The situation in the Middle East is portrayed in a different perspective from American media and cinema. Paradise Now focuses on social, economic, and racial forms of oppression because culture is continuously changing and evolving, therefore, oppression is considered a global phenomenon. Dickenson states that the industrial trends of Hollywood globalization, becomes pillars in the hegemony of corporate ideology (240). Cultural hegemony, along with cinema and media, are co-responsible for the social and economic forms of oppression, such as racial inequalities. This essay will focus on social and economic forms of oppression in Paradise Now and the racial inequalities that co-arise from American cinema.
Schudson states that media reinforces the cultural hegemony of dominant groups by making any existing distribution of power, natural or common sense (168). He argues that oppositional views appear unreasonable or Utopian, that being said, Hollywood and American cinema are co-responsible for globally influencing culture (Schudson 168). Culture is a system, which distinguishes human beings based on social and economic factors such as terrorism (Allal 5). Paradise Now, displays terrorism in a perspective that is different from Hollywood films, Hollywood, portrays terrorists as hard-core fundamentalists that are unforgiving and evil, where they terrorize and kill people (Khatib 311). In Paradise Now, terrorism and fundamentalism are linked, in fact, the terrorist occupation believes that suicide missions are the only way for freedom to be achieved. The cultural idea of terrorism, goes hand in hand with the social forms of oppression.
American cinema, portrays Islamic fundamentalism as a threat to basic freedoms, such as the fre...
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...can cinemas, negative stereotypes are promoted and the American way of life is spread worldwide” (Miller 29). Cultural imperialism plays an important role in the global spread of American culture, and the dominant ideologies of western society. Ideologies are responsible for the racial inequalities that are embedded in society, as a result, cultures have become Americanized either directly or indirectly, through the media. Therefore, the perception that all terrorists are selfish, hateful, and destructive people co-originates from American cinemas, which is partially responsible for the racial inequalities present today. Paradise Now showcases the inequalities, lack of respect and loss of dignity that are associated with social and economic oppression, where violence is used as a means of self expression because citizens are filled with feelings of despair.
Over past decades, Hollywood movies have brought out the representations of racial inequality through out various themes of racism and stereotypical ways. One frequent type of racial inequality is that there is a culture or race that is belittled, under-privilege and inferior while the other is superior and high in order. In “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die” by Matt Zoller Seitz, He identifies the term “magical negro” as: “a saintly African American character who acts as a mentor to a questing white hero, who seems to be disconnected from the community that he adores so much, and who often seems to have an uncanny ability to say and do exactly what needs to be said or done in order to keep the story chugging along in the hero’s favor” (408) and in Mitu Sengupta “ Race Relations Light Years from the Earth” the author examines the movie Avatar as a racist film, and focuses on how it resembles the “white messiah” stereotype. The term “white messiah” is known as a white individual who hold superior power, according to David Brooks of the New York Times, “a stereotype that white people are rationalistic and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic, and that nonwhites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades” (Sengupta 213). Both articles dwell and explain the two terms and how it portrays the themes of racism and stereotypes through two elements, known as author’s purpose and main idea. These elements effectively convey the theme because it prevents our thoughts from being scattered by a broad spectrum of ideas and instead, it tells you exactly what is going to be discussed throughout the article.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
(Chermak, 2006) The media is one of the leading causes of stereotypes, and what influences our beliefs today. When you think of a terrorist, you may think of either a middle-aged Muslim male or a middle-aged white male with some sort of mental or social disorder. This isn't always the case. A terrorist can be of any race, age, and social class.
Media directs the thought processes of society. Daya Kishan Thussa says, “US popular culture… is steeped in Hollywood spectacles on war, battles and conflict, as evidenced by the international success of films about war, conflict, and battles between good and evil,” (p.265 reader). Hollywood –the media—portrays war as a conflict between good and evil, redefining war and conflict to be something that is black and white, with a sure winning side. The show 24, produced after 9/11, at the start of the War on Terror, represents a conflict between the good and the evil by paralleling the distrust and suspicion of the real world with the distrust and suspicion of the world in the show. By using elements such as windowing, zooming and panning into faces, dark lighting, and slow, eerie music, Season 2, Episode 1 of 24, creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust similar to post 9/11 United States that explains why officials tried to resolve conflicts even without all relevant information present.
Movies, one can argue, are one of America’s greatest pastimes. Unfortunately, after 9/11, films have become increasingly prejudiced against American Muslims. In movies Muslims are frequently portrayed negatively. According to James Emery, a professor of Anthropology, Hollywood profits off of “casting individuals associated with specific negative stereotypes”. This is due to the fact that viewers automatically link characters with their clichéd images (Emery). For Muslims, the clichéd image is of the violent fundamentalist, who carried out the terroristic attacks on 9/11. As a result, the main stereotypes involved in movies display Muslims as extremists, villains, thieves, and desert nomads. An example of a movie that has such a negative character role for Muslims in film is Disney’s cartoon Aladdin, depict...
The White Savior Complex is a damaging subconscious underlay of the Hollywood system, and more broadly all of western society. It is used to further separate the notions of “us” and “other” by creating a firm separation fueled by self-righteousness, and a sense of entitlement. Hollywood attempts to address race relations, but fails because of this trope. Kingsle, from the article “Does My Hero Look White In This?” described that both racism and colonialism are acknowledged, but not without reassuring that not only were white people against the system of racist power dynamics, but also were actively fighting against it in leadership roles (2013). In the remainder of my essay I will be commenting on many modern films and their use on this trope, and why subscribing to this filmmaking strategy is problematic.
In the first scene we observe a Muslim man inside a firearm store, attempting to buy a gun. The owner is a white Caucasian male that presents a negative attitude towards the customer because of his Muslim background. This feeling triggers in the owner, negative attitudes based on the assimilation and stereotypes with the Muslim race. Being immediately associated with the Al Qaeda terrorist group, which was responsible for suicidal bombers that have killed thousand of Americans.
The omnipresence of the American and European culture in the countries of the Middle East is a universally recognized phenomenon. The culture, thoughts and status quo of the people have been and continually are being changed and challenged due the mass spread of American goods and ideas. The American national culture largely revolves around the wants, needs and goals of the individual. As the one of the greatest superpowers of the time, its influence on the global community towards the focus on the individual is nothing short of inevitable. The movies, clothing and new age mentality of America are sending all people regardless of age, upbringing and locale, into a grand scale social transition. The Arabs and Muslims beliefs, traditions and entire state of being are no longer as they were 20 or 30 years ago. The women of the novels, Nadia, Fatima, Umm Saad, Maha, Asya, and Su’ad, each living in various Arab countries with unique situations of their own, all are united on the common ground of American introduced idea and concepts of individualism through such venues as feminism, capitalism, sexism and consumerism which adversely affect their society.
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...
...ent wants to maintain a dominance and superiority over the Oriental. While the desire for dominance may be a true motive in regard to the Occidentalism of Europe in an earlier century, America’s concern appears to be based more on the fear that the Arab wants to take over the world. The oppressive and violent depiction of the behavior of the Arab male stands in total opposition to the American ideals of freedom and liberty. Having fought the attempts of world domination by Germany and Japan, as well as weathering the Cold War, which threatened the world with Communist domination, the Arab appears to be the next enemy on the horizon who threatens freedom and world peace. If the American viewer of Not Without My Daughter believes this movie is an accurate portrait of the Muslim, the viewer probably feels that the Arab is a real threat to world peace and stability.
George Macdonald Fraser, the author of The Hollywood History of the World, once said, “What is overlooked is the astonishing amount of history Hollywood has got right... For better or worse, nothing has been more influential in shaping our visions of the past than the commercial cinema.” Fraser perfectly describes the impact and role of Hollywood in shaping our judgement of history. Not only has Hollywood portrayed various events and conflicts in history including the conflicts in the Middle East, but Hollywood has also portrayed various perspectives, opinions, and depictions
In the essay, the writer acknowledges the misunderstandings that come from media images by explaining the contrasts between these images and the teachings of the faith to support her claim that fear is the reason for this misconception. The conception that many people have of Muslims is that they are terrorists, anti-Semites, and fanatics. This conception exsists because television news and newspapers support that stereotype. The broadcast of such stereotypes encourages fear and accusations of the Islamic relegion's teachings. The writer explains that Islam teaches peace, tolerance, and equality. She further states that Muslims shown in the media have violated these teachings ...
Although the negative portrayal of Arabs and Muslims have exceeded the normal and caused a huge deterioration for the image of Islam, the American media continue to cross lines including discussing Islamic taboos. According to Kozlovic (2007), Hollywood produced the movie “The Message” portraying the prophet Muhammed (PBUH), which found more welcoming in the West than in Islamic countries due to Islamic taboos. Even though the movie tackled a sensitive issue of incarnating an Islamic prophet, it did not face any academic or religious criticism from the west rather all comments were dedicated to the quality of production and cinematographic
The rise of terrorism and extremism in the Middle East during the time this piece was composed prompted Mohi-Ud Din to engage in a passionate argument about how these terrorists have ruined the image of Muslims. He explicitly highlights the main points of his argument by using transitional words such as firstly, secondly, and thirdly. He initiates his argument by proposing that the media’s one-sided focus on Muslim extremists prevent the viewers from recognizing that the majority of Muslims are not violent. Next, he debunks the stereotypes Americans have about Muslims and then he shifts his concern to how America’s political and military actions have exploited Muslim countries. He concludes his argument by explaining why Islam is not a threat to