Misrepresentation of Arabs in Film

When reading the two articles about Arabs being portrayed as enemies by the government and the misrepresentation of blacks throughout out the media neither concept was new to me since I had learned about them before or seen it happen in real life, as with the portrayal of Arabs as enemies. What did surprise me, was the video about Arabs being vilified throughout the history of American film. This was something that I had been surrounded by my whole life, but I had never noticed it or heard people talk about it. This is a prime example of how representation can lead to misconception if the viewer is not aware they are being show information that is not entirely true. I grew up loving the movie Aladdin, and I never once stopped to think that the movie may have been representing Arabs unfairly; I just liked the movie for its entertainment value. It is true that movies need antagonists to be entertaining and this is most likely the movie industry’s aim when they portray Arabs as bad guys, but it is not fair to always use one cultural group as the enemy. The bad guys in movies do not need to be Arabs in order for the movies to be entertaining. This repeated negative portrayal leads Americans to have a negative view of Arabs in general and view them all as enemies. It may be true that Americans can only understand the Arab world in terms of violence, but the film industry, which has such a large audience, should use their medium to try to change this negative perception rather than reinforce it. The film industry should increase their efforts to make films that show Arabs as protagonists, or at least in a more positive light.