“Bad Arabs” Reflection
This film was a great source to shine a light behind the closed doors of Hollywood. Hollywood has been painting a bad picture for Arabs and Muslims since the early 1950s and the stereotype of Arabs being terrorists has been engrained into American culture. Jewish, Black, and Asian stereotypes have at this point been diminished, but Arab stereotypes thrive. Yes, the film did prove that Hollywood was falsely depicting people of the Middle East. However, I do have a question as to why Muslims voluntarily acted in these movies. Why did Arab or Muslim actors in the United States voluntarily play these roles that depict their own people in a bad light? If Arab people don’t want Americans to think that they are violent, then they shouldn’t play the roles that paint Arab and Muslim people as terrorists. If I were an actor of Middle Eastern descent and I was asked to play a terrorist that kills Americans, I would not voluntarily do that. If getting a role in movie meant that I had to prove that my culture was violent, barbaric, and irrational, it would not be worth it.
