After the tragic events of 9/11 attacks in the United States, there has been over a hundred terrorism-themed films such as Black Hawk Down and American Sniper that portrays a generalization of Muslims with violence, uncivilized, and is described as crude villains (Aguayo, 2009). This has unfortunately affected the way the American public view the Muslims negatively, which in turn leads to discrimination, prejudice, and irrational fear of Muslims (Islamophobia). The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stated that the American Sniper film has caused a significant rise in violent hate and racist threat targeting the Arab and Muslim-American communities due to the promulgation of anti-Muslim propaganda and bigotry (Khalek, 2015).
However, American Sniper's film director, Clint Eastwood, claimed that the film is intended to accordingly illustrate the real life of American war veterans and has nothing to do with any political parties or anything (Jacobs, 2015). Should Hollywood filmmakers be allowed to portray Muslim figures? Do their portrayals work towards improving the image of Muslims? My paper argues that the representations of Muslims in Hollywood films tarnish the image of Muslims in real life more than they protect them. Understanding the distinction between Hollywood depictions and real world situations are key in stopping the cycle of prejudicial perception and becoming aware of what discrimination looks like in everyday life.
The way Muslims have been treated after the 9/11 incident is very different than before. Before 9/11 there was certainly some discrimination towards Muslim Americans, but after the attacks happened, between the years 2000 and 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). “While trying to adapt to the outcome of 9/11, Muslim Americans dealt with an increase in negative stereotypes spoken by the common culture, and Muslim immigrants faced more negative attitudes than any other immigrant group” (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). Since the 9/11 attacks, people who dress with a substantial resemblance to Muslims worry about the upcoming hatred and unfriendliness from people of other ethnicities (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). While listening to the media, one can hear reports of negative stereotypes towards people who resemble the Muslim religion, which may be assumed that these people are violent. Negative attitudes that Muslim Americans experience may have detrimental effects on their success in America and their success of achieving the American Dream.
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful thananything that bleeds. Don 't wait until you break. - Laurell Hamilton" This is oftentimes the sentiment felt by soldiers who have served in active duty and have been witnesses to tragedies that leave them emotionally scarred. The Clint Eastwood directed film, American Sniper is amovie that features the real life tragedy of American soldier, Chris Kyle, who served in theUnited States military as a Navy Seal, which is an elite group (Kenny, 2014 and Treitschke,2015). His story is unique in that he himself suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), but as he worked to recover, he valiantly served again by helping fellow soldiers withPTSD ("Chris Kyle," 2013), and was senselessly gunned
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
Comparing “American Sniper’ Reviews The movie “American Sniper,” based on Chris Kyle bestselling book by the same name, received wide ranging reviews from critics. Chris Kyle is considered the deadliest sniper in American history, earning him the nickname “The Legend” by other soldiers. The movie takes place around the politically polarizing Iraq war. The Director of “American Sniper,” Clint Eastwood, was a speaker at the 2012 Republican National Convention. The many polarizing factors surrounding this movie might make it difficult for would-be movie goers to get an accurate review of the movie itself.
Before the September 11, 2001 bombings, not much social psychological research had focused on Muslim-Americans. As a result of the attack, Muslims quickly became a salient group in American society. At the unfortunate expense of prejudice towards Muslims, 9/11 also led to an increase in research regarding Muslim-Americans (Amer and Bagasra, 2013). Therefore, in analyzing the intergroup relationship between Muslim-Americans and White-Americans we will use 9/11 as the origin of group conflict. Before discussing the driving theories behind the intergroup relationship, it is important to note a certain level of ambiguity in the definition of these groups. We are aware that some Muslim-Americans may in fact also be White (mainly due to religious conversion). Therefore as an operational group, when referring to White-Americans we mean to indicate non-Muslim White Americans.
1. Characters: Chris Kyle, soldier, father and loving husband. Taya: wife of Chris Kyle, and loving mother of 2 children. The SEALS, an organization, and home of thousands of SEAL soldiers.
“The Mission” is based on a true story that occurred around the borderlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the years 1750’s according to the film and history. The Treaty of Madrid of 1750 with the Spanish and Portuguese caused both havoc and death for the people of the Guarini and the members of the Jesuits. The Jesuits, members of the church, tried to bring Christianity and civilization to the natives while keeping at peace with Spain and Portugal. The Jesuits were the teachers for the natives; Teaching them not only the Christian religion but also civilization. Father Gabriel, a Jesuit, is first introduced in the film when he is showing his respects to a former Jesuit priest killed by the natives. He walks through the South American
The FBI reported that the amount of hate crimes against Muslim Americans increased 1,700 percent from 2000- 2001 (Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post 9/11, n.d, para 2). The actual amount of reported hate crimes went from 28 incidents to 481 incidents (Kuek Sur, 2016, para 4). The amount of hate towards muslims has continued to increase. The number of Americans with favorable views of Islam dropped from 41 percent in 2005 to 30 percent in 2010 (Clay, 2011, para 3). Although American Muslims have nothing in common with the 9/11 attackers besides religion, many have been treated unfairly by Americans whose views of Islam have been skewed by the 9/11
Based on a true story, the movie ‘Lone Survivor’ features four Navy SEALs that set out on a mission to Afghanistan with orders to capture and kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The Navy SEALS are detected by villagers and the mission was compromised. Ultimately, the mission had been discovered and the men found themselves surrounded by dozens of Taliban soldiers. One of the Navy SEAL soldiers managed to dispatch to base and retrieve assistance but the Taliban shoot down the helicopter. During battle, three of the Navy SEAL soldiers were killed leaving one still alive.
American Sniper was released in December of 2014, and tells the life story of one of America’s greatest soldiers. With 160 confirmed kills out of 255 probable kills, Chris Kyle otherwise known as “Legend” is the most deadliest sniper in American History. The audience gets to experience and view the life changing events and decisions that Chris was faced with throughout his life, but the question is how accurate is each even depicted, and how did This film demonstrates the many challenges that the American soldiers are face on a daily bases. Overall it is safe to say that American Sniper is not one of the most historically accurate films that his recently been produced and that in some ways the time period it was produced in did affect how certain scenes were created.
United States military was fighting terrorists in Mogadishu back in 1993. These events have been portrayed in the heavily criticized Hollywood film Black Hawk Down. Television showed the world the graphic images of this war and the devastating effects that ensued. The Somali government started to rebuild the city only to have it ruined again by the tsunami of 2004. The worlds perception of Somalia have been tainted due to these images being broadcasted, giving the world a false impression of the country.
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” ( Maya Angelou ). The barber in Lather and Nothing Else and the sniper in The Sniper are both unique in their own special ways. Both of these characters have significant similarities and differences, some more than others. If we look at both of these characters diverse personalities we will see their distinguished differences and their closely related similarities.
Turn on the news and you are bound to see something about Islamic terrorist, you watch a movie about war and you bound to see Arab blowing up anything in their path to bits then they curse the western world. This image is spread throughout our country and has made a group of people singled out to be victimized. Before the attacks of september 11, 2001 Arabs in most roles of tv shows and movies were portrayed as terrorist, to stupid to understand how much money they had, they were overly attracted to American women and only seen women as objects. These stereotypes have been ingrained into American society and have been very detrimental to our country.
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
In my opinion, the most compelling movie opening is American Sniper, a biographical war movie directed by Clint Eastwood and based on famous United States sniper, Chris Kyle. In the beginning scene of the movie, a U.S. sniper is in position on a roof with his spotter and watching the battlefield through his scope. Meanwhile, ground troops are seen covering ground on foot and in tanks. They quickly break in to an apartment and take it over. On the other side, the sniper calmly notices a woman and her child standing in front of the ground army troops. The sniper radios in that there is a possible threat and he has a clear shot on the targets. A ground troop responds that he has no confirmation on the visual