Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People

Video
2006
50m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

662

YOUR RATING

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006)

Against the chaotic backdrop of ongoing war and conflict in the Middle East and rising fears of terrorism in the West, the makers of the critically-acclaimed documentaries Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land and Edward Said: On Orientalism have produ

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This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood block... Read allThis groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of deg... Read allThis groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs an... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

662

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Self
(archive footage)

Ana Obregón

Self - Catalina
(archive footage)

Jack Shaheen

Self - Narrator
(as Dr. Jack Shaheen)

Director
- Sut Jhally
Writer
- Jack Shaheen
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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7.4662

Related interests

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Documentary

History

War

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Quotes
Self - Narrator: Politics and Hollywood's images are linked; they reinforce one another. Policy enforces mythical images, mythical images help enforce policy. Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America has said "Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA." The Arab image began to change immediately after World War 2. There were three things that impacted the change: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, in which the United States is unequivocally supported Israel; the Arab oil embargo in the 70s, which angered Americans when gas prices went through the ceiling; and the Iranian Revolution, which increased Arab-American tensions when Iranian students took American diplomats hostage for more than a year. These three pivotal events brought the Middle East into the living rooms of Americans, and together helped shaped the way movies stereotyped Arabs and the Arab world.

Connections
Featured in The Arrivals (2008)

Soundtracks
Al Qantara
Composed by Simon Shaheen
Performed by Simon Shaheen and Qantara
Published by The Two Tenors and Qantara: Historic Live Concerts of Arabic Masters
Courtesy of Ark 21 Records