Title: Reel Bad Arabs - How Hollywood Vilifies a People

Author & Narrator: Dr. Jack Shaheen

Year: 2006 (based on book published in 2001)

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10

How is our perception of Arabs shaped by the movies and television shows we watch?

Having served in Iraq for a year side-by-side with Iraqi soilders, many of whom were Arab (most of the remainder being Kurds), I wondered what the answer to this question would be. I felt like I had a reasonably “fair and balanced” perspective on the Arab mindset and lifestyle (at least in Iraq), having had a chance to work with many Arab soldiers and to interact with numerous Arab civilians.

Still, I had no idea how or whether the Hollywood written and produced entertainment I had watched may have also shaped my perceptions. Having had the experience - for better or worse - of living in Iraq for a year, I had a reasonable understanding of Arab people and Islam. I was very interested in watching the movie to think about the perspective of Americans who had never traveled to a predominantly Arab nation or culture.

Overall, the movie makes a stong case that many movies reinforce certain negative stereotypes about Arab people. Dr. Shaheen continuously compares these inaccuracies to how other ethnic and religious groups have been characterized by Hollywood. (I was a bit surprised that Italians were not included in his documentary, at least from what I can remember.) He goes out of his way to show that Arabs are not the only group to have sustained this treatment from Hollywood. Some viewers many be left asking whether this common treatment of ethnic and religious groups is so common that it become acceptable or possibly, on the flip side, it should not be tolerated at all.

Mostly from an emotional perspective, some viewers may have trouble relating to his comments about any stereotypes against Arabs in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Regardless of the facts or analysis of 9/11, the wounds may, in fact, be too recent and deep to have included 9/11 in this documentary as having any relationship or relevancy to any anti-Arab bias by Hollywood.

In the spirit of learning “what I don’t know that I don’t know,” this was a very thought provoking movie across the board.

Here’s the link to the Media Education Foundation to purchase the movie.

(It’s not a widely distributed movie so I was not able to find a participating MyTroops store that sells it. This is a rare exception when your purchase does not earn rewards for our Featured Troop.)

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