Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006 Video)

Jack Shaheen: Self - Narrator

Quotes 

• Self - Narrator : Politics and Hollywood's images are linked; they reinforce one another. Policy enforces mythical images, mythical images help enforce policy. Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America has said "Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA." The Arab image began to change immediately after World War 2. There were three things that impacted the change: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, in which the United States is unequivocally supported Israel; the Arab oil embargo in the 70s, which angered Americans when gas prices went through the ceiling; and the Iranian Revolution, which increased Arab-American tensions when Iranian students took American diplomats hostage for more than a year. These three pivotal events brought the Middle East into the living rooms of Americans, and together helped shaped the way movies stereotyped Arabs and the Arab world.

• Self - Narrator : So there is this cloud with the hate crimes, with the profiling, with being rounded up. Again, I think this illustrates the power of film. That in spite of the reality, in spite of the material that we know to be true, we still embrace the mythology. The mythology is still a part of our psyches. Stereotypes take a long time to wither away. And for many of us, we're comfortable with our prejudices. We don't want to change. We've grown accustomed to this face.

• Self - Narrator : Of all the Department of Defense films the one that will stand the test of time as being the most racist is "Rules of Engagement." The film was written by former Secretary of the Navy, James Webb. The action takes place in Yemen, a real country in the Middle East. There are violent demonstrations at the American embassy and the marines, led by Samuel L. Jackson. They're called in to evacuate the American employees. And as they try to do, the marines open fire on the crowd and kill scores of Yemeni, including women and children. And in the investigation that follows, Tommy Lee Jones, the lawyer who represents the Samuel L. Jackson character, goes to Yemen to investigate. The movie leads us to believe what seems obvious, that the marines committed this atrocity. During his investigation, Jones' character sees a little girl with only one leg. He follows her, comes upon a hospital ward full of civilian victims. He finds an audiotape by the bed of one of the victims, and when the tape gets translated in court, we immediately begin changing our minds about who is responsible for this massacre. We discover that the Yemeni civilians aren't so innocent after all. It turns out they fired on the marines first. And in a moment that will live in Hollywood infamy, we suddenly learn that the little girl we've been sympathizing with, the very girl whose humanity and innocence may have broken down our stereotypes, well, she's no better than those other Yemeni terrorists. As a result, when Samuel L. Jackson delivers the key line, "Waste the motherfuckers," we're now on his side. Why does this matter? Because in the end, the massacre of even women and children has been justified and applauded. It's a slaughter, yes, but it's a righteous slaughter.

• Self - Narrator : One reason we have not been allowed to empathize with any Palestinian on the silver screen is due to two Israeli producers, Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus. These two filmmakers created an American company called Canon. And they released in a period of 20 years at least 30 films, which vilify all things Arab, particularly Palestinians. They even came out with a film called "Hell Squad" showing Vegas show girls trouncing Arabs in the middle of the desert. I think the most affective film they have ever done, one of the most popular, and more racist is "The Delta Force." Here Palestinians hijack a plane and terrorize the passengers, especially the Jewish ones.