2nd Half of HUM3321 Reel Bad Arabs Jack G Shaheen Main Idea and Basis for argument Repeated negative stereotypes of Arabs Hollywood has created a culture of unquestioning acceptance of those stereotypes We miss the day to day people Consistent view of Arabs Same type of clumsy awkward dangerous people Survey of 900 films and TV shows from beginning of Hollywood s film industry to contemporary film Stereotype Sheik Rich and lecherous Often pursuing power wealth and western women Sex starved Stereotype Maidens Femme fatales out to victimize American and British heroes Mute subservient and erotic belly dancers Queens or princesses Always passive Stereotype Egyptians Violent Poverty stricken Mummies and magical curses Stereotype Palestinians Terrorists Connects portrays to events in the news and conflicts Ignorance leads to stereotypes Cultural differences Ignorance of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood Why the persistence stereotypes Replicating negative portrayal Continue the tradition of stereotypes Conflict creates stereotypes Hollywood reacts to moments of conflict News and other popular culture representations inform and reinforce the 1940 s foundation of Israel and the Arab Israeli wars 1973 Oil embargo Rise of dictators Two Gulf wars Combatting the stereotypes Start making more realistic characters Wants us to know that Arabs have been depicted Stop relying on stereotypes White Privilege Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Peggy McIntosh White Privilege White people have it better than blacks Whites have an advantage There are things that we do that others cant do as easily The Film School Generation Belton Chapter 13 Importance of film schools New release patterns Documenting change in American culture cinema and way people make films The New Wave French Five o First professional movie critics o Analyzed movies o Film is an art o Professional film geeks o 1950 s in France Explosion of film by first time directors New form of apprenticeship Combination of genres The Auteur Theory Directors as Stars Andrew Sarris The American Cinema 1968 o Influence by French Five o Encouraged American to look at their cinema o Popularizing film critics o Think of directors as authors invisible authors they create narrative we see o Helped us appreciate film Retrospective o American critics become film directors o 1960 s o Now directors bring advanced editing crafting more detailed films Training ground Rise of Film schools o Collapse of studio system o New group of professionally trained directors o Learn how to be a trained director o Film becomes a component of liberal arts The Color of Money Youth and film economics o Changes in movie going audience o 1960 70 s popular low budget films o Fewer people were seeing movies o Most people seeing movies were under 30 o More influenced by counter culture o Hollywood is losing money o Make films toward young audience o Hollywood shifted focus o New generation of film makers Roger Corman School o Movement o RC director master of exploitation films o Exploit audience try to make money o Teach people how to make films that make money o Genre specific films help make money o Jaws Low budget gets big budget treatment New film release pattern Evidence of new type of film References Meaning and Post modernism Art of Allusion o Trained in film o Throwback references to previous films o Replication but innovation o Models classics o Producers are idols of younger directors Post Modern Case Study Taxi Driver Exposes contradiction of 70 s America Saying something that has not already been said Reagan Years Sense of pride Reagan America is exceptional individualism capitalism Don t apologize for the past Conservative films Individualism rules America s identity changes Muscle men Destiny Rocky Film s contradictory impluses 1980 s New filmmakers product of new cultural experience Hollywood looks to the future Films trying to make money Films raise moral issues Rendition 2007 What if someone you loved just disappeared Genre Mystery Drama Thriller Anti war Point of view Multiple views Amar and wife Techniques Flashbacks Out of order You have to piece together the movie Dark spaces torture Who s the bad guy Tension Light spaces white Americans Corinne Class All classes Poverty to wealth Upper class power in control Race White Arabic Muslim Society in Africa Religious and violent Arabs Gender Women powerful in charge naive Men violent controlling sexist revolting Are we doing the right thing Degree of day to day life Feminism the family and the new mediated maternalism Angela McRobbie Neoliberalism Scholars used to describe the shift in America in terms of national priorities 80 s when it kicked in Americas tax policies Government needs to stop taxing Americans to allow for Americans to have their own money Stop helping people through government Rhetoric of individuality Dismantling welfare programs Deregulate Market driven solutions to social and economic problems o Inform people then people will stop o Pollution example Less of a social safety net Impact on single moms Remove government sponsored programs that helped single moms Feminism Women s equality feminism developed simultaneously with neoliberalism Co opted feminism Development of feminism 60 s and 70 s Ideal of working class mother o Reaction to patriarchy o Liberated women o Independent economically sexually Transformation Development of middle class mother Feminism has been taken over by neoliberalism A good women is a middle class mother Balances career sexual life and family life On the move Either working and earning money or spending money Complete control over body spending money to perfect herself Results Individual perfection She s a consumer o Middle class women have more responsibilities then ever o Slave to her lifestyle Economic necessities Wage earners Two income family required for middle class lifestyle Single Moms o No sympathy for single moms o Non support networks o Equally trapped socio economically o Portrayed as Welfare queens Women chooses to be lazy have children and exist off of welfare Racially coded as black female behavior Makes middle class women not sympathetic to lower class women they look down on them Gender as social structure theory wrestling with activism Sex and gender Sex Gender o Biology anatomy physiology Example male female hermaphrodite o Achieved status constructed psychological cultural and social means Example boy girl man woman The destructive power of money Karl
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