I have never seen the FOX television show '24' but from an article I recently read I can see why Muslims and other Arab people may take offense to the portrayal of Muslims on the show as terrorists. Unfortunately, I do not see anything changing because the network has already issued a statement saying they have not singled out any ethnic or religious group in their portrayal of the main characters' enemies. Also, FOX has so much money and teams of lawyers behind them that the interests of individuals is not that high on their list of concerns.
This article got me thinking about other negative images of Muslims and Arabs in American media. One example that is particularly disturbing to me because it is targeted at children comes from the Disney movie, Aladdin. The first song in the movie is called "Arabian Nights" and the first few lines of it as they appear in the film are as follows: "Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place / Where the caravan camels roam / Where it's flat and immense / And the heat is intense / It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." First of all, it calls the Arabian Peninsula "barbaric" but that is not even the worst part. The original lyrics that were changed at the behest of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee were: "Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place / Where the caravan camels roam / Where they cut off your ear / If they don't like your face / It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." It is appalling that the people responsible for making this movie for children would perpetuate that kind of a stereotype on purpose.
I truly hope that we are becoming less ignorant about these issues and this type of media representation will become less frequent.
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4 comments:
The tie-in to children's media seems very important. (If you read about it, opposed to discovering the lyrics yourself, will you make sure to acknowledge the source? It doesn't have to be a full citation, just a recognition.)
I just saw this on a lyrics website a few years ago when I was looking for Disney lyrics.
http://www.fpx.de/fp/Disney/Lyrics/
I think that is fascinating! It's funny how they censor lyrics in order to put it in a childrens movie! The fact that they have to censor is sad, but interesting none the less. (Especially since it's from a Disney movie!)Great post, really funny and intruiging!
I think this is a very important topic to consider today and in the future due to the amount of stereotypes still prevelent in the media geared toward Muslim individuals.
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