From “Navy Seals” to “The Siege”: Getting to Know the Muslim Terrorist, Hollywood Style

By Rubina Ramji
University of Ottawa

End Notes

1. Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. x.

2. Ibid., p. x.

3. See Darrol M. Bryant, “Cinema, Religion, and Popular Culture,” in Religion in Film, eds., John R. May and Michael Bird (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1982), pp. 104-114. Bryant claims that art is the expression and reshaping of the loyalties, anxieties and aspirations of a society. He states that “movies do what we have always asked of popular religion, namely, they provide us with archetypal forms of humanity - heroic figures - and instruct us in the basic values and myths of our society. As we watch the characters and follow the drama on the screen, we are instructed in the values and myths of our culture and given models on which to pattern our lives.” p. 106.

4. Kelton Cobb, “Reconsidering the Status of Popular Film in Tillich’s Theology of Culture,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion LXIII, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 53-84.

5. Thomas Luckmann, The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967).

6. See Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 66-84 about the colonial stereotyping of the Other as “fantasy.” He states that the stereotype is a substitute as well as a shadow. The colonized Other has become a wild fantasy of the colonizer.

7. Joel Martin and Conrad Ostwalt, Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth and Ideology in Popular American Film (Boulder: Westview Press Inc, 1995), p. vii.

8. See Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1969) and Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System,” in Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, ed., Michael Banton (London: Tavistock, 1966), pp. 1-46 for a explanation of how secular significances, such as popular film, can effectively define reality in a consumer society.

9. Joel Martin and Conrad Ostwalt, Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth and Ideology in Popular American Film (Boulder: Westview Press Inc, 1995), p. 10.

10. Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 3.

11. We must remember that Hollywood’s view of the Orient is a product of the colonialist imagination as well as Western male gaze. See Ella Shohat, “Gender in Hollywood’s Orient,” Middle East Report (Number 162) 20, no. 1 (January-February 1990): pp. 40-42.

12. Bibliographic information about all movies cited in this thesis can be found in the Film Bibliography section.

13. See Ella Shohat, “Gender in Hollywood’s Orient,” Middle East Report (Number 162) 20, no. 1 (January-February 1990): pp. 40-42.

14. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 2. Jack Shaheen has undertaken a comprehensive review of Arab screen images, discussing virtually every feature that Hollywood has made portraying Arabs, which includes more than 900 films. Out of these 900 films, Shaheen found only 50 feature films which included Arab women, all portrayed as eroticized, demonized or humiliated and silent. In his survey, Shaheen does not focus on the image of the Muslim woman in the films. He reserves only two pages entitled Maidens in his introduction to give a brief overview regarding the portrayal of Arab Muslim women in the movies.

15. Ibid., p. 9.

16. Ibid.

17. Alice Swensen, “ Hollywood Harems: A Documentary by Tania Kamal-Eldin,” Café Arabica (May 2000).

18. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 11.

19. The Siege , directed by Edward Zwick ( USA, 1998).

20. Staff and Agencies, “Anti-Islamic Violence Breaks Out Around World,” The Guardian ( September 13, 2001).

21. True Lies , directed by James Cameron ( USA, 1994). This movie made over $146 million at the box office in the United States.

22. Markus Kirchhoff, “Depicting ‘Arabs’: True Lies,” Cinema and the Middle East Conference, Hambourg (December 1999).

23. Air Force One, directed by Wolfgang Peterson ( USA, 1997). This movie made over $172 million.

24. Christopher Read, “Terror Movies Surging In Popularity,” National Post ( September 19, 2001).

25. Navy SEALs , directed by Lewis Teague ( USA, 1990). This movie made $24.8 million at the box office.

26. Movies such as Protocol (1984), Jewel of the Nile (1985) and Bolero (1985) offer caricatures of Arab peoples. Movies such as Delta Force (1986), Iron Eagle (1986) and Into the Night (1985) begin to offer images of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists who hate Americans. See Jack G. Shaheen, “The Hollywood Arab,” Journal of Popular Film and Television 14, no. 4 (Winter 1987): pp. 148-157.

27. Not Without My Daughter , directed by Brian Gilbert ( USA, 1991).

28. Caryn James, as cited in Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 71. The article “Embrace the Stereotype: Kiss the Movie Goodbye” by Caryn James appeared in The New York Times, January 27, 1991.

29. Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 71.

30. Ibid.

31. The original novel by Betty Mahmoody offers a description of how her husband’s personality changes over time, from a happy and successful man into a “domestic tyrant.” This is one of many divergences from the novel not found in the movie. As cited in Margaret Miles, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 74.

32. The Sheltering Sky , directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (( USA, 1990)

33. Caryn James, as cited in Jack G Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 427. The review appeared in the New York Times (January 27, 1991) and made stereotypical connections to the movie Not Without My Daughter.

34. Naked Lunch , directed by David Cronenberg (CAN, 1991).

35. Jack G Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 345.

36. Operation Condor , directed by Frankie and Jackie Chan ( USA, 1997). Although this movie was a re-release of an earlier film, was edited and poorly dubbed, it managed to make over $10 million dollars in the United States.

37. In many American movies, the Arabs are often recognizable by wearing the kuffiyeh, a Palestinian symbol. Interestingly enough, this head covering has become a hot fashion accessory in Japan, with teenagers wearing it around the chin, with camouflage t-shirts and army-style pants. They are sold in army surplus stores. See Brian Whitaker, “An Arab Aesthetic,” The Guardian (November 13, 2001).

38. Executive Decision , directed by Stuart Baird ( USA, 1996). This movie earned more than $56.6 million dollars at the box office in the United States.

39. Jack G Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001).

40. Tom Tunney, “Executive Decision,” Sight and Sound 6, no. 6 (June 1996), p. 38.

41. The movies True Lies, Executive Decision, and Rules of Engagement have all been assisted by the United States Department of Defense and the US Marine Corps, who provided needed equipment, personnel and technical assistance. More than fourteen feature films which depict Americans killing Arabs have credited the Department of Defense for their assistance in the making of these films. When the Department of Defense was questioned about their involvement in the movie Rules of Engagement by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, their responding letter stated: “we would not provide assistance to a production that we believed implicitly or explicitly encouraged audiences to believe that untoward behaviour of ethnic or religious characters on the screen would be generalized to include all members of the group in reality.” As cited in Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 405.

42. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 189.

43. The Siege , directed by Edward Zwick ( USA, 1998). This movie earned over $40 million dollars at the box office.

44. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 432.

45. Ibid., p. 432.

46. Three Kings , Directed by David O. Russell ( USA, 1999). This movie continues the trend that the only helpful Muslims are those who have had exposure to the West. This movie made over $60 million dollars at the box office.

47. Rules of Engagement , directed by William Friedkin ( USA, 2000). Portrays the demonstrators in Yemen as fanatically anti-American. US marines open fire on the Yemenis violently demonstrating outside the US embassy in Yemen, shooting 83 men, women and children. This movie made over $61 million dollars.

48. Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) takes offense to the phrases “dune-coon” and “sand-nigger” because they are derogatory to African Americans, but the terms “towel-head” and “camel-jockey” are permitted.

49. Staff, “ Hollywood in Non-Stereotyping Shock,” Guardian Unlimited (October 1, 1999).

50. Jacqueline Bobo, “The Colour Purple: Black Women as Cultural Readers,” in Female Spectators: Looking at Film and Television, ed. E. Deidre Pribram (New York: Verso, 1988), p. 96. See also bell hooks, reel to real: race, sex, and class at the movies (New York: Routledge, 1996) for further discussion about spectators and the oppositional gaze.

51. Rules of Engagement made over $61 million at the box office in the United States.

52. The comment of “fucking gooks” refers to the fact that Childers and Hodges fought together in Vietnam. Childers shot a “gook” to get him to stop firing on the location where Hodges was trapped.

53. Caricatures that portray Islamic women as weak and oppressed have become more pervasive in recent years. See Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).

54. Aladdin , directed by John Musker and Ron Clemens ( USA, 1992).

55. From the movie Aladdin. In 1993, Disney executives deleted two lines from the opening lyrics for the video version because of public pressure. They removed “Where they cut off your ear” and “If they don’t like your face” but decided to keep the line “It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” As noted in Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001).

56. Out of all the movies researched in this investigation, Aladdin earned more money at the box office than any other movie. Air Force One was second overall, earning $44 million less than Aladdin, bringing in just over $172 million.

57. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 52.

58. Quote taken from the movie Aladdin

59. Ziauddin Sardar, Orientalism (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999), p. 103.

60. Parts of the Arab-American community refer to such movies as part of the “Three B Syndrome: Arabs are portrayed as either Bombers, Billionaires or Belly dancers. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, “100 Years of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim Stereotyping,” The Prism (Accessed March 26, 2003).

61. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , directed by Kevin Reynolds ( USA: 1991).

62. The Thirteenth Warrior, directed by John McTiernan ( USA: 1999).

63. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 482.

64. Laurie Goodstein, “Hollywood Now Plays Cowboys and Arabs,” The New York Times (November 1, 1998).

65. Jack G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People ( New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001), p. 21.