Lecture 14 The New Terrorizing Other Aladdin 1992

Lecture 14: The New Terrorizing Other Aladdin (1992) Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker Professor Michael Green 1

Previous Lecture • Summary: Hegemonic Race and Gender Representation • Latinas in Film: A Historical Overview • Jennifer Lopez: Latina Star in an Age of Multiculturalism 2

This Lecture • Arab representation in Hollywood: Real Arabs vs. Reel Arabs • Common cinematic Arab stereotypes • Aladdin and “The New World Order” 3

Arab Representation in Hollywood: Real Arabs vs. Reel Arabs True Lies (1994) Directed by James Cameron Lecture 14: Part I 4

Pre-Hollywood Stereotypes • Muslim and Arab stereotypes have existed since well before the advent of cinema. • 18 th and 19 th century European artists and writers caricatured the Middle East as full of desolate deserts, corrupt palaces and heathen Arabs. 5

The Arabian Nights • In particular, the hugely popular Arabian Nights stories allowed fictional renditions of “wild foreigners, ” exotic concubines and slave bazaars to become “real” depictions - and an indelible part of European culture. 6

Early Film Arab Stereotypes • During the early 20 th century, pioneering filmmakers such as Georges Méliès drew on existing Arab stereotypes from other mediums and perpetuated those images in early cinema. • In such movies as The Palace of Arabian Nights (1905) Méliès and others created a mythic Arabia in which Arabs ride camels, brandish scimitars, hang out in desert oases and fetishize European women. 7

The Arab in Hollywood • As it has with every other non-Anglo people, American cinema has stereotyped, marginalized, silenced and downright vilified Arabs since its inception. • Hollywood has improved its representation of other races and ethnicities over time. • However, Hollywood – and the mainstream U. S. media in general – continues to vilify and dehumanize Arabs. 8

The Cultural “Other” • For Hollywood, Arabs have always been the cultural “other, ” seen as different and threatening in terms of race and religion and depicted as brutal, heartless, uncivilized religious fanatics, bent on terrorizing “civilized” Westerners. 9

Familiar Arab Stereotypes • In countless movies, Arabs are invariably stereotyped as murderers, rapists, oil-rich dimwits, abusers of women and jihadists. • Other common stereotypes include: – Black beards; headdresses; dark sunglasses; palm trees; oases; hooked noses; belly dancers; limousines; harem maidens; oil wells; camels; automatic weapons; and cries to Allah. Pause the lecture and watch the clip from True Lies. 10

Real Arabs • Of course, real Arabs are much more complex and varied than reel Arabs: – 300 million or so Arabs – as well as Persians and Kurds – live in 22 nations in the Middle East. – Because of the history of occupation - including French, English and Greek - there exists a mixed ethnicity in the Arab world. – Geographically, the Arab world is 1 1/2 times as large as the United States. – Most Arabs are Muslim, but there about 15 million Arab Christians as well. 11

Arab Contribution • The Arabs have made many contributions to civilization, including algebra and the concept of zero. • They have contributed widely to astronomy, geography, agriculture, architecture, law and secular, scientific and philosophical thought. 12

More Contributions “Arab intellectuals made it feasible for Western scholars to develop and practice advanced educational systems. . . In astronomy Arabs used astrolabes for navigation, star maps, celestial globes, and the concept of the center of gravity. In geography, they pioneered the use of latitude and longitude. They invented the water clock; their architecture inspired the Gothic style in Europe. In agriculture, they introduced oranges, dates, sugar, and cotton, and pioneered water works and irrigation. ” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

Arab People and Lifestyle • The vast majority of Arabs are: • peaceful, not violent terrorists or suicide bombers • poor, not rich oil sheiks • Most do not live in desert tents • None are surrounded by Harem maidens • Most have never seen an oil well or ridden a camel Their lifestyles defy stereotyping! 14

Not all Muslims are Arabs • Muslims are America’s fastest growing religious group; about 500, 000 reside in the greater Los Angeles area. • America’s six to eight million Muslims frequent more than 2000 mosques, Islamic centers and schools. • Most of the world’s 1. 1 billion Muslims are Indonesian, Indian or Malaysian. • Only 12% of Muslims are Arabs, a fact systematically ignored by filmmakers. 15

A Shared Past • Arabs, like Jews, are Semites – a group of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Near East and northern Africa, including the Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews, and Phoenicians. • The term describes not only shared language, but also the extended cultures and ethnicities, as well as the history of varied peoples, associated with the region.

Familiar Racism • It is perhaps not surprising then that Hollywood’s image of hook-nosed, robed, money-grubbing, lecherous Arabs parallels past similar representations of Jews in German and U. S cinema and media.

“The New Anti-Semitism” “. . . the fact remains that it is acceptable to advance anti-Semitism in film - provided the Semites are Arabs. I call this habit of racial and cultural generalization “The New Anti-Semitism”. . . Not because anti-Semitism against Jews is dead (it isn’t). . . [but] because many of the anti -Semitic films directed against Arabs were released in the last third of the twentieth century, at a time when Hollywood was steadily and increasingly eliminating stereotypical portraits of other groups. ” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

Cannon Films • One example of institutionalized anti. Semitism is the mid 1980 s filmmaking of the production company Cannon, formed by the producers Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus, the Israeli director of the Film Industry Department. • The producers teamed up to make 26 “hateand-terminate-the-Arab” movies, including Hell Squad and The Delta Force (1986) both of which featured Palestinian villains. 19

Influenced by Public Figures • One can make the case that the negative representation of Arabs and other Muslims is often at least partially a reflection of the actions and rhetoric of public officials and journalists. • For example, media speculation that Arab terrorists had been behind the Oklahoma City bombing resulted in 300 hate crimes against Arab Americans, though none were involved in the crime. 20

Post 9/11 • Throughout much of the 2000 s, public officials and journalists relentlessly criticized and vilified Arabs and Muslims. • Though several Saudi citizens were responsible for the events of 9/11, the overwhelming vilification of Arabs by government and media drowned out any possible balanced representation of them. 21

Examples • For example, President Bush linked 9/11 to Baghdad and, more specifically, stereotypes of Arabs to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. • This War in Iraq, “The War on Terror” and other U. S. government activities have been recycled, fictionalized and reflected in mainstream entertainment, in movies such as In the Valley of Elah (2007), The Kingdom (2007) and Sryiana (2005); and TV shows such as 24, South Park and Family Guy. 22

Author’s Final Point “Subliminally, the onslaught of the reel Arab conditions how young Arabs and Arab. Americans perceive themselves and others perceive them. . . Explains Magdoline Asfahani, an Arab-American college student: ‘The most common questions I was asked [by classmates] were if I had ever ridden a camel and if my family lived in tents. . . I learned at a very young age that every other movie seemed to feature Arab terrorists. ’” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

Common Cinematic Arab Stereotypes The Siege (1998) Directed by Edward Zwick Lecture 14: Part II 24

Illuminating Types • Just as Donald Bogle outlined common Hollywood stereotypes for African Americans – mammies, coons, bucks, etc – and Charles Ramirez Berg outlined common Hollywood stereotypes for Latinos/as – bandidos, harlots, Latin lovers, etc – Shaheen has outlined five common Arab stereotypes that reoccur and overlap in Hollywood films: Villains, Sheikhs, Maidens, Egyptians, and Palestinians. 25

Critical Disclaimer • Note about the stereotype categories as outlined by Shaheen: • Though his research is useful, Shaheen’s categories of Arab stereotypes are somewhat problematic. First, referring to Arabs as “Villains” is a bit generic, so we will call them “International Villains. ” • Second, he singles out several groups by nationality, which can contribute to the essentializing against them. 26

(International) Villains • For more than 100 years, in hundreds of movies, Hollywood has singled out Arabs as an American enemy. • They have been faced off against every imaginable foe – Americans, Europeans, Israelis – in comedies and dramas. • Some examples include A Night in Casablanca (1946), The Sad Sack (1957), Never Say Never Again (1983), Ishtar (1987), Frantic (1988), Executive Decision (1996) and The Mummy (1999). 27

Other Villainous Features of Arabs • In Hollywood films, Arabs often: – make easy targets in war movies (The Rules of Engagement). – try to rape, kill, or abduct Western women (Taken). – enslave and abuse Africans (Gladiator). – invade the United States and terrorize innocents. (Executive Decision) – try to acquire nuclear weapons (Back to the Future) – are seen as tribal “savages” (Lawrence of Arabia).

Default Cinematic Villain • Especially in the past few decades, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the historical distance from Nazis, and the improved standing of African Americans and other U. S racial and ethnic groups, Arabs have become go-to villains in Hollywood – particularly in movies that depict threats to U. S. national security. Pause the lecture and watch the clip from The Siege 29

Example • One particularly egregious recent example of Arabs as villains can be found in The Rules of Engagement (2000). • The movie includes scenes of U. S. soldiers slaughtering Yemeni women and children, scenes cheered by some U. S. audiences. • The movie reinforces damaging stereotypes, and promotes the dangerous but common idea that all Arabs are Anti-American. Pause the lecture and watch the clip from The Rules of Engagement

Islam and Holy War “ Islam, particularly, comes in for unjust treatment. Today’s image makers regularly link the Islamic faith with male supremacy, holy war and acts of terror, depicting Arab Muslims as hostile alien intruders, and as lecherous oily sheikhs intent on using nuclear weapons. When mosques are displayed onscreen, the camera inevitably cuts to Arabs praying, and then gunning down civilians. Such scenarios are common fare. ” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

Illogical Placement • Throughout Hollywood history, Arab villains have even showed up in stories in which they have no logical purpose. • They frequently were used in early serials such as Son of Tarzan (1920), Queen of the Jungle (1935) and The Vigilante (1947). • This practice continued, with Arabs showing up as arbitrary villains in such movies as Back to the Future (1985). Pause the lecture and watch the clip from Back to the Future. 32

Sheikhs • “Sheikh” literally means wise, elderly person, the head of a family. Muslim leaders are often addressed as sheikhs. • Sheikhs have been negatively stereotyped in hundreds of movies.

Sheikhs • In early to mid-century films, Sheikhs have been presented as tribal chiefs and indolent, perverted rulers who lounge on thrones. • More recently they have been shown as rich, corrupt, oily, militant and ostentatious – wearing Ray Bans and reclining in Rolls Royces and Mercedes. • In only a few films, such as Sryiana, Arab leaders have been shown more threedimensionally and realistically. 34

Maidens • Arab women are eroticized, humiliated and demonized in a number of features. • They often appear as bosomy belly dancers leering out from diaphanous veils, or as scantily-clad harem maidens with bare midriffs, closeted in the palace’s women’s quarters. 35

Maidens (Continued) • Other stereotypes include: – Willingness to submit to their “owners, ” as if they relish their sexual mistreatment and enslavement. – Appearing as shapeless Bundles of Black or Beasts of Burden, a homogeneous sea of covered women. – Being labeled as Black magic vamps or enchantresses ‘possessed of devils. ’ – Dark-complexioned Arab femmes fatales who move to woo the American/British hero, but are often rebuffed and disappointed. 36

Egyptians • Egyptian caricatures appear in more than 100 films, from mummy tales to legends of pharaohs and queens to contemporary scenarios. • They are often depicted as begging children or devious men after Western women. • From the start, moviemakers linked Egypt with the un-dead from Georges Méliès The Monster (1903) to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). 37

Palestinians “More than half of the Palestinian movies were released in the 1980 s and 1990 s; nineteen from 1983 -1989; nine from 1990 -1998. Absent from Hollywood’s Israeli-Palestinian movies are human dramas revealing Palestinians as normal folk – computer specialists, domestic engineers, farmers, teachers, and artists. Never do movies present Palestinians as innocent victims and Israelis as brutal oppressors. ” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

Palestinians (continued) “No movie shows Israeli soldiers and settlers uprooting olive orchards, gunning down Palestinian civilians in Palestinian cities. No movie shows Palestinian families struggling to survive under occupation, living in refugee camps, striving to have their own country and passports stating Palestine. Disturbingly, only two scenarios present Palestinian families. ” Jack G. Shaheen, “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People”

A Few Exceptions • Of course, as with the cinematic representations of all peoples, there are some positive exceptions – a few films scattered throughout Hollywood history in which Arabs and Muslims are portrayed sympathetically and even heroically. • Such films include Lion of the Desert (1981), Hannah K (1983), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), The Seventh Coin (1992) and Three Kings (1999), among others. Pause the lecture and watch the clip from Three Kings. 40

Aladdin and “The New World Order” Aladdin (1992) Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker Lecture 14: Part III 41

Aladdin • Aladdin was released in 1992 at the height of the 1990 s Disney animation renaissance – it followed Beauty and the Beast (1990). • The movie draws on both Arab folktales – including One Thousand One Nights – as well as traditional Western notions of Arabs and the Middle East. • Despite some complaints from Arab groups that the film was racist, it grossed 217 million dollars to become the biggest hit of the year. 42

Aladdin and stereotypes • The movie features a number of common Hollywood stereotypes of Arabs and the Middle East, including: – Depicting Arabs as greedy, patriarchal savages and villains and black magic sorcerers. – Depicting the desert and the region as desolate, dirty and dangerous. – Depicting Arab women erotically and exotically. – Depicting Arabs as duplicitous schemers and Arab rulers as weak, out of touch and foolish. Pause the lecture and watch clip #1 from Aladdin. 43

The Racial Politics of Aladdin • The movie constructs its characters to reflect Western racial hierarchies. • Though the hero and heroine are Arab, their skin tone is noticeably whiter than the villains and they speak in the voices of white American teenagers. • Meanwhile, the villains are dark – Jafar at times is black – and they reflect phenotypical Arab stereotypes such as hooked noses, black beards and “swarthy” builds. Pause the lecture and watch clip #2 from Aladdin. 44

The Real World Politics of Aladdin • Alan Nadel argues that Aladdin participates in a series of clichéd narratives informing popular American assumptions about the Muslim Middle East, made recognizable though a form of western romance (remember the Imperial Imaginary). • He believes that Aladdin draws heavily on U. S. representations of Iran and Iraq in recent decades, as filtered through the lens of the U. S. State Department and intelligence community. 45

Disguise Narratives • According to Nadal, the disguise narrative of Aladdin – in which characters constantly appear as other than they are – is an allegory for ambiguous, confused American feelings towards the Middle East. 46

“Shifting Sands” “[Contemporary foreign policy] illustrates how vague and protean the Muslim Middle East is to Americans, even to those Americans in the intelligence community; with great facility, the same roles could be played by a secular Arab state or, equally and interchangeably, by a fundamentalist non-Arab state. Foreboding, dark peoples on shifting sands, like characters out of Aladdin, play out the same story of ‘evil’ in the guise of ‘good’ in the guise of ‘evil’ in the guise of ‘good, ’ ad infinitum. ” Alan Nadel, “A Whole New Disney World Order”

“A New World Order” • At the end of the Cold War, President Bush called for “A New World Order. ” • Because the evil “Other” needed to sustain nationalistic rhetoric was hard to pin down in the absence of a Soviet enemy, Middle Eastern countries with nuclear ambitions came to stand in for a new American enemy. • Aladdin, which was released a year after the end of the Gulf War, represents “evil Arab others” as well as our nuclear anxiety. 48

Author’s Final Point “Aladdin plays out these problems in a way that asserts the immense destructive potential of a nuclear-armed Muslim Middle East by connecting, in the film’s mythical Arabia, the dissimulations of the Eastern Other to the dangers of atomic power. At the same time, the film resolves the conflicts in representation by reconfiguring the East, through a pastiche of Western myths and codes, as forms of performance within the spectacle of Western entertainment. ” Alan Nadel, “A Whole New Disney World Order”

End of Lecture 14 Next Lecture: Multicultural Fu 50