Former CBS News Middle East affairs consultant Jack Shaheen argued that Hollywood stereotypes dehumanize Arabs and Arab-Americans in a speech in Dartmouth Hall last night entitled, "Reel Bad Arabs."
Shaheen, a retired Southern Illinois University professor, engaged the audience with a plethora of evidence of Hollywood stereotyping, gathered from his more than 20 years of research. He said that the biggest problem is the "silence" that greets the film and television stereotypes.
He likened many stereotypes of Arabs and Arab-Americans to stereotypes of other races and ethnic groups that have appeared in popular culture, particularly Jews and African-Americans.
Shaheen showed video clips from a pair of Hollywood movies, one which he said portrayed Arabs in a negative way, and one, for which he worked as an cultural advisor for, that presented a more balanced vision of the Arab world.
"It's okay to be anti-Arab and anti-Muslim," Shaheen said of the climate in the national media, "and unfortunately it sells, and that means prospects [for change] are not good."
Shaheen has reviewed nearly 1,000 movies for his new book, also entitled Reel Bad Arabs.
Throughout his speech he showed several examples to support his contentions -- including that very rarely are Arab children seen doing anything other than throwing stones, and that Arab men are usually shown in mobs wearing similar clothing and are always shown as protestors and never as fathers, husbands or friends.
Despite the frigid temperature of the auditorium, the entire crowd of about 30 students and faculty stayed for an additional half-hour to ask Shaheen questions about his work and what could be done to stop the silence.
The small size of the crowd allowed for an informal question and answer session. Shaheen sat on the edge of the stage and tried to answer all the questions asked of him, adding once, "There's so much to say, we should get a cup of coffee."
In response to the question of what students could do to combat silence, Shaheen said, "Don't remain silent when these sort of things happen, take a stand. It's a hard thing to do, but it's the right thing to do."
Shaheen also added that he hoped his new book would raise awareness of the problem and promote new filmmakers to make a change.
