Stereotypes In The Film Not Without My Daughter

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The film Not Without My Daughter follows Betty Mahmoody, her Iranian-American husband Moody, and their daughter Mahtob, and their American/Iranian cultural struggle. Unfortunately, the message of this film has widely been received as anti-Islam, placing the blame for what happens directly on the Islamic religion. Views of Islam and Muslims are often constructed based off of Orientalism. These inaccurate prejudices are fed by biased materials such as Not Without My Daughter because Islam and the Muslim society are inaccurately represented within Western culture, viewers assume that this culture and it’s people are primitive, oppressive and abusive towards women and violent towards believers of different religions and faiths, all because of the generalized stereotype presented in the film. …show more content…

His daughter reveals that she too experiences similar bigotry from her classmates at school. Despite their challenges in the United States, the family embraces their ethnicity and American citizenship, Moody reassures his daughter the he is as “American as apple pie.” When Moody is invited to visit his family in Iran, Betty is off to an uneasy start, but to put her at ease, he swears on the Qur’an that nothing bad will happen. Immediately upon their arrival, the Mahmoody family is swarmed by an overwhelming crowd of men and women, dressed in chadors, loudly speaking Farsi. Betty is told she needs to wear a hijabhowever the downfall is when Moody takes a turn for the worst. Viewers find out that Moody has been planning their permanent stay in Iran ever since he lost his job at the

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