Arabs are portrayed in film as film characters in both Arab films as well as non-Arab films, and both Arabs and non-Arabs take the role of an Arab. These portrayals often depict an ethnocentric perception of Arabs rather than an authentic and realistic depiction of Arabic cultures, religions, dialects, as well as customs and traditions. Common characteristics that are implemented in the role of Arab characters include speaking in a heavy accent, being hostile and vicious, and are in the context of terrorism. Key issues that have been explored in these portrayals include how Arabs are identified in mainstream Hollywood film, how Arabs self-represent themselves in their own film, with examples from Egyptian cinema, Palestinian cinema, as well as Syrian cinema. This article will also cover the emphasis on Islamophobia and its impacts on film. There has also been the portrayal of Arab women in film, the portrayal of Arabs post 9/11, the portrayal of Arabs in silent film, and positive portrayals and negative portrayals of Arabs. Lastly, the United States efforts to avoid the stereotyping of Muslims/Arabs and shifting the focus onto a positive outlook.
Mainstream Hollywood films Arab actors who have become stars in Hollywood include Omar Sharif, who has been described as "the first Egyptian and Arab to conquer Hollywood".
The 1999 film The 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas as the Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan, is credited with pioneering a Muslim hero in Hollywood blockbusters. The film has since cultivated a devoted cult following, particularly among Muslims. In addition, Aladdin (2019) starring Mena Massoud has been described as a more positive and vibrant portrayal of an Arab character.
Muslims and Arabs are often identified in mainstream Hollywood films in several negative connotations. Throughout the history of Hollywood, Arabs have been portrayed in many different racial stereotypes in both Western culture and film. Often portrayed as evil people, or rich oil sheikhs, and most infamously, terrorists after the September 11 attacks. In most forms of Western media, Arabs are portrayed in a negative light, often in stereotypical roles. Two films that have been accused of portraying Arabs as barbaric are Rules of Engagement (2000) and Death Before Dishonor (1987).
Rules of Engagement (2000) This film was produced in cooperation with the US Marine Corps and the US Department of Defense. During its opening weekend, it reached number one at the box office, and grossed at roughly $15,000,000. Early in the movie, American marines defend the US Embassy in Southwest Asia against a crowd of Anti-American protesters who attacked with molotov cocktails and gunfire. With no choice, the main character, Colonel Childers, orders his men to open fire on the crowd in order to weed out the snipers hiding amongst them. The rest of the movie then focuses on the main character defending himself in court for his actions. Hussein Ibish, who is a spokesman for the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, described this film as one of the most racist films that was ever produced about Arabs. The film itself received mixed reviews and a lukewarm box office. Due to the main plot, Arabic critics accused the film of anti-Arab racism, describing it as American propaganda.
Death Before Dishonor (1987) In the film, US Marine Sergeant Jack Burns is sent on a mission to Israel. Fighting alongside Israelis and American marines, they defeat baby-murdering Palestinian terrorists as well as a German terrorist. In a scene in the film, a Palestinian terrorist asks a spying houseboy whether he would like to get back at the marines and that Allah would praise him for doing so. The boy nods in agreement and proceeds to blow up the US Embassy as well as himself. The scene then cuts to rumble everywhere, (the aftermath of the bombing incident), with a damaged US flag and a child's doll amongst the rumbles. The US Ambassador sighs and asks what sort of savages would do such a thing, then leave blood everywhere. He then observes a dead marine's corpse and comments on how his own mother wouldn't even recognize him. The New York Times critic, Janet Maslin, described the film as portraying Palestinians as terrorists that are "worthless, lying scum..."
Arab self-representation in film
Religious identities in Arab film production: National and moral imaginaries There are three main approaches in film that closely associate the larger Arab identity with just the Muslim Identity, disregarding other religions and beliefs in the Arab region. Some Arabic films address other religions and beliefs as part of the larger Arab identity, but the majority of Arab films still intertwine Muslim and Arab identity as being one, both implicitly as well as explicitly. The first approach is in how main historical Arab religious films have had a tendency to explicitly address religious identity through the telling of Islamic history, and, as such, convey a historically deep-rooted Muslim identity. The second approach is in how large numbers of dramas that get produced implicitly display religion. This is either displayed in the set's location (e.g. a mosque), or displayed through the character's behaviour (e.g. visiting a shrine or praying on a Muslim prayer mat). This approach displays the Muslim identity as being the moral compass used to address ethical as well as social aspects of everyday life. The third approach is in how a film gets to set parameters on how a Muslim is defined, whether a bad Muslim character or a good Muslim character. This is usually prone to stereotyping.
Picturing historical Islam Ibrahim ‘Izz al-Din, director of the Egyptian film Zuhur al-Islam (1951), depicts life in the Arab Peninsula before the rise of Islam. The film was originally inspired by the historical novel Al-Wa’d Al-Haq (The True Promise, 1950), by Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, who tried to rewrite Islamic history. It depicted how the first Muslims struggled with their new belief, opposed by worshipers of other gods or religions. These first Muslims were tortured. However, despite that, they persisted and kept faithful to their newly acquired religion. Quite a number of similar films were produced, all depicting Islam to be victorious in its emergence during its early years. However, none of these films were historically accurate. These films symbolically represented the re-emergence of national identity after colonial rule, relating to mainly resurfaced views on morality. These films failed in accurately depicting the story of Islam's military victories, but rather, represented the moral restoration of people whose morals were repressed under colonialism. With the increase of the significance of Islam as being tied to Arab identity, the genre of the historical religious dramas gained increasing popularity with television shows, series, as well as film. This depiction of Muslims being victims of slander and colonialism whilst also being victorious, has become a popular character mold again after the events of 9/11, as Muslims had to suffer with stigmatization by the West.
Everyday realism with religious elements
The ‘everyday drama’ is one of the most popular genres in Arab cinema. Religion in films of this genre plays an implicit role in the setting, characters, actions, or symbols, which predominantly are identified as being Muslim, the religion of the protagonists and their society. Some of the images that feature in these films include images of mosques, as well as churches and synagogues, images of women wearing the hijab as well as images of women wearing the cross around their necks, images of saints, shrines, people praying, as well as secularists, atheists, fundamentalists, magic, religious violence, and the call to prayer. There are images of the Islamic pilgrimage (the Hajj), images of the holy Islamic feasting month of Ramadan, the two holy annual Islamic holy feats and Christmas. Therefore, religious values are portrayed as a natural part of daily life in these films, regardless of the fact that the film or its storyline is not directly about religion itself. Religious values in these everyday dramas are often portrayed as a social struggle against injustice rather than a religious one, which is embodied in the protagonist or hero, who represent the ideal human and moral way of behaving. The protagonist is exposed to injustice and opposes it in a civil manner, a manner that is rooted from tradition, morals, fairness, as well as other positive human values. In religious historical films, moral and ethical values which derive from Islamic tradition, are the natural answer to social injustice. This further emphasizes the inherent as well as natural behaviour or character of religious identity. This identity is further strengthened by visualizing Islamic tradition as being evident in so aspects of daily life. Two particular examples which are popularly used in depicting a Muslim identity in the everyday drama genre, is the call to prayer as well as the use of holy places and sites.
What makes a film "Arab"? In an interview conducted by Jack Thomas Taylor, an assistant curator at The Media Majlis of Northwestern University in Qatar, with the film scholar and filmmaker Viola Shafik, she was asked what makes a film ‘Arab’. Her response argued that it was a controversial topic because the Arab region is vast and the term ‘Arab’ in itself could be interpreted from many different perspectives such as from a colonial perspective or an orientalist perspective. She also goes on by arguing that Pan-Arabism and Arab Nationalism are ideologies that were trying to unify all Arab states into one identity, disregarding the fact that the Arab region is a region of ethnic and linguistic diversity, religious diversity, as well as geographical and historical differences.
"Arab" and "Arabia" as makeshift terms Shafik was also asked whether the term ‘Arab’ was sufficient to represent all aspects of the region's culture, as well as the ways in which that has influenced fictional ‘Arab’ character that has been so often stereotyped in film. Her response was that since she was a student of Oriental Studies in Germany, she was trained to observe the ‘Arab’ region from a psychological lens. Language was one aspect that was studied.
The Arabic language in itself was not enough to combine to group the region; therefore, the vernacular as well as colloquial cultures and differences had to be taken into consideration. Shafik also said that she gets offended at the terms ‘Arab’ and ‘Arabia’ as a nation, especially how Arabia has been popularly portrayed as this imaginary world from One Thousand and One Nights, a place which she claims she does not know of but apparently still exists in film. Shafik goes on by saying that the word ‘Arab’ was a word that was constructed, and understanding the definition of it as well as the definition of ‘othering’, is crucial in terms of understanding how this construction of this word was used as a tool to demonize, essentialize, as well as fetishize the other.
This process has spread its course over the region influencing this imaginary ‘Arabia’ as well as the character of the so-called Arab. This othering process is now inevitable and cannot reverse its impacts on the region, especially given the region's colonial history. In the years following decolonization as well as post-colonial era, stereotypes of Arabs in film started to emerge. One stereotype was that of the Arab being a terrorist, which essentially was a result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Another stereotype was the Arab being the villains which was very much evident and popular in films produced in France as well as the United States, that date back as early as the 1920s and 1930s, and even more popular in the 1940s, especially during the rule of the French in Algeria where a strong resistance to the French was forming.