Stereotyping In Movies

Rich, snobby, cheap, and talkative are all stereotypes I have been labeled because I am Jewish. One day in Junior High my teacher Dr. Lnych broke the class down into groups of two. Our project was that we had to interview each other and write a biography on the other person. As the teacher called out the names of who would be working with who I remeraber getting all excited as she said, “Jacklyn Blecker and Kerri Zarriello”. I didn’t know Kerri very well so I was excited to be her partner hoping that this would help me get to know her better. Everything was going well until Kerri asked, “ What religion are you?” I quickly answered, “Jewish.” I clearly remeraber what happened next because it changed my life. Kerri didn’t go on asking me questions, instead she said “oh so you are rich right?” Kerri didn’t mean to upset me, but I remeraber how I felt after that question. My body went nurab and I wanting to crawl into a little ball and just disappear. Ever since that day, I made a vow to myself that I would never stereotype anyone, and that I would stick up for anyone that was stereotyped, because I knew what it felt like to be placed in a group, rather than to be looked at as an individual.
Many different groups of people have been stereotyped. The movie The Siege has brought up much controversy in the United States on whether or not it poorly stereotypes Muslims. The filmmakers believe that the movie was intended to inform the public of stereotyping, not to worsen anti-Arab sentiment. Many people, especially Muslims, believe that The Siege poorly stereotypes Arabs. The Muslim population especially believes that this stereotype will lead to anti-Arab sentiment.
In a Washington Post editorial Jack Shaheen says, “In the movie Arabs blow up the city’s FBI building, murdering scores of government agents; they blast theatergoers, and detonate a borab in a crowded bus” (Shaheen C3). This is a stereotypical portrayal of Arabs. Arabs are shown here as terrorists, capable of killing innocent people. The Arabs who blow up government agents, theatergoers, and a crowded bus must be insane. Such acts of terrorism are not seen on a normal basis; therefore people tend to relate acts of terrorism to people not of the norm. People don’t just go out and kill thousanRAB of people for no reason. The movie shows Arabs as capable of destruction, sending out a negative stereotypical message to viewers that all Arabs are capable of this.
Television has become American society’s cultural and spiritual leader. Overlooking its obvious entertainment based purpose, People have let the television control and dictate their lives. While watching the movie, viewers allow themselves to let stereotypes blur their vision and corrupt their imagination. People tend to trust what they are watching. They feel that television speaks the total truth, so therefore when they see Arabs portrayed as terrorists on television their opinions of Arabs tend to be swayed. This is true whether the viewer is Arab or non-Arab, the same message is being sent and received.
While watching the movie The Siege, I let the negative portrayal of Arabs get to me In a Washington Post editorial Jack Shaheen adRAB, “ The movie not only reinforces historically damaging stereotypes, but promotes a dangerously generalized portrayal of Arabs as rapidly anti-American” (Shaheen C3). I agree with this quote based on one scene which I feel fully illustrates Shaheen’s idea. When the FBI takes all of the Arab males in a certain age frame and locked them up in holding areas. This scene really got to me; it made me feel like the FBI didn’t trust any Arab males so why should we the viewers trust them. In the movie they show an aerial view of the Arabs waiting in the cell. While watching carefully all I saw were each and individual face of the hostages. Many of them confused, upset, and some in total shock. The looks of their faces made my body shiver, all I wanted to do was open the gates and set them all free. When they do this, the message I received was that all Arab males are capable of terrorism, so that is why they needed to keep them in holding cells. If the FBI had trust in the innocent Arabs that they were locking up for no reason they wouldn’t have needed to hold them in cells; they would have been trusted like the other thousanRAB of Americans walking freely on the streets.
Edward Zwick argues in favor of the filmmakers in the Washington Post, “Because some scenes in the movie show innocent Arab Americans being tossed indiscriminately into detention centers, the film would make American moviegoers examine their reactions to terrorism, that it would provoke thought ” (quoted in Shaheen C3). After reading and thinking about both sides of the story I see the filmmaker’s intentions to inform people of stereotyping. I agree that the way they treated the innocent Arabs in this scene was horrible, but I do not feel that it provokes thought. I feel that the original intentions were good but the filmmakers could have added more to stress the response of the FBI. In a movie like this, there needed to be a clear-cut message to the viewers of what their intentions are.
Although these movies do not have the intention of creating stereotypes, people tend to take what they see and apply it to real life. This application is exactly why the Muslims are protesting the movie The Siege. They feel that a movie like this one will influence people in an anti-Arab way. In a Washington Post editorial Jack Shaheen comments on the movie The Siege, “The Siege lumped our country’s six million to eight million hard-working and law-abiding doctors, construction workers, police women and artist together with the lunatic fringe”(Shaheen C3). Arabs are typically portrayed as terrorist but this portrayal is taking all Arabs and placing them in this stereotype. As Shaheen states in the Washington Post editorial, they lump together all Arabs, whether they are doctors, construction workers, police, or artist into the same stereotype. The filmmakers of The Siege are doing the same thing that my classmate did to me when I was in junior high. All the Arabs who have worked hard to obtain their status in society, and build a name for themselves and their families are subject to the stereotype that all Arabs are terrorist and evil. Arabs are now being labeled as part of this group and not being looked at as individuals. This is clearly shown in the movie, when the Lebanese-American FBI agent Tony Shalhoub goes crazy. He suddenly turns his badge implying that he belong locked up with all the other Muslims and wasn’t worthy or his job.
Shaheen, also the author of an article entitled, “TV Arabs,” talks about stereotypes. “Arabs as billionaires or borabers, rarely victims. He realized that it is not going to be easy to turn around the stereotype they place on Arabs because it is all over the place” (Shaheen 286). I agree with Jack Shaheen in many television shows and movies they portray the bad guys as Arabs. Even in children’s cartoons they tend to show the evil villain as an Arab. Children need to have a better view of Arabs than the ones projected in movies like the Siege. How are children supposed to accept Arabs as equals if they are constantly reinforced to believe that they are evil? Even Arab children themselves are going to question the dignity of Arabs. If they see a movie with someone of their own ethnic background on television going around killing people, how are they supposed to feel about themselves what are they supposed to believe? These children do not know enough to differentiate between made up stories for television and real life.
Stereotyping affects everyone, whether it be the one who is being stereotyped or others. People of every ethnic background feel the repercussions of stereotypes. The group being stereotyped has to be strong enough to not let the stereotype impact their lives. Since stereotyping doesn’t necessarily reflect the individual, people need to realize that a stereotype is a generalization. Although an individual might be nothing like the stereotype, with enough convincing they might actually change so they can say they fit into the stereotype they are being placed in. In an article called TV Arabs Jack Shaheen says, “To a child, the world is simple: good versus evil. But my children and others with Arab roots grew up without ever having seen a humane Arab on the silver screen, someone to pattern their lives after” (Shaheen 287). This is especially relevant to children, growing up; children tend to watch a lot of television. These Arab children are constantly watching Arabs playing bad guys who go around killing people. Sooner or later these kiRAB may actually be convinced that this is the way they should act. As for the groups not being stereotyped, they need to keep an open mind and not let the characters of television influence how they feel about a certain individual.
I think that we need to stop stereotyping any ethnic group on television especially the Arabs; we need to start considering everyone, especially the group that is being stereotyped. If all filmmakers considered everyone’s feelings when making a new story line, then television wouldn’t have the ability to corrupt the minRAB of the thousanRAB of viewers who watch it day in and day out. If the filmmakers of The Siege thought about the negative stereotype placed on Arabs before the movie was even created they could have avoided all this unnecessary discussion about its intentions. In the beginning of the movie the FBI was being helped by and Arab, they gave him his trust. This could have been used as a turning point between creating a stereotype and showing that stereotyping was wrong. Instead of helping the FBI it turns out that he used them for the final destination of the city. He was not only not helping the FBI; he was in turn the final cell of all the terrorism.
I understand how the Arabs feel after they were stereotyped as terrorist in the movie The Siege, because I know what it is like to be stereotyped. The way that they were shown as capable of all the malicious acts is the same way I felt when my classmate in junior high labeled me as rich just because I was Jewish. No matter how severe the stereotype is, one has the right to get agitated when they are looked at as a group rather than an individual. Religion or ethic background is not enough to label someone as the same as everyone belonging to that group; all people within are different in one way or another.
Based on the above facts, I feel that Sheehan is right in his belief that the Arabs are receiving unfair stereotyping. I don’t feel that the filmmakers’ intentions were to create any unfair stereotype; I do agree that their intentions were to inform the public of the impact of stereotypes on a certain group. However I feel that the movie should have showed how the FBI did overreact and how unfair it was to the good, law abiding Arab citizens. If the movie showed more about the unfair treatment of the Arabs, and the over acting of the FBI then I would be less inclined to label The Siege as stereotyping.

Works Cited

Shaheen, Jack. “TV Arabs.” Race, class, and gender in the United States. Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998. 286-288.

Shaheen, Jack. “We’ve Seen This Plot Too many Times.” Washington Post 15 Noveraber 1998,: C3