A friend of mine wrote this article. He poses some interesting questions,I thought I'd post it in here.
Racism in Movies
Being a huge fan of movies, alongside many people in Jordan as well as the rest of the world, always gives me insight to how people around the world look at each other, away from the politics, on the most basic levels of human behavior. To my disappointment, and many others like me, the view of how people look at us Arabs, is anything but favorable.
Two days ago I went with some friends to watch a very good movie. The plot, the cast, the production, effects, and everything about the movie were great. For those who have not seen it, I would recommend it. It is called “Inside man”. It is the story of a big bank robbery and how the police handled such situation. The great twist to the story comes from the history of the New York bank, whose roots date back to WWII.
So as not to destroy the suspense, watch the movie. But there was one part of the story which really bothered me as well as most of the people who paid attention to the movie.
Take 1: (Movie: Inside Man)
As a hostage was being released (a Sikh Indian with his turban and beard which are part of their religious ritual dress codes) was immediately captured, thrown down to the floor, and the sentence “it’s a F****** Arab! He must be rigged, check him for explosives…”
Take 2: (Movie: Inside Man)
The Bank Owner / Chairman, who made his money from giving the Jews banked money to the Nazi regime during WWII, walks at the end of the story, unquestioned, and unharmed, and even beyond, protected by some of the most influential people around.
Some people are going to call this a work of fiction, but there is a great amount of reality to it. People around the world believe what they see in the movies. Too sad. We cannot deny that we as people, as educated as we can get, still believe that there is truth in movies. Everyone with a big beard, without a European look to him, will be persecuted.
Earlier last year, I also watched another movie which I believed was a great one as well. “Traffic” is a movie depicting racism in a melting pot society, and how prejudices really come out to the open when people least expect it, and how kindness manages to come through this prejudices when people are put to the test, especially in a city like Los Angles where all kinds of nationalities reside, and all ethnic backgrounds. How much hate can reside inside our hearts as people without us noticing?
These two distinct movies depict two very different sides of the spectrum, and we can site another hundred that lay in between both ends. But there will always be the question.
What will we do, as Arabs of today and the new generation (who are away from all the politics and terrorism stories) to shed the skin that has been laid upon us, and branded us as terrorists. Every nation in the world with a history has shed the ugly skin it has gained in a dark chapter. When does this chapter of our skin end so we can redeem our reputation???
Or should we go to the source??? The world of movies, MGM, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, etc. Should we be pursuing these people as responsible for this injustice? Or can we educate them in one way or the other. What is the responsibility of our generation, to ensure that our children never experience the violence that hatred and racism can bring???
The answer as I can see it is quite simple and can be summed up in 2 words: Unity and Solidarity.
For those who believe the answer is correct, Please comment.
By: Yakuza
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nice post and film indeed.
Salaam,
for me it doesn't matter at all how do they look at us, Americans are just new people who worked hard and had the chance to control the world during the nations cycle.
They have bloody history, war was always present to them even in peace they've invented "The cold war" so such people opinion doesn't really matter to me.
As for your question for reason or another I don't see us united in anyway not as arab nor as muslims, long way to go for that yet.
a really good post...
I would like to comment or give my opinion but especially such a subject needs a lot of thinking and you will hear many opinions about it.
for the unity i dont beleive it will happen someday, maybe it will get worse.
but i think as a human and for me, start respect ourselve so we can respect people and people will do same :)
Regarding Spike Lee's "Inside Man" that was no racism, the direcotr Lee was not being racist, it was done to highlight racism.
Thats how Spike Lee's movies have always been. He is also a minority (black) and you can say hes an antiracism activist (and an Arsenal fan!).
Dennis Bergkamp
Regarding Spike Lee's "Inside Man" that was no racism, the direcotr Lee was not being racist, it was done to highlight racism.
Thats how Spike Lee's movies have always been. He is also a minority (black) and you can say hes an antiracism activist (and an Arsenal fan!).
Dennis Bergkamp
Salam,
As an architect, I thought you might want to hear about a new documentary on Frank Gehry.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1193817,00.html
I should have added that you can preview the documentary by going to the Apple.com movie preview website
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/sketchesoffrankgehry/hd/
Salam, excellent post, i watched the movie last week, and i wanted to talk about the same issue but from a different point of view, and that is our reaction to these scenes.. During the show at the point where he said "he is an arab check him for explosives" people at theater laughed as if they were watching comedy..i didnt laugh and i think laughing is not the right reaction ..or is it ??
Hope: I dont think that what you said of mocking us in movies, i mean they are paying us to help us to be a better country and then mock us in every movie they can !! being late in an appoitmient have nothing to do with being mocked and being or a terrorist!
Change ONE foreigner's perception of Arabs, and you change a HUNDRED's. Word of mouth.
Why is it important to change their perception? Because they own the money, and they are the film makers.
Do we care? We obviously do, because otherwise we won't be discussing this.
Why start with the small things? because really we have no power over the bigger things. Untill we do, untill we can decide our own fate, let's arrive on time :-)
Hope;
All of my life, I have been around foreigners, from all walks of life. I have, with great pleasure, changed the views of many people, if you want actual numbers, I would say around the 300 region. I can proudly say, they are now our supporters. People who know us as a country with its people, they know how we think, what's our mentality, and they are fascintated.
I would lay part of the blame on people who, whenever they are asked about the country and their nationality, their answer is they want to leave and wish they are of a different nationality.
I agree. We need to be proud of who we are. I personally would start with respecting our language, actually speaking Arabic without the unnecessary English here and there (unless there is someone around who doesn't speak the language of course). This has been my new year's resolution every year, and I am almost there!
A universal subject. All countries have some racism - it seems to be a part of our collective human nature. That doesn't make it acceptable, though. I'm an American and I've lived in Jordan for many years and I get a whif of Jordanian racism from time to time. You might like to know there is a book, REEL BAD ARABS by Jack Shaheen. In it he reviews about 900 films made between 1896 and 2001 which show Hollywood's vilification of a people! Ann
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Let me share a little incident that really annoyed me a couple of years ago. I was doing some work that was USAID funded. I had a scheduled meeting at 9 with two Americans and three Jordanians. I arrived at 5 to 9 as I am a bit annoyingly punctual. The two Americans arrived at 1 or 2 past 9. The three Jordanians arrived at 9:30, 9:45 and 10:15. The one who arrived at 10:15 had the keys to the meeting place so we all ended up waiting at the door. They all had excuses of course, accidents, lost mobiles, sick parents, you name it, all said with a smile like nothing happened. So anyway, while waiting, I had to listen to the two Americans complaining (and of course they had all the right in the world to complain) about the disrespect for time Jordanians have, and that this money they are spending on this project is THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S TAX MONEY. Reading between the lines I could hear: you guys don't deserve the aid we are giving you!!!
What can we do as a nation? We can start with respecting ourselves, respecting others and respecting time. Maybe then others can see beyond the terrorist brand we acquired with time!