to influence.  For one thing, in order to be successful, people must watch the movies.  This may sound obvious, but many (in fact almost all) of the movies shown in this film I have never seen.  Hollywood represents a small part of the American population who attempt to provide entertainment and/or push certain points of view.  But there are many people in America who do not agree with Hollywood’s points of view.

                  Also, though this was not the object of the film, I think something deserves to be said of how the Arabs view Americans on television, especially the “typical” American woman.  Many of what people in the Middle East see of Americans on television are soap-opera like shows, with images of lusty blonde woman with too much eye makeup and bright-red lipstick.  Thus they tend to think of all American woman as filling this stereotype.  This is definitely a topic I am interested in researching more thoroughly.

                  This being said, I do think that the producer hit home with Aladdin.  I do think that it was extremely inappropriate for Disney to open a children’s cartoon with a song that had such violent words (“where they cut off your ear...”).  But because he did not mention the fact that Disney reworded the song and apologized later on, I did not feel that I could trust the rest of his accusations without more research. 

                  Finally, this film did cause me to think about my own stereotypes, both positive and negative, and whether any of them are based on fact.  It also made me realize that Hollywood is a form of entertainment, and should be viewed through critical eyes.