Reel Bad Arabs - videos
Planet of The Arabs - a must
see!
Official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2005. A
trailer-esque montage spectacle of the Jewish Hollywood's relentless
vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims. Inspired by the
book "Reel Bad Arabs" by Dr. Jack Shaheen.
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a
People
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
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 and gun-wielding
"terrorists" - a long the way offering devastating insights into the
origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points
in US history, and why they matter so much today. Shaheen shows how
the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize
prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process
reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of
specific US domestic and internationl policies on their lives.
Analyzing over 900 Hollywood films made from 1896 to 2004, Dr. Shaheen exposes American cinema's systematic and pervasive degradation and dehumanization of Arabs.
