From Orientalism to Islamophobia: Media Representation of Arabs and Muslims on the Pre-and Post-9/11 Hollywood On-Screen and Egyptian Cinema
Keywords:
Cinema, Orientalism, Neo-Orientalism, Islamophobia, Hollywood, Stereotype, Arabs, MuslimsAbstract
Examining the development of Arab-Muslim identities in Hollywood and Egyptian films, the presented study tracks their transition from orientalism to neo-orientalism and Islamophobia. Utilizing an interpretive method, the research explores pre- and post-9/11 films by delving into textual analysis. During Hollywood’s pre-9/11 era, stereotypes were reinforced, but post-9/11 works greatly magnified Islamophobic representations. While some cinemas may have emphasized external changes, Egyptian cinema focused on challenging internal preconceptions and embracing the complexity of the surrounding world. The research highlights the media’s powerful role in forming opinions and advocates for responsible reporting. Media literacy programs hold immense potential in challenging stereotypes, and diverse representation is key. Collaborating with filmmakers, studios, and audiences is vital to ensure the responsible portrayal of Arab-Muslim identities.
References
Abbas, T. (2019). Islamophobia and radicalisation: A vicious cycle. Oxford University Press.
Abd-Elaziz, L., Dewidar, K. M., & Ismail, M. R. (2022). Orientalism and Islamic architecture. In Advances in Architecture, Engineering and Technology (pp. 141-151). Springer.
Abdelli, M. (2023). Beyond Borders and Stereotypes: Exploring American’s Relationship with the Middle East through Politics and Popular Culture. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.33277.74724.
Aboali, N. L. (2021). A Banned Identity: Explorations of Muslim Youth in United States Schools. Columbia University.
Aidi, L. (2021). Muslim stand-up comedy in the US and the UK: Incongruity, everydayness, and performativity. Religions, 12(10), 801.
Al-Maani, A. S. A. (2022). “ Inbetweeners”: dialogic strategies and practices for writing Arab migration through intercultural theatre: a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand Massey University].
Al-Malik, A. M. T. (2014). The image of the Other: Representations of East-West encounters in Anglo-American and Arabic novels (1991-2001). . University of Exeter (United Kingdom).
Al Musawi, M. A. K. (2018). Old and New Orientalisms, and Middle Eastern Responses. Western Illinois University.
Alaklook, H., Aziz, J., & Ahmad, F. (2016). Ambivalence and sympathy: new orientalism and the arab characters in ridley scott’s body of lies. e-BANGI Journal, 11(2).
Alghamdi, S. G. (2020). Orientalism and its challenges: Feminist critiques of orientalist knowledge production.
Allen, C. (2016). Islamophobia. Routledge.
Allred, M. K. (2021). Dark Temporalities: Technologies of Race and Lighting in Ernst Lubitsch’s The Loves of Pharaoh (1922). Film History: An International Journal, 33(2), 60-90.
Alsaidi, S., Velez, B. L., Smith, L., Jacob, A., & Salem, N. (2023). “Arab, brown, and other”: Voices of Muslim Arab American women on identity, discrimination, and well-being. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(2), 163.
Alsultany, E. (2013). Arabs and Muslims in the media after 9/11: Representational strategies for a” postrace” era. American Quarterly, 65(1), 161-169.
Bakali, N. (2016). Popular Cultural Islamophobia. In Islamophobia (pp. 63-78). Brill.
Barber, D. (2017). Lawrence of Arabia (1962): A Dying Empire’s Cri de Coeur. Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 47(1), 28-45.
Bayraktaroğlu, K. (2018). The Muslim world in post-9/11 American cinema: a critical study, 2001-2011. McFarland.
Berrebbah, I. (2020). Understanding Arab American Identity through Orientalist Stereotypes and Representations in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006). East-West Cultural Passage, 20(1), 29-51.
Bleich, E., Souffrant, J., Stabler, E., & Van der Veen, A. M. (2018). Media coverage of Muslim devotion: A four-country analysis of newspaper articles, 1996–2016. Religions, 9(8), 247.
Bosch Vilarrubias, M. (2016). Post-9/11 representations of Arab men by Arab American women writers: Affirmation and resistance.
Bouaziz Rahma, R. M. (2022). The Role of the Islamophobia Network in America in Distorting the Image of Islam and Muslims Post-9/11.
Brandt, M. J., & Sleegers, W. W. (2021). Evaluating belief system networks as a theory of political belief system dynamics. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 25(2), 159-185.
Burge, A. (2020). Review essay on The Sheik. Journal of Popular Romance Studies.
Burkette, J. W. (2022). Utopian Hope vs. Merely-Political Combat: Directionality for the Kingdom of God Virginia Tech].
Cabezón-Fernández, M. J. (2023). 2. Migration and otherness in the Mediterranean region: colonial past and postcolonial continuities through the conception of the’Other Moor’. Migration Patterns Across the Mediterranean: Exchanges, Conflicts and Coexistence, 50.
Casas, G. (2016). First Arab then artist: media discourse on Arab art in Western European digital media. The case of El Mundo, The Guardian and Libération.
Chmaissany, M. (2021). Counter-Hegemonic Self-Representation of Arabs and Muslims in Ramy: A Critical Pedagogical Analysis.
Corral, A., Pérez, B., & Oliva, H. J. (2021). New Portrayals of the Arab World in TV Series. In Handbook of Research on Contemporary Approaches to Orientalism in Media and Beyond (pp. 107-122). IGI Global.
Cummings, S., Boyces, B., Chavez-Tafur, J., Dewah, P., Dhewa, C., Harish, S., Hendrix-Jenkins, A., Kemboi, G., Ludwig, D., & Sanz, R. (2023). Uncomfortable truths in international development: approaches to the decolonization of knowledge in development practice. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 17(1/2), 1-9.
Darby, J. L., Fugate, B. S., & Murray, J. B. (2019). Interpretive research: A complementary approach to seeking knowledge in supply chain management. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 30(2), 395-413.
Deeb, Z. (2018). The manipulation of power game and handling of culturally-bound elements in the dubbing an subtitling of the film Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 7, 1348-1356.
Dunu, I. V., Onoja, I. B., & Asogwa, C. E. (2017). Rethinking ethnic identity through the media for sustainable national development in a multi-ethnic society. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 19(3).
Eijaz, A. (2018). Trends and Patterns of Muslims’ Depictions in Western Films.: An Analysis of Literature Review. Mediaciones, 14(21), 17-38.
Eisenhardt, K. M., Graebner, M. E., & Sonenshein, S. (2016). Grand challenges and inductive methods: Rigor without rigor mortis. In (Vol. 59, pp. 1113-1123): Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Eissa, E. A., Guta, H. A., & Hassan, R. S. (2022). Representations of Arab Women in Hollywood Pre-and Post-9/11. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 24(5), 21.
El-Bayoumi, A. (2023). Amr goes to hollywood. Arab Studies Quarterly, 45(1), 75-95.
El-Bouayadi, M. (2022). Orientalism on the screen: contextualising colonial cinema in Morocco. The Journal of North African Studies, 1-26.
El-Houssine, K. (2023). Counter-Representational Discourse of Islam in Islamophobic States: The Case of Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in Tangerine Scarf (2006). International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 3(1).
Elmenfi, F. (2023). Reorienting Edward Said’s Orientalism: Multiple Perspectives. International Journal of English Language Studies, 5(1), 64-70.
Elseewi, T. A. (2015). Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11 by Evelyn Alsultany. Cinema Journal, 54(4), 165-168.
Fattoumi, F., Channouf, G., & Channouf, G. (2023). Orientalism in US digital entertainment media and anti-Americanism in the Arab world: an integrative review. Annals of the International Communication Association, 1-30.
Ferrari, C. (2019). Spectacle, trauma, patriotism: Media and media studies in the aftermath of 9/11. 9/11 and the Academy: Responses in the Liberal Arts and the 21st Century World, 155-183.
Frailing, K., & Harper, D. W. (2016). Crime and criminal justice in disaster. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC.
Frank, Z. (2018). Terrorism, Boundaries, and Belonging in American and British Cinema Ohio University.
Gaede, J., & Rowlands, I. H. (2018). Visualizing social acceptance research: A bibliometric review of the social acceptance literature for energy technology and fuels. Energy research & social science, 40, 142-158.
Gentry, B. K. (2018). From Antagonists to Protagonists: Muslims on the Hollywood Screen.
Gupta, P. (2017). Reincarnations of Neo-Orientalism: Islam and its Representations in Post-9/11 Literature. Ohio University.
Hafsa, L. B. (2019). Overcoming the” Other’s” Stigma: Arab and Muslim Representations in US Media and Academia. Int’l J. Soc. Sci. Stud., 7, 1.
Haider, M. (2020). The racialization of the Muslim body and space in Hollywood. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 6(3), 382-395.
Hallaq, W. (2018). Restating orientalism: A critique of modern knowledge. Columbia University Press.
Harb, F. (2019). Barbaric Arabs: Hollywood Portrayals, a Content Analysis Movies and Television Shows Released During 2008 to 2018. Wayne State University.
Hassiba, B. (2016). American Orientalism within the East/West Dichotomy Université d’Oran.
Hendriks, M., & Burger, M. J. (2020). Unsuccessful subjective well-being assimilation among immigrants: The role of faltering perceptions of the host society. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(6), 1985-2006.
Ibaid, T. (2019). The waging of a virtual war against Islam: an assessment of how post-9/11 war-themed video games stereotype Muslims. University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Canada).
Iivari, N. (2018). Using member checking in interpretive research practice: A hermeneutic analysis of informants’ interpretation of their organizational realities. Information Technology & People, 31(1), 111-133.
Jakku, N. (2018). Islamophobia, representation and the Muslim political subject. A Swedish case study. Societies, 8(4), 124.
Jerbi, S. (2017). The Role of Media in Shaping the Arab/Muslim American Identity. ÖT KONTINENS(2), 91-106.
Keskin, T. (2018). An Introduction: The Sociology of Orientalism and Neo-Orientalism (Theories and Praxis). In Middle East Studies after September 11 (pp. 1-23). Brill.
Khadilkar, K., KhudaBukhsh, A. R., & Mitchell, T. M. (2022). Gender bias, social bias, and representation: 70 years of BHollywood. Patterns, 3(2).
Kiran, U., Qamar, A., Adnan, M., & Youssef, E. Y. M. (2021). Muslims depiction in Hollywood movies: A qualitative study. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 18(08), 1126-1136.
Kostenko, V. V., Kuzmuchev, P. A., & Ponarin, E. D. (2016). Attitudes towards gender equality and perception of democracy in the Arab world. Democratization, 23(5), 862-891.
Kvangraven, I. H. (2021). Beyond the stereotype: Restating the relevance of the dependency research programme. Development and Change, 52(1), 76-112.
Labidi, I. B. (2019). Undoing Stereotypical Representations in Arab and Muslim Cinemas: Challenges, Interruptions, and Possibilities. Arab Media & Society(27).
Labidi, I. B. (2021). Hollywood’s Bad Muslims: Misrepresentations and the Channeling of Racial Violence. The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 33(3), 126-137.
Li, K., & Zhang, Q. (2022). A corpus-based study of representation of Islam and Muslims in American media: Critical Discourse Analysis Approach. International Communication Gazette, 84(2), 157-180.
Mahdi, W. F. (2019). Representation without Recognition. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 59(1), 89-111.
Mayerhofer, I. (2021). Emergent Orientalisms in Contemporary US Buddhisms and Buddhist Studies University of Colorado at Boulder].
Mecheri, F. Z., Azoui, S., & Megherbi, N.-E. (2022). Hollywood and the construction of Islamophobia Université Frères Mentouri-Constantine 1].
Mecheri, F. Z., Azoui, S., & Megherbi, N. E. Université Frères Mentouri-Constantine 1). (2022). Hollywood and the construction of Islamophobia (Doctoral dissertation, . Université Frères Mentouri-Constantine 1).
Moore, M. M., & Ophir, Y. (2022). Big data, actually: Examining systematic messaging in 188 romantic comedies using unsupervised machine learning. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(4), 355.
Narcis, S. (2019). ‘Are you scared of being Muslim?’100% Arabica and the influence of raï music in defining Beur communities in France. In: Intellect.
Ncube, G. (2022). This is Improper and Irreligious: Navigation of Queer Sexuality, Religion, and Practice in Marwan Hamed’s Film Imarat Yácubyan and Abdellah Taïa’s Novel Une Mélancolie Arabe. African Journal of Gender and Religion, 28(2).
Neuendorf, K. A. (2017). The content analysis guidebook. sage.
Poria, S., Cambria, E., Bajpai, R., & Hussain, A. (2017). A review of affective computing: From unimodal analysis to multimodal fusion. Information fusion, 37, 98-125.
Radcliffe, S. A. (2022). Decolonizing geography: An introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Ramji, R. (2016). From navy seals to the siege: Getting to know the Muslim terrorist, Hollywood style. Journal of religion & film, 9(2), 6.
Ranjbari, M., Saidani, M., Esfandabadi, Z. S., Peng, W., Lam, S. S., Aghbashlo, M., Quatraro, F., & Tabatabaei, M. (2021). Two decades of research on waste management in the circular economy: Insights from bibliometric, text mining, and content analyses. Journal of Cleaner Production, 314, 128009.
Roddan, H. (2016). ‘Orientalism is a partisan book’: applying Edward Said’s insights to early modern travel writing. History Compass, 14(4), 168-188.
Sahari, Y. M. (2023). A Corpus-Based Study of Culturally Sensitive Terms in Subtitling Hollywood Films into Arabic Macquarie University].
Said, E. W. (1994). Orientalism. . New York: Vintage, 25th edn.
Salam, R. (2011). Hope in the most unlikely spaces: Thawra and the contemporary Arabic novel Queen’s University (Canada)].
Sallam, S. (2019). On the Dehumanising Nature of Photographic and Filmic Portrayals of Egyptian Mummies leiden university Leiden, The Netherlands].
Sazzad, R. (2017). Edward Said’s Concept of Exile: Identity and Cultural Migration in the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Senanayake, H. (2021). Hollywood and wicked other: the identity formation of “western us” versus “muslim others”. Open Political Science, 4(1), 64-67.
Shafiq, V. (2015). Arab Cinema.
Shaheen, J. (2003). Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588, 171-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716203588001011
Sheeba, K. (2019). Images on the Reel: Mapping a Muslim Subject in Post September 11 Movies University of Calicut.
Shirazi, F. (2016). Brand Islam: The marketing and commodification of piety. University of Texas Press.
Shoaeib, M. (2021). Addressing gender stereotypes in Egypt and the impact of gender-based violence in film and media.
Smith, A. M. (2021). Whitewashing v. Blackwashing: Structural Racism and Anti-Racist Praxis in Hollywood Cinema.
Smith, J. A. (2017). Textual analysis. The international encyclopedia of communication research methods, 1-7.
Soberon, L. (2017). The old wild West in the new Middle East. American Sniper (2014) and the global frontiers of the western genre. European journal of American studies, 12(12-2).
Solomon, S. B. (2023). Familiarity Breeds Contempt? the Impact of Minority Group Concentration on Hate Crime Activity Georgetown University.
Stanley, P. L. (2020). Americanization of Islamic Cultural Design: Erasure, Orientalism/Exoticism, and Americanization.
Sutkutė, R. (2020). Representation of islam and muslims in western films: An ‘imaginary’muslim community. EUREKA: Social and Humanities, 4, 25-40.
Tabbah, R. (2021). Arab American Youth: Discrimination, Development, and Educational Practice and Policy. Springer.
Tabib, M. T. S. (2022). The Rise of Neo-Fascist Populism and Islamophobia in the West Portland State University].
Tahsily fahadan, B. (2021). Critical Theory on movies: Culture Industry and the representation of Middle Eastern culture in American cinema.
Tuastad, D. (2003). Neo-Orientalism and the new barbarism thesis: Aspects of symbolic violence in the Middle East conflict (s). Third World Quarterly, 24(4), 591-599.
Williams, M., & Moser, T. (2019). The art of coding and thematic exploration in qualitative research. International Management Review, 15(1), 45-55.
Wong, M. (2019). A social semiotic approach to text and image in print and digital media. Springer.
Xypolia, I. (2016). Eurocentrism and Orientalism. The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, 11-36.
Yazdiha, H. (2020). All the Muslims fit to print: Racial frames as mechanisms of Muslim ethnoracial formation in the New York Times from 1992 to 2010. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 6(4), 501-516.
Yin, T. (2010). Through a screen darkly: Hollywood as a measure of discrimination against Arabs and Muslims. Duke FL & Soc. Change, 2, 103.
Zaal, M., Salah, T., & Fine, M. (2007). The Weight of the Hyphen: Freedom, Fusion and Responsibility Embodied by Young Muslim-American Women During a Time of Surveillance. Applied Developmental Science - APPL DEV SCI, 11, 164-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888690701454674
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Noor Bajuwaiber
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
