tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56747259711244150952024-03-13T00:20:12.640-07:00Turban DecayImages of Arabs in the cinema.Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-42181788787231168522018-01-22T17:13:00.002-08:002018-01-22T22:55:23.005-08:00True Lies (1994)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until last week, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> remained an overlooked item on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s and James Cameron’s long résumés. Hollywood poured $120 million (an astronomical sum at the time) into this overbearing, overlong action-comedy. It saw astronomical success at the time, but now, absent from streaming services, it remains the stuff of mothballed DVD boxes in attics everywhere. Schwarzenegger played Harry Tasker, a federal agent and one of the deadliest spies in the world… without telling his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) or his daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku). Harry’s family learns about his double-life when a Palestinian terrorist organization threatens him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> reentered the public consciousness a few days ago, when Dushku </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialElizaDushku/posts/1769957739689557" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">came forward</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with her harrowing story of sexual assault at the hands of stunt coordinator Joel Kramer. </span><a href="http://deadline.com/2018/01/joel-kramer-sexual-assault-accusations-stunt-women-eliza-dushku-1202243343/" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two other women</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have since made similar allegations. I believe all three accusers. I also find it bitterly appropriate that the most high-profile allegation concerns this film, which displays with a straight face all the things wrong with toxic masculinity and jingoism. If this film could walk and talk, it would hate women and minorities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Loads of Arabs and Muslims hated </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> before I walked in here. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Hooper" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ibrahim Hooper led CAIR</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in a </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/16/movies/arab-americans-protest-true-lies.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">protest</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> against the film. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reel Bad Arabs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Jack Shaheen vilifies this film for “perpetuating sick images of Palestinians as dirty, demonic, and despicable peoples,” going so far as to rank it among the worst depictions in film history. Muslim leaders in Indonesia </span><a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19940926&id=C5EpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ieoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5005,6916395&hl=en" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">attempted</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to have the film banned there. Casey Kasem decried the film’s racism in a letter sent to some major Hollywood players, and he </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/22/true-lies-or-stereotype/3279c7b4-2550-41d5-b666-900953d58190/?utm_term=.c16fc698af03" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">complained to SAG</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but those complaints had no apparent impact.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our protests stem not from shock but from enervation. We’ve seen this </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so many times</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> before: Arabs always depicted as “</span><a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-07-22/news/9407220489_1_arabs-true-lies-hooper" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” They hate all things American, and they communicate this by blowing shit up and firing guns into the air. The selectively-intelligent terrorists ululate and wave guns like cavemen brandish clubs, yet they operate sophisticated global networks to procure nukes. But, by showing Arabs detonating a nuke on American soil, this film takes cultural xenophobia to a new level.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, James Cameron really thought this a good time for an Old Hollywood kiss.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The film begins at a black-tie party in the Swiss castle of Arab oil billionaire Jamal Khaled (Marshall Manesh—an Iranian playing an Arab). Cameron stocks the castle with goose-stepping Germans on the outside and sneaky Arab henchmen on the inside. Right from the start, the juxtaposition of Nazi-esque Germans marching along the exterior with prying Arabs prowling the halls codes Arab characters as evil and anti-American. In what I’d hesitate to call a coincidence, Schwarzenegger never speaks his native German in the film, adding to the otherization of this German/Arab cloud of evil. (American audiences had long since adopted Schwarzenegger as an honorary American, and Cameron banks off of that to sell Harry Tasker as an American spy.) Juno Skinner (Tia Carrere), the obligatory femme fatale, acts as the sole American in the villainous retinue. She also has the most screen-time of any actor of color, because Hollywood </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">has</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> to make actors of color villains.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to the main villains, Arab characters serve as evil set dressing. As expected, they function as alternately murderous and inept cannon fodder. They bark guttural imprecations and charge at Harry Tasker in barbigerous, screaming waves only for Harry to gun them down and snap their necks and immolate them. In the third act, a group of Arabs sitting in a truck decide to fire an FIM-92 Stinger at a helicopter. The backblast knocks a hapless henchman through a windshield in an apparent attempt at comedy, and the missile ends up missing anyway.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, look, a non-Arab actor playing a risible Arab. Again. Goody.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite that they appear to live in America, we seldom see Arabs speak English. While Harry and Juno speak a few lines of obviously-rote-memorized Arabic, the context increases that otherization. Of course, spy stories have used this mechanism of henchmen looking the same and speaking the same non-western language since James Bond wore diapers, but </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> makes them seem even more like simplistically-programmed video game sprites than usual. Cameron adds insult by adding heroic-sounding music to Harry’s use of an improvised flamethrower. Nothing communicates to the audience not to see a people as human beings like hearing Brad Fiedel’s soaring score while a G-man wearing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face </span><a href="http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/ccwc_p3/text" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">commits a war crime</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you don’t know how it feels to see men who look like your relatives burned to death to riotous, patriotic cheers, thank your lucky stars.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a scene that </span><a href="https://mythresults.com/hollywood-gunslingers" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mythbusters</span><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> would debunk</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Helen drops a loaded MAC-10, and the stray weapon proves the deadliest in the film, mowing down half a dozen Arabs who </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">literally walk into the uncontrollable gun’s path</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. By this point, I just felt the film insulting my intelligence as a viewer and an Arab. Hell, Cameron, at least have the decency to have your nameless Arabs die by something better than a </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">gun-toting staircase</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This staircase literally has a body-count second only to Arnold.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salim Abu Aziz (played by Persian-British actor Art Malik—</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so close</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to ethnic accuracy, and yet so far) emerges as the film’s most prominent villain. He reveals himself as Juno’s boss and physically strikes her twice. He later attempts to thwart Harry’s pursuit by holding a black female bystander hostage. (Women of color get treated the worst in this film, because </span><a href="https://medium.com/applied-intersectionality/violence-and-women-of-color-3d48768fad7c" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">intersectionality</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.) This works off of and adds to the longstanding stereotype of Arab men as more animalistic, violent, and controlling than white men. Sadly, </span><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-56721-1_15" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">domestic violence remains a problem</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the Arab world, but that doesn’t absolve Cameron of having his most prominent Arab character commit violence against a woman as a cheap tactic to generate heat.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did you know Tia Carrere almost became a regular on <i>The A-Team</i>? Nothing to do with this film; I just would’ve really loved that.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In an interview, Cameron shrugged off these problematic aspects by saying, “I just needed some convenient villains” (which makes its own point as to Hollywood’s creative indolence). In the film, he appears to make perfunctory, insincere attempts to mollify Arab viewers. Harry and Gibson work with a recently-assigned sidekick by the name of Faisil (Grant Heslov, an ethnically Jewish actor). While Faisil looks Arab, and we hear him speak a few words of Arabic in the beginning of the film, Cameron never commits to explicitly making Faisil Arab. Faisil ends up the most ineffectual of Harry’s group of protagonists. The film contains a disclaimer buried in the credits: “This film is a work of fiction and does not represent the actions of beliefs of a particular culture or religion.” Of course, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> came out long before every movie with two coins to rub together added a post-credits stinger, so this disclaimer amounted to a breath against an avalanche.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PaxecHMhqa2onCAZx_qJNO1GcwmnwEX0rh1mvIlbn4B8KF5JUQYzc_vd0Vadr_-HTPRNpl0is-U27K66vu0_vR3EC4Fm9L0V15rHvuu3zXeG2SG8TI4kKKOUmlijn5ukCaCjr82Nppw/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-13h29m27s459.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="720" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PaxecHMhqa2onCAZx_qJNO1GcwmnwEX0rh1mvIlbn4B8KF5JUQYzc_vd0Vadr_-HTPRNpl0is-U27K66vu0_vR3EC4Fm9L0V15rHvuu3zXeG2SG8TI4kKKOUmlijn5ukCaCjr82Nppw/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-13h29m27s459.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This has stuck in my head all these years as a line that fills me with rage.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cameron’s other attempt comes when Aziz records a video explaining his motivations. He explains that he resents American soldiers for killing women and children in the Middle East. Aziz says, “You have killed our women and children, burned our cities from afar like cowards.” This has grown </span><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/civilian-deaths-drone-strikes_us_561fafe2e4b028dd7ea6c4ff" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">astronomically worse</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but our culture and government largely cloister everyday Americans from the reality of it. When worse evidence comes out, our political sphere </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chelsea-manning-commuted-why-in-prison-brack-obama-clemency-a7532466.html" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">blames the messenger</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This motivation should sound like a legitimate reason for anger. By 2007, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had </span><a href="https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/BE07C80CDA4579468525734800500272" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">killed 971 children</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the overwhelming majority of them Palestinian. But Cameron undercuts this by making a gag of the camcorder’s battery dying. In a better film, if you saw a man relate the sight of civilians gunned down by foreign soldiers only to get interrupted by a slapstick gag, how would </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">you</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> react?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These attempts do nothing to absolve Cameron or his crew of the result. This film contains the first instance in American film history of Muslims detonating a nuclear warhead on American soil. From start to finish, newscasts in the background warn against the dangers of Arab terrorists. Cameron dubs the Palestinian terrorist group Crimson Jihad. The word “crimson” indeed comes from Arabic, where it refers to red dye. But Cameron misuses </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad#Quranic_use_and_Arabic_forms" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">jihad</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (جهاد), which in Arabic has no intrinsic connotations of violence.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyT54z0psLI6x24tEdfcJOckWHbAoVphF4z1kw2rpqB_9AfLzDHyMwTDtJVDv3u-cJYXMB6ltQ3lmqRO-Q2Ab3mE8ohx77zNgRZDwvJY4HKWpjguff2qYctmMP2xP2X_UVE2s9OmCXTfo/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-15h51m44s666.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="720" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyT54z0psLI6x24tEdfcJOckWHbAoVphF4z1kw2rpqB_9AfLzDHyMwTDtJVDv3u-cJYXMB6ltQ3lmqRO-Q2Ab3mE8ohx77zNgRZDwvJY4HKWpjguff2qYctmMP2xP2X_UVE2s9OmCXTfo/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-15h51m44s666.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a weird accident of prescience, Crimson Jihad destroyed ancient statues toward their ends, just like <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150227-islamic-militants-destroy-statues-mosul-iraq-video-archaeology/">Daesh</a>.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">This ends in a final middle-finger to Middle Easterners in the finale. Harry and Helen, both now secret agents, dance together in a black tie party that parallels Khaled’s at the start. This party looks about the same… but with no Middle Easterners this time. Vicki Roland wrote, “the elite in attendance are Americans, Asians, Africans, French-speaking people, and no Arabs; no dark, unshaven men wearing kuffiyehs. The film’s message is clear: When the world is rid of Arabs, we will at last be safe.”</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdw_DLvtIjrlu1mHD-iv_haj2488qUBzHP3AriF7UUJ_P62oDBoH-26BHlrBHVteRet4uW0QPKR407HyijhxagUXFHtF-qjk_P0Z0oFLiTKLj7REQ2ezHoZU8UKCsVQ6jn9gaw0G31bg/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-16h01m29s436.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="720" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdw_DLvtIjrlu1mHD-iv_haj2488qUBzHP3AriF7UUJ_P62oDBoH-26BHlrBHVteRet4uW0QPKR407HyijhxagUXFHtF-qjk_P0Z0oFLiTKLj7REQ2ezHoZU8UKCsVQ6jn9gaw0G31bg/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-16h01m29s436.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cameron plays on fears of brown people by having a dude named Charles Cragin play an Arab iteration of a tired old torturer cliché.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> depicts every instance of unauthorized surveillance as a positive. Our first exposure to the banter between Harry and Helen has Harry bragging about how his cover job’s sales team has a new product that can look up a customer’s entire purchase history. Gibson shows off a CCTV camera hidden in a pack of cigarettes, without which we’d never learn about Dana’s stealing habit. Minutes later, Faisil drops the main plot exposition, starting by saying, “Jamal Khaled. We think he’s dirty, so we raid his private financial files.” Tasker even uses a wiretap for personal use: he has Helen’s phone tapped when he suspects her of having an affair. Without illegal spying, Tasker would never have discovered the other man and thus, surveillance becomes key to saving their marriage. I get that a spy film needs spying. But the film never questions our characters’ measures, instead hewing to the mantra of “he gets results.” In the arch-conservative world of 90s spy films, the end always justifies the means.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4ut_gK1pcCgMQtAp-mFzRx6NUh-TMjZu0X_nwxtVK595QgMFlOz_lj2jgxSvC5kaW3oHUGFNxF_bJ8meJ07ZYYR5QbKXusqv30DlyHf0S1ZU6ZcOwwHS3ojo70rM2xTaY99y0CbzDP0/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-13h51m09s691.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="720" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4ut_gK1pcCgMQtAp-mFzRx6NUh-TMjZu0X_nwxtVK595QgMFlOz_lj2jgxSvC5kaW3oHUGFNxF_bJ8meJ07ZYYR5QbKXusqv30DlyHf0S1ZU6ZcOwwHS3ojo70rM2xTaY99y0CbzDP0/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-13h51m09s691.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Without a hidden camera, we’d never have known about Dana’s sticky fingers.<br />
Even though this never gets mentioned again anyway.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems appropriate that Dushku’s harrowing account took place in the production of a film so redolent of toxic masculinity. Cameron tries to have it both ways, playing Schwarzenegger’s gun-toting musclehead image for laughs and playing it straight when the second act turns into </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Commando</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with Arabs. The conflicts with both Aziz and Simon boil down to symbolic dick-measuring. The film almost descends into an </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Itchy & Scratchy</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> cartoon as the characters use bigger and bigger phallic symbols to cause millions in property damage. Incidentally, how the hell does a secret federal organization cause this much damage to civilian property with nobody batting an eye?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9QDdnLcKlqMnKgBbJEkVFZ-Ay9D34ue-E91R31-WlW3OBkVOuKRbrYWw5kWllHprveLgL122zhdFKwu5dicXhucQzhslfs_sxvMb6ReBxh6ER-G4dK2_wNY9vGUU-gECxeANK8gQxFKo/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-14h44m42s487.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="719" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9QDdnLcKlqMnKgBbJEkVFZ-Ay9D34ue-E91R31-WlW3OBkVOuKRbrYWw5kWllHprveLgL122zhdFKwu5dicXhucQzhslfs_sxvMb6ReBxh6ER-G4dK2_wNY9vGUU-gECxeANK8gQxFKo/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-14h44m42s487.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I get a talking-to just for leaving a coffee ring on the counter.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the while, the men use women as poker chips. Typical of lazy action movies, women serve as living MacGuffins with no effect on the plot. Even Helen’s and Juno’s obligatory fistfight has little effect on the outcome of the scene. Helen and Dana exist to get kidnapped and held over Harry’s head. Gibson and Faisil persist in talking about women like touchdowns, and Faisil makes a joke of sexual assault. Bragging about sexual conquests becomes a sport in this film. Nobody seems to question the ethics of Harry using government resources to stalk his wife or have her kidnapped, interrogated, and sent on a fake mission. By the film’s logic, she deserves it for feeling an attraction outside her marriage. You know, even though Harry spends the first act carrying on an unnecessary flirtation with Juno. At any rate, Cameron seems to want to use the film’s back half to make Harry and Helen into dual badasses a la the </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thin Man</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series, but the production team has too much apparent contempt for women for it to work.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJy3RLz_ILB426xj9JIrZNN5nVKgaKK2VRNMBrvCIMBohXVy755Jb2Z_Zf4pIZr24ChfJRKsfRScbSl3pxUIXvOJ68WzoybD4sl6rUJLB6wppxXCsU9K-SxBxAGS-44IAD6GNBtFaNus/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-15h30m50s510.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="720" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJy3RLz_ILB426xj9JIrZNN5nVKgaKK2VRNMBrvCIMBohXVy755Jb2Z_Zf4pIZr24ChfJRKsfRScbSl3pxUIXvOJ68WzoybD4sl6rUJLB6wppxXCsU9K-SxBxAGS-44IAD6GNBtFaNus/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-15h30m50s510.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The protagonist uses government resources to lie to his wife to reduce her to tears.<br />
Such brilliant comedy. Ha. Ha. Sides. Splitting.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> remains absent from streaming services to this day, an odd turn of events for the most expensive movie made up to that point. It feels every bit like a 90s movie: Lightstorm Entertainment invested Herculean sums into spectacle without having anything special or interesting to say. Typical for the time, Cameron attempts to have it both ways, playing tropes for laughs and playing them straight at the same time (watch a few episodes of </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Duckman</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Action</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or early </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">South Park</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to see what I mean). But characterizing Arabs as self-defeating nuclear-armed Hamburglar clones doesn’t make me laugh. Nor does portraying women as glorified currency.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfWeiHJRrSXjMQHpVJQSAWKoR9mVkGw6hxVw9Zcs_M0nI0HF1PYJNumIzOR2hRhIJ0pr0h9Iir1Wk_kjppKavkOo3T3Ti3Z45FrSYai7fj92jh209Toss9hI9u7e2ZrfPTGqR-FfmV8k/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-16h35m04s663.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="720" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfWeiHJRrSXjMQHpVJQSAWKoR9mVkGw6hxVw9Zcs_M0nI0HF1PYJNumIzOR2hRhIJ0pr0h9Iir1Wk_kjppKavkOo3T3Ti3Z45FrSYai7fj92jh209Toss9hI9u7e2ZrfPTGqR-FfmV8k/s320/vlcsnap-2018-01-20-16h35m04s663.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course, <i>True Lies</i> has its share of phallic imagery, because male fragility.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I admire newer action movies for at least trying to mix spectacle with a human factor. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, for all its materialism and homogeneity, excels at this. But Hollywood poured nine figures into </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">True Lies</span><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as an investment, first and foremost. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Arnold </span><a href="https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2284501/arnold-schwarzenegger-responds-to-co-star-eliza-dushkus-allegations-of-being-molested-on-the-true-lies-set" style="font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">both swear</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> they’d have helped Dushku if they’d known about her sexual assault at the hands of Joel Kramer. I want to believe them. But frankly, for a film that expensive, in a culture that obsessed with money and power dynamics, I have my doubts that they would or could have. But if we want a better Hollywood, one that welcomes women, people of color, and women of color, we have to kick out all the Joel Kramers, no matter how rich and powerful. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fiat justitia ruat cælum.</span></div>
Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-63548456879842165382017-12-08T11:23:00.001-08:002017-12-08T11:23:11.732-08:00WWE Welcomes First Arab Woman & Kuwaiti ManIn non-movie news, WWE made history by contracting two new <a href="http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/article/triple-h-welcomes-shadia-bseiso-nasser-alruwayeh-to-wwe-abu-dhabi-uae">Arab wrestlers</a>: Nasser Alruwayeh from Kuwait and Shadia Bsesio from Jordan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcMhuXDIPBznKgTsXRaRhHESmGzX6MHuX087xk3wLiEwUE4jqVlfK7U9rOsU3jv9LIEDP5BUDUKMCv6dmBn9jIGrBZlBG9Y77wC4F7easygvW34RGBmV7vU0tGBp-ZRRHBL7N1pJ5jCE/s1600/triple-hhh-696x392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="696" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcMhuXDIPBznKgTsXRaRhHESmGzX6MHuX087xk3wLiEwUE4jqVlfK7U9rOsU3jv9LIEDP5BUDUKMCv6dmBn9jIGrBZlBG9Y77wC4F7easygvW34RGBmV7vU0tGBp-ZRRHBL7N1pJ5jCE/s320/triple-hhh-696x392.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I predict they’ll both get overshadowed, like everyone does, by Triple H’s majestic beard.</td></tr>
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As someone with a longstanding, if morbid, <a href="http://frontrowcentral.com/2017/03/16/turban-decay-iron-sheik-1/">fascination with wrestling</a>, I find this news exciting in the extreme. After having written a <a href="http://frontrowcentral.com/2017/03/16/turban-decay-iron-sheik-1/">two-part</a> <a href="http://frontrowcentral.com/2017/03/21/turban-decay-iron-sheik-2/">analysis</a> of pro-wrestling Middle Easterners for <i>Front Row Central</i>, I can only hope this serves as a sign that WWE will outgrow the racism that suffuses professional wrestling. I doubt it, but hey, no law against hoping!Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-78544845587182367292017-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:002017-03-22T20:11:40.571-07:00The Citizen (2013)They say everyone remembers when they heard about JFK’s assassination. Everyone remembers the morning of September 11, 2001. And I will remember today, the day Donald Trump became president. Because I, an Arab in Trump’s America, feel terrified. If you don’t understand why, then Sam Kadi’s 2013 drama <i>The Citizen</i> will help.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WHCYPSW">I found this film on Amazon Prime</a>. In what speaks volumes to Arab representation in Hollywood, it lists for the starring cast: Cary Elwes; Agnes Bruckner; William Atherton. The only three white actors to play major characters. Not Khaled El Nabawy, who had 23 years of acting experience when he did this film. Not Khaled El Nabawy, who protested in the streets in support of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Not Khaled El Nabawy, who plays <i>the main character</i>. Bruckner has an important supporting role, but aside from a seconds-long flash-forward at the opening, Atherton and Elwes don’t appear until the final third of the film. I love Walter Peck and the Dread Pirate Roberts as much as the next guy, but nothing screams “Arab erasure” like not crediting Arabs for a movie made by an Arab about Arabs trying to become Arab-Americans. (It doesn’t help that Elwes commandeers the final act as a <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior_narrative_in_film">White Savior</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93Pu9FGSrLNztFMrx8UjuudZajVntDyfTmCnHlgEWxiKGTGqTLtHkAZEQmMLOS3kk5GQ71mOu7NV0rRKs0f3tTqct1yKRkQFwcJk3vPuyEJ9sOaf-aKHEiQxw7woaBXSiaZXs_Il-7NE/s1600/citizen2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh93Pu9FGSrLNztFMrx8UjuudZajVntDyfTmCnHlgEWxiKGTGqTLtHkAZEQmMLOS3kk5GQ71mOu7NV0rRKs0f3tTqct1yKRkQFwcJk3vPuyEJ9sOaf-aKHEiQxw7woaBXSiaZXs_Il-7NE/s320/citizen2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Elwes spends his screen-time looking like he just doffed his pith hat as he returned from a jungle adventure and told his native-boy sidekick to fetch his motor-car.</td></tr>
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<i>The Citizen</i> tells a fictional story, even as it sometimes feels like it came from true events. The film chronicles the immigration process for Ibrahim Jarrah (El Nabawy), a compassionate Lebanese mechanic who won the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/other-ways-get-green-card/green-card-through-diversity-immigration-visa-program/green-card-through-diversity-immigrant-visa-program">Green Card Lottery</a> after a 12-year effort. In a stroke of ill luck, he immigrated on September 10, 2001. He wakes up the next morning to a devastated New York that despises everyone who looks like him. For the crime of having a cousin who disappeared, federal agents arrest Ibrahim with no paper trail, no access to a lawyer, and no explanation. They hold him for six months, giving no information to his lone friend, Diana (Bruckner), a white American whom he’d just met. He exits to an America where he struggles to find work, despite having earned a business degree before he immigrated.<sup>1</sup> Even as things start to look up for him, a sudden, unrelenting string of tragedies sends him crashing back down. Before long, Ibrahim has to convince authorities not to deport him, leading to a trial that goes public.<br />
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<h2>
Freedom For Arab-Americans</h2>
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Kadi, a Syrian-born director, focuses on how society has treated Arabs since 9/11. I can testify to the accuracy, both as an Arab and as someone who can usually <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(racial_identity)">pass</a>.<sup>2</sup> Ibrahim has a college education, but the white people he encounters see only an Arab nametag and an accent. He receives dirty looks on a daily basis and lives under the constant threat of losing everything. Hate crimes happen in this film to Middle Easterners and Jews with no warning, for any reason or for no reason. Natalie June plays Baha, another Lebanese Muslim immigrant who finds it difficult to maintain hope, to the point that she attempts to convince Ibrahim to return to Lebanon with her. (Sadly, Kadi misses an opportunity to depict Baha as an example of the intersectional difficulties for <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muslim-hate-crime-london-attack-woman-hijab-headscarf-ripped-off-pushed-injured-chingford-a7479766.html">female Muslims in the west</a>.)<br />
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The film makes a point of illustrating that the tragedy affected Muslim New Yorkers as well. (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslims-911_us_56539a84e4b0d4093a58f6cc">60 Muslims died</a> in the September 11 attacks, excluding perpetrators.) Ibrahim reacted with horror at the attacks, as had every Muslim I have ever met. But their horror became compounded with targets on their backs. I once heard a Muslim say that the hijackers didn’t just hijack a plane; they hijacked a religion. This film shows exactly what she meant.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWEHtQTEr8JwSFtX6LHuJsOFLEBq-tcrIypdZvZi3nHESXkhz9OS37ZC9b3ZHlhkk6At00W-Cro5FydDgGYaVjMjNZ3EJAWma0t7LRtF_uitFVvUH_ljBg-p5c-E0JUzJ2E0l89lDmJ4/s1600/citizen4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWEHtQTEr8JwSFtX6LHuJsOFLEBq-tcrIypdZvZi3nHESXkhz9OS37ZC9b3ZHlhkk6At00W-Cro5FydDgGYaVjMjNZ3EJAWma0t7LRtF_uitFVvUH_ljBg-p5c-E0JUzJ2E0l89lDmJ4/s320/citizen4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This racist stink-eye might give you chills. It gives me flashbacks.</td></tr>
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Kadi threads the narrative with footage of George W. Bush’s speeches. In every depicted snippet, he oversimplifies the conflicts and fails to say anything that eases the burden on Arabs who have to slog through a newly opened floodgate of bigotry. He touts America’s freedoms as Middle Eastern immigrants live in fear of attracting attention. Bush claims the terrorists “hate freedom” while Ibrahim undergoes a grueling process to earn it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafEgD7XZ9-M_wOh2YWIpKjN1fJc-HrNJQZSvxUTIxFyNFIjOd_Yifpi_8t4UHnSopxFO49n1-Fd9X26XnscO0wWYuaRyehh6HtwbUB830IDBgsvhwqnX5fIOJEAoNRVbA-chMOa-FBJY/s1600/citizen7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafEgD7XZ9-M_wOh2YWIpKjN1fJc-HrNJQZSvxUTIxFyNFIjOd_Yifpi_8t4UHnSopxFO49n1-Fd9X26XnscO0wWYuaRyehh6HtwbUB830IDBgsvhwqnX5fIOJEAoNRVbA-chMOa-FBJY/s320/citizen7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I laughed when I shouldn't have. Even after all these years, William Atherton still looks like… a pecker.</td></tr>
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By the time we see an ESL teacher teach her students to say, “The land of the free and the home of the brave,” it sounds more ironic than anything else. <i>The Citizen</i>’s entire final act depicts Ibrahim having to face the consequences for believing he had the same right to free speech as white Americans. His every equivocation gets plucked out of context and used to paint him as a menace. Even his own lawyer implores him not to take the witness stand for fear that he will incriminate himself. Indeed, opposing counsel uses Ibrahim’s naïve attendance at an anti-Bush protest to impugn his patriotism. What we call free speech for White Americans, we call circumstantial evidence for Americans of color. Freedom of speech may not mean freedom from consequence, but as this film depicts, people of color receive the brunt of the consequence. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-facebook-dismissive-of-censorship-abuse-concerns-rights-groups-allege-2017-1">Just ask Facebook</a>.<br />
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<h2>
The Reality of Ibrahim Jarrah</h2>
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Although a work of fiction, <i>The Citizen</i> almost felt to me like a documentary because of my own life experience. With uncanny fidelity, Ibrihim’s story parallels my father’s story.<br />
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An Arab Muslim like Ibrahim, my father also had a nomadic childhood, moving from one Levantine country to another to escape war and economic misfortune. Ibrahim lost his parents in a bombing; my father’s aunt starved to death in her infancy, and his grandfather got gunned down in the streets for unwittingly taking firewood from the wrong place. My father immigrated to the United States in 1977. Like Ibrahim, my father crossed paths with a woman embroiled with an abusive, drug-addicted suitor. Five years later, that woman became my mother. My father also had great difficulty finding jobs because of his name, including those for which he exceeded the qualifications. (My father actually had to travel overseas to find work, leading him to miss several years of my life.) Like Ibrahim and Diane, my parents had to count on the kindness of new friends, as their family proved unreliable. But like Ibrahim, my father has an unfailing belief in the ability of anyone to attain success. They even have similar personalities and mannerisms and the same catchphrase in the face of adversity: “Everything happens for a reason.”<sup>3</sup><br />
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I point this out because these stories can have happy endings. My father became a successful civil engineer and public works director. He’s served the American military for the past 30 years, including a tour of duty building infrastructure in Iraq. Just last year, he received the <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Merit">Legion of Merit award</a>! My father never faltered in his belief in America. After 40 years of living here, he still hasn't.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkMyHIPhs3iUKfeWbHoqJsm6k68c1VvyQiLf5dNGEQjqwxAezRCE9afjsGz9F9o0DBKBdOxjNg0Ti4_4nGZlI2df3vFi5Oe0aSJPEbW6wT4T_GWEOKbU7GCUzHBeDrWjF1qWmvoJ8epg/s1600/citizen5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkMyHIPhs3iUKfeWbHoqJsm6k68c1VvyQiLf5dNGEQjqwxAezRCE9afjsGz9F9o0DBKBdOxjNg0Ti4_4nGZlI2df3vFi5Oe0aSJPEbW6wT4T_GWEOKbU7GCUzHBeDrWjF1qWmvoJ8epg/s320/citizen5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This headline also applies to my dad.</td></tr>
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If men like Donald Trump ran the United States in 1977, my father could never have immigrated here. He’d never have met my mother, and I’d literally never have existed!<br />
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So if nothing else, I part ways with Trump’s policies out of my own love of existing.
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<br />
<h2>
The Real Tragic Ending</h2>
<br />
Rizwan Manji plays Mo, an anxious mini-mart proprietor who correctly predicts that life for Middle Easterners will plummet to new depths of despair after 9/11. But <i>The Citizen</i> came out in 2013, right before the political rise of Trump. Until I die, I will remember September 11 as the day I became <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Does-Feel-Be-Problem/dp/0143115413">A Problem</a>. But from what I’ve seen as an Arab-American, the real hate had a 15-year delayed reaction. I see <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2011/911-anniversary-sparks-hate-crimes-against-muslims">more hate</a> here now than I’ve ever seen in my life, even in the wake of 9/11. The film shows white supremacists assaulting both Arabs and Jews, but incidences of both have skyrocketed since the film’s setting (late 2003), with anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2016 reaching their <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/us/fbi-hate-crime-report-muslims/">highest levels since 2001</a>. Cary Elwes’s character mentions America’s shame over its own xenophobia following Japanese internment. While even in 2013, such human rights violations seemed like ancient mistakes, their return now seems like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/us/politics/japanese-internment-muslim-registry.html?_r=0">a likely future</a>.<br />
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<i>The Citizen</i> ends on a feel-good note, but today, January 20, 2017, it feels like a tragedy. Sam Kadi didn’t predict that life for Arab-Americans would worsen. He didn’t anticipate that the suspicion would intensify, that the hate would get worse, that Americans would <a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria-turkey/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis">rather sentence millions of Syrians to certain death</a> than allow immigrants a chance (even though we learned the danger of this mindset <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/24/anne-frank-and-her-family-were-also-denied-entry-as-refugees-to-the-u-s/?utm_term=.a3424c74e1c5">in junior high</a>). <b><i>The Citizen</i></b><b>’s injustices have become our new normal.</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN5yoYPeb275SpZqR0SKFw3rXdH-ZeAL0-Q-6MKa2xADmh0l5u7WuTZYATEKhHVWVgNjbB_SzLlLU-lLSELihqBboLj-mtU40dX9XWnCZvasbRnNfSvAl55DwdvpXxCOtMpjDTi6qcAI/s1600/citizen6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN5yoYPeb275SpZqR0SKFw3rXdH-ZeAL0-Q-6MKa2xADmh0l5u7WuTZYATEKhHVWVgNjbB_SzLlLU-lLSELihqBboLj-mtU40dX9XWnCZvasbRnNfSvAl55DwdvpXxCOtMpjDTi6qcAI/s320/citizen6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They even act like my parents! Did the writers stalk me?!</td></tr>
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The real tragedy of this film lies in the near-certainty that President Trump will quash even the hopeful parts of stories like Ibrahim’s. The toupée that launched a thousand hate crimes infamously declared his wish to ban Muslims from immigrating to the United States, and he’s also <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/12/202990/donald-trump-plans-end-dv-lottery-program/">mentioned plans to end the Diversity Visa program</a>. He plans to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/17/notorious-mercenary-erik-prince-is-advising-trump-from-the-shadows/">fill Guantanamo Bay and torture the prisoners there</a>. Trump has even mentioned <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/donald-trump-terrorists-families/">planning to kill entire families of terrorists</a> (a war crime). Complain if you want about me “bringing politics into this,” but I have to. As an Arab living in Trump’s America, <b><i>I live in daily fear for my physical safety</i></b>.<br />
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If my worst fears come true—if <i>The Citizen</i> becomes my <i>Turban Decay</i> swan song because I got imprisoned or hate-crimed or genocided—I hope some distant reader looking back on post-Trump America sees my effort here with <i>Turban Decay</i> as more than a film critic grousing about Arabs in movies. <i>Turban Decay</i> really started when a lonely 9-year-old Arab kid saw <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i> and, for the first time in his life, didn’t feel like a demographic oddity, a freak accident who owed the world something for existing outside its Procrustean boxes. That I saw John Rhys-Davies play someone “like me” matters. That I saw my ancestors’ part of the world in a movie (one of the best ever made, no less) matters. When kids (and even adults) see someone on the screen who shares their ancestry or their sexual orientation or their religion or their habit of peeling labels off soup cans, that matters. Stories exist to help us understand ourselves. The more we understand the characters in these stories, the better we understand ourselves. And the more we get to know people who live different lives and see what makes us the same—even fictional people—the closer we get to becoming our truest, best selves. Let that stand as the message I leave behind.<br />
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Also fuck Donald Trump.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> This really happens: a brilliant acquaintance of mine who emigrated from the Middle East with an undergraduate degree faces this exact situation right now.<br />
<sup>2</sup> More times than I can count, White folks have told me that I pass as a reassuring blandishment. If you do this, <i>stop</i>. Telling us this does not reassure us. It reminds us of the precarious conditions of our social acceptance and reinforces your condescending view of our place as fortunate outsiders.<br />
<sup>3</sup> I don’t share this belief. I’ve seen one too many <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asylum">Asylum movies</a> to believe humanity has any underlying order.Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-46208750285497988012016-10-20T01:31:00.001-07:002016-10-20T01:46:34.186-07:00Sonita (2015)We Americans have automated and commodified war. We’ve done this so thoroughly that even out of the meager 12% of Americans who <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/pdf/FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.pdf">can even find Afghanistan on a map</a> (26% for Iran), our instincts cause us to dismiss Iran and Afghanistan as those places we want to raze because “they hate us.” But what if someone in Iran or Afghanistan wants to make life better for both Americans and Iranians, but repressive cultural traditions, a totalitarian government, and the constant threat of suicide bombers reduces her to a statistic before she even can?<br />
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<i>Sonita</i>, a documentary by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami (who comes to play an active role) tells the powerful story of Sonita Alizadeh, a budding Iranian rapper whose socially conscious lyrics aim to end the tradition of forced marriages and the struggles of families living in abject poverty. For any of a dozen reasons—none her fault and few under her control—Sonita could have become a statistic, just another battered teenage housewife of a wealthy Afghan man, a living deed sold off by her own family, for the price of a used car, so they could put food on the table or afford a daughter-in-law of their own. Through a long succession of miracles—including the creation and release of this film (courtesy of the feminist non-profit <a href="http://www.wmm.com/sonita/">Women Make Movies</a>)—Sonita has a chance to take control of her life and to make a difference for the people of Iran.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjIP9GVstUni5MLBgWpAjcVVFtn9FN0_PRcQYO22orrXwnQTY2sMRgRp0sHyrPqg1OhCtJxpaLK3sXX35qoMZTGsKxQ-5g2STFd0eZ6wwZBYdqSnidU1ec_AN5PgxkZ611mXCtzUpmYFg/s1600/SonitaPoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjIP9GVstUni5MLBgWpAjcVVFtn9FN0_PRcQYO22orrXwnQTY2sMRgRp0sHyrPqg1OhCtJxpaLK3sXX35qoMZTGsKxQ-5g2STFd0eZ6wwZBYdqSnidU1ec_AN5PgxkZ611mXCtzUpmYFg/s320/SonitaPoster.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Sonita’s pure heart shines above everything else in this movie. We see Sonita’s daydreams in the form of a binder full of magazine clippings. So many of her clippings detail what she wants to do for others: laser surgery for her mother; money to get her family out of Afghanistan; a big house for her family. Sonita wants to end the practice of forced marriage not just for herself, but for the children she sees every day who <i>did</i> get bought and sold as unwilling wives. Rokhsareh makes sure we see the consequence of this. She shows girls Sonita’s age, married, with black eyes. We see one of Sonita’s best friends talking about how her father wants $12,000 for her… but will settle for $3000 and a nice dowry. Sonita writes song lyrics about her friend’s plight; her friend, in tears, says that Sonita wrote exactly what she wanted to say to her father.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even in abject poverty, Sonita’s fashion choices say so much about her personality.</td></tr>
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The real tragedy of <i>Sonita</i> lies in what forced marriage has done to her family. Sonita believes—perhaps correctly—that her older relatives see her as nothing more than a piece of meat to auction off. She shows more familial love to the social workers who help displaced Iranians than toward her relatives. She fears removing her hijab on screen lest she lose her family’s respect. Her family never tires of dismissing her musical ambitions as “indecent,” even as she shows genuine promise. She sees her mother as venal and intransigent, and we viewers can’t disagree.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sonita’s mother rationalizes <i>literally selling her own daughter</i>.</td></tr>
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This film will infuriate you with the sheer number of obstacles that its protagonist has had to face, most of them things that wouldn’t even occur to us here in America. Right at the start, Sonita’s sister commands her to find a place for them to live, as their landlord has evicted them. Sonita has an afternoon to figure out how to secure a roof over her, her sister, and her niece, without papers or a deposit. The process of recording any music at all seems to require jumping through a whole different Byzantine labyrinth of hoops. The most heart-wrenching moment comes when Sonita uses drama therapy to reenact the worst thing that ever happened to her: the day the Taliban intercepted her family as they tried to leave Afghanistan.<br />
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Every wall Sonita overcomes seems to cause a higher one to spring up. When she convinces record label staff to meet with her, they point out that she needs a government permit to make music. When she scrambles together money to bring her mother to Tehran, she learns that her family plans to sell her off because they need the $9000 that she would bring in. When she records a video, she loses the support of her sponsoring organization, because they can’t legally support a female musician. When she learns of the possibility of a full-ride scholarship to the Wasatch Academy, she learns that she can only get to America by returning to Afghanistan and convincing her family to give her own legal documents back to her.<br />
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Sonita’s struggles become so frustrating to watch that even the film crew intervenes. At several points, Rokhsareh takes it upon herself to help Sonita, even as she knows she risks her professional ethics as a documentarian. In this way, the film becomes almost as much about Rokhsareh as about Sonita. One sequence shows a frantic Rokhsareh combing the streets looking for the subject of her own documentary, terrified that Sonita already got sent back to Afghanistan… or worse.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGt1Acv1BIIGLb0cFS7nX49bYrKkrt3iIqoan-L5Sk_tm2a92bobZvgg4NWG-8zBpLgdwte36xtvcuMwVIX5CtXWX-f6tzK7e4WdJ8IpEFQ0RrRzksQyuSpRozFGOF918I3MSGFtHKHI/s1600/barcode.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGt1Acv1BIIGLb0cFS7nX49bYrKkrt3iIqoan-L5Sk_tm2a92bobZvgg4NWG-8zBpLgdwte36xtvcuMwVIX5CtXWX-f6tzK7e4WdJ8IpEFQ0RrRzksQyuSpRozFGOF918I3MSGFtHKHI/s320/barcode.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I’ve never in my life met a teenager who deserves to view herself this way.</td></tr>
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With Rokhsareh’s help, Sonita creates a video for one of her songs: “Brides For Sale.” Sonita’s genuine passion and agony make this video feel like a tour de force on its own. In the context of the film, it hits like a sledgehammer to the heart.<br />
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This brings us to the point: as much as Americans complain about the oppressive regimes of the Middle East, nobody understands the oppression of Iranian and Afghan women better than Iranian and Afghan women. There exist a whole lot of people working to change things for the better, but they have the deck stacked so high against them that they simply can’t do it without support. Spurning refugees won’t help them or us. Ostracizing Muslims or Middle Easterners won’t help. Going to war <i>definitely</i> won’t help. You can’t drone-strike an enemy into loving you. You can’t bomb a government into listening to its people. And we’ve had a long time to learn what happens when we try to force a docile regime into place.<br />
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But signal-boosting voices of Iranian and Afghan women? Bypassing Iran’s insane censorship laws however we can? Where bombs and bullets have failed, maybe that will work.
<BR><BR><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/5705f202f5f80733511b5cc9" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-59240470685251938562016-09-29T21:12:00.000-07:002016-10-20T02:00:24.283-07:00To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)William Friedkin’s <i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i> inspired me to start <i>Turban Decay</i>. Growing up Arab in rural America meant (among many, many other things) that seeing any images of “people like me” in a film felt like finding Waldo. I’d just feel so excited at seeing anyone in any film from the same part of the world as my ancestors.
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Then I watched <i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i>, a movie that opens with Friedkin using the language of film to sing the praises of Ronald Reagan and his tough talk on taxes. Before the film’s actual plot even started, an Arab showed up for a handful of seconds only to summarily detonate himself. It hit me that what I just saw has become not the exception but the rule. I’d feel so excited about representation that I willed myself to ignore the hateful propaganda within. I might feel different if much had changed for racial politics in the 31 years since its release, but, well, Donald Trump.…
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This movie opens on President Reagan’s motorcade as he visits Los Angeles five days before Christmas. (Hello there, <i>Die Hard</i>!) Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) becomes suspicious when he sees an Arab in a hotel uniform (Michael Zand). He advances to the roof, where he finds the garroted corpse of a rent-a-cop. Chance finds his infuscate quarry preparing to rappel from the rooftop. The terrorist—a stereotype with a hook nose, five-o'clock shadow, and explosive vest—screams, “Death to Israel and America… and all the enemies of Islam!!” Two lines later, he explodes into a fine mist.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why does the terrorist die like the Power Rangers defeated him?</td></tr>
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After a few seconds of tangential foreshadowing, we cut to black. A revolver fires for dramatic effect. The credits roll. We return to what seems like a standard cop movie that has nothing to do with what we just saw.<br />
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<h3>
The Historical Context
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<i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i> contributed—and films like it continue to contribute—to a problem for Palestinians that persists to this day. If you look for contemporaneous news stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you’ll find plenty about Palestinians killing Israelis. These include the Kav 300 incident, the horrific murder of <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/14323">Moshe Tamam</a>, the murder of <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/28/world/la-fg-wn-israel-palestinian-prisoners-release-20131027">two Israeli students</a> at the Cremisan monastery, the unsolved murder of Hadas Kadmi, the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=d8CsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=april+9+1985+Israel&source=bl&ots=ekclJ9Au_Z&sig=70Srwbh6_V8iDNUKuNthxDrtstU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw34GT7KbPAhUN2mMKHdxpA9MQ6AEIOzAK#v=onepage&q&f=false">suicide car-bomb</a> in Bater al Shuf, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/26/world/3-israelis-slain-by-palestinians-in-cyprus.html">Force 17 killings</a> in Cyprus.… As a pacifist and a half-decent human, I find these attacks as repugnant and heinous as you do. I do not defend any of these horrific killings or the monsters who carried them out.<br />
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But they don’t sum up the totality of Palestinian existence. Palestinians suffered their share of civilian deaths and oppression as well. See the 1983 <a href="http://www.jta.org/1985/07/11/archive/15-jewish-underground-members-found-guilty-on-various-charges">massacre of Palestinian students</a> or the firing of an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=X5D5vKGjU2EC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=cremisan+monastery+killing+1984&source=bl&ots=MD_Sa60Kp1&sig=JU3voFLX589N9Y1wau2Sds0i35E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkhIXA6qbPAhVBzmMKHQmtDiEQ6AEIITAC#v=onepage&q&f=false">anti-tank rocket at a bus</a>, a reprisal for the Cremisan attack. In 1985, Israeli settlers started moving into the Oranit settlement, which <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1682640.stm">defied international law</a>. A <a href="https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/40AF4C8615BC9837802564740046F767">United Nations report</a> from this time reported human rights abuses, killings of civilians, destruction of property, and expropriation of Palestinian land.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8njUOjVLCc8GJbW2287adoFHWxuysm3xBOAHwv67WFFKRmMS7_oFhGLY_aKKLO29inLc6x2RVE-yAx5djZcSALwQkEGYq7HE0wkYV1QdkrFttLwpVZmugSdSdBPYgqAtpJ-ykNO1rQkc/s1600/terrorist.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8njUOjVLCc8GJbW2287adoFHWxuysm3xBOAHwv67WFFKRmMS7_oFhGLY_aKKLO29inLc6x2RVE-yAx5djZcSALwQkEGYq7HE0wkYV1QdkrFttLwpVZmugSdSdBPYgqAtpJ-ykNO1rQkc/s320/terrorist.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don’t ask for much, but please don’t confuse this probably-not-Arab actor with 4.17 million Palestinians.</td></tr>
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Throughout the entire conflict, two things have remained true. No group involved has clean hands, and the civilians on both sides have <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090131_when_did_we_stop_caring_about_ciivilian_deaths_during_wartime">paid the heaviest price</a>. But when American media depicts one side as nothing but belligerent, braying, suicidal barbarians, Americans will have a biased picture of the conflict.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Los Angeles sunrise: the brownest thing William Friedkin respects.</td></tr>
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<h3>
The Film’s Context</h3>
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The film never touches on its prelude again. The opening serves as a glorified establishing shot, a superfluous vignette intended to portray Richard Chance as an unconventional yet self-destructive cop. Friedkin probably intended a palate-cleansing overture akin to <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i> or James Bond movies. The result reminds me more of the way Andrew Jackson’s fans of days gone by would use his <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-list-worst-us-presidents-98997">slaughter of Native Americans</a> to bolster his image as a warrior president. “Who cares about these nondescript minorities? We have a white guy’s story to tell!”
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The context mitigates the stereotyping, if only a little. <i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i>’s structure rests on a narrative fake-out; the hackneyed beginning hides the unconventional finale. The first half hits the clichés so hard that I wondered if the film went direct to VHS. The partner dies just short of retirement. The “loose cannon” cop gets assigned an anxious, ill-prepared partner because his boss hates him. The weird, sadistic bad guy enjoys murdering his disloyal and unsuccessful associates. A shady undercover deal goes awry and culminates in a car chase along the sloped concrete aprons of the Los Angeles River, zooming under the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/exit-las-most-cinematic-bridge/461910/">late 6th Street Bridge</a>. But the clichés gradually fade. Chance’s true nature emerges as a corrupt, manipulative, narcissistic sociopath. The film becomes a chronicle of the ways Chance uses and infects those around him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8-M3zw9vlqEuxtCyXc3h81wljPKqtRYkOGPsgC9A5_uuOIsqc195tY8RSDA0MkrIPijbL8IflNfRl_zqPBSNYWsW8BU8OpBSjSSx_M8a70XpyH4CCKAShkXzjF09aHByWiKLrlklzkQ/s1600/staring.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8-M3zw9vlqEuxtCyXc3h81wljPKqtRYkOGPsgC9A5_uuOIsqc195tY8RSDA0MkrIPijbL8IflNfRl_zqPBSNYWsW8BU8OpBSjSSx_M8a70XpyH4CCKAShkXzjF09aHByWiKLrlklzkQ/s320/staring.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[infecting intensifies]</td></tr>
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The opening makes sense as the first stone of cliché in a trail that turns out to wander off the beaten path. Using these old trappings to one-two punch the viewer’s expectations can make for a clever way to enhance a story. Comedies have done this for decades, including some terrific ones such as <i>The Other Guys</i> and <i>Tucker & Dale vs. Evil</i>. <i>Hell or High</i> Water may prove the best film of 2016, in part because it did this.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2aWA02Q4kknJEffWtPD8rV4goC3YUxF4CeaCd54QxCophn4piRFzyGWvxM-XFJXutSZJrVh_RhIB8beGmPiZYpKkDhmcE7ov_WINZYQMg_vDhVu-1raXD4wo8Dve2WoOM9acz4tSyY4o/s1600/dancers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2aWA02Q4kknJEffWtPD8rV4goC3YUxF4CeaCd54QxCophn4piRFzyGWvxM-XFJXutSZJrVh_RhIB8beGmPiZYpKkDhmcE7ov_WINZYQMg_vDhVu-1raXD4wo8Dve2WoOM9acz4tSyY4o/s320/dancers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But none of those movies feature bizarre <i>yarō-kabuki</i> (野郎歌舞伎) dancers wearing <a href="http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/mindhole-blowers-20-facts-about-to-live-and-die-in-la-that-might-make-you-want-to-wang-chung-tonight.php">Henri Matisse chasubles</a> for no plot-related reason, so choose wisely.</td></tr>
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But there exist ways to make the audience care about your characters without reducing an entire culture to one screaming stereotype. There exist ways to touch on current news stories without boiling them down to good-race/bad-race. This film has plenty to enjoy, but enjoying it doesn’t mean forgetting that the Palestinian people amount to more than sweaty, filth-encrusted, freedom-hating time-bombs. Because the film industry has—or should have—accrued self-awareness over the past three decades. We should have enough cultural maturity to represent minorities with fairness and empathy. Those less privileged shouldn’t have to feel lucky just to see themselves represented in our culture when it means apologizing for every appearance.<BR><BR><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4eb0976bf5f8078932000006" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-27881318385902361362016-04-21T00:21:00.001-07:002016-04-21T00:36:39.578-07:00God's Not Dead (2014)<div>
Yes, I know I haven’t updated this blog in months. Sorry. I have a day job. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s do this.…<br />
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My girlfriend recently talked me into hate-watching <i>God’s Not Dead</i>. I really didn’t want to. Frankly, only one thing about this turkey ever interested me: the irony that this film exists to gainsay atheists… but technically, atheists agree with the title. Of course, the film fully lived down to my expectations of wholesale incompetence. <i>God’s Not Dead</i> probably unseats <i>Buffalo ‘66</i> as the most spectacularly oblivious display of psychological projection in film history.</div>
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For those with the unlikely good fortune not to have heard of this one-sided tailpipe of a movie, it deals mostly with a small collection of upper-middle-class white Christian Americans (and one benign foreigner) who each meet with an unlikely adversity that tests their faith in Christianity. For lack of a better word, they get “Jobed.” The A-plot depicts pious college student Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) standing up to atheist philosophy professor Jeffery Radisson (Kevin Sorbo), who attempts to force Josh to forswear his religion in exchange for a good grade.<br />
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<h3>
The Book-Learnin’</h3>
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I usually try to jump straight into the Arab/Muslim issue, but as an academic, I have to touch on the plot’s utter implausibility. Radisson begins the course by threatening to drastically expand the class’s workload unless every single student signs a note saying, “God is dead.” Only Josh refuses, at which point Radisson assigns him the work of convincing every last one of his classmates to convert to Christianity. Every single public school in the country would summarily fire Radisson for his actions, even if he had tenure. Radisson’s modified prisoner’s dilemma <a href="http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/federal-laws-against-religious-discrimination.html">clearly violates federal law</a>, which prohibits religious discrimination on public school grounds. This movie could have ended in five minutes if Josh just reported Radisson to a dean. That Josh didn’t convinces me that he desperately needs schooling anyway. </div>
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From this impossible premise, nearly two hours of sophistry ensue. Josh and Radisson engage in a protracted duel of appeals to authority. Red herring remises meet with straw-man ripostes, with everyone pretending Josh has the upper hand because he never deigns to open a science book. Even the film itself attempts to undermine Radisson by revealing him as smug, narcissistic, emotionally abusive, and eventually, an angry Christian who still subconsciously believes in God. Even if Radisson didn’t get shitcanned for discrimination (and you can bet your ass he would), college brass would sack Radisson anyway for rhetorical incompetence.</div>
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In the thunderous climax, Josh succeeds in convincing every last one of his classmates to stand up and convert to Christianity. Really.<sup>1</sup> Josh’s strategy didn’t work on indigenous peoples under threat of slaughter and enslavement during centuries of colonization, yet it works on a classroom full of bored millennials watching a debate over material that doesn’t even relate to the class. As an academic, again, I cannot quantify the abject improbability of getting a classroom full of sleepy, bored, newly-emancipated college students to do any such thing, especially for an irritating classmate whose intransigence got them assigned weeks of additional work. I wouldn’t even have that enthusiastic of agreement if I asked my class, “Holler if you like pizza or oral sex!”
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<h3>
The Muslims</h3>
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Now let’s talk Muslims.</div>
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I suspected I wouldn’t truck with the depiction of Islam early on, when <i>Duck Dynasty</i>’s Willie and Korie Robertson made the first of two cameo appearances. Willie’s father Phil, of course, has made famously bigoted comments in the past, including several <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/by-his-new-standard-phil-robertson-sounds-more-muslim-than-christian/">involving Muslims</a>. (No, <a href="https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090214214909AAWBcFx">Muslims don’t automatically kill</a> people who refuse to convert. There exist over a billion Muslims in the world; if their religion required all of them to kill you, they’d have done a better job of it by now.) Ordinarily I only care about one thing less than <i>Duck Dynasty</i>: the religious views of people on <i>Duck Dynasty</i>. But I felt a tinge of trepidation when I realized the film’s two significant Muslim characters, Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) and Misrab (Marco Khan), would actually appear more than once.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willie Robertson reflects on his all-too-founded fear of car doors.</td></tr>
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As expected, <i>God’s Not Dead</i> jumps headlong into the oppressed-women/angry-men stereotype. Ayisha, who attends school with Josh, lives under the ever-pressing thumb of her traditionalist father Misrab, who has the warmth of Fimbulvetr and communicates in minatory glances and guttural threats. He forces Ayisha to wear a niqab, which she surreptitiously removes as soon as he can’t see her. I don’t doubt that such asshole fathers exist, but I’ve met more Muslim-American fathers with gentle, loving personalities, fathers who genuinely want their daughters to live happy lives and don’t fuss over a single garment. I just wish we saw one or two of them on film now and then.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDahyphenhyphen98uAPQpaDNp6k8Sjy4jMxkd4bVl-2ERRkRW8B6nacQ9THGwHiJN1sabIV9StaDBWPEC9tRN4-uOA7PjmSRoZBqvyFNUV0BEv3bykP1DK2YJoioDLo4NaeI9AP5hBbdB09wcOBDjU/s1600/hand.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDahyphenhyphen98uAPQpaDNp6k8Sjy4jMxkd4bVl-2ERRkRW8B6nacQ9THGwHiJN1sabIV9StaDBWPEC9tRN4-uOA7PjmSRoZBqvyFNUV0BEv3bykP1DK2YJoioDLo4NaeI9AP5hBbdB09wcOBDjU/s320/hand.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>And</i> the movie gives Misrab vaguely rapey and incestuous mannerisms as the cherry on top of the barbarism.</td></tr>
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Ayisha later finds Jesus and coverts. Here, we have the biggest failure of <i>God’s Not Dead</i>: the film depicts most of its characters converting to Christianity for specious or self-serving reasons. For instance, a left-wing journalist (Trisha LaFache) converts upon finding out she has Stage 3 cancer. Radisson eventually converts when faced with the prospect of imminent death as well. (Interestingly, <a href="http://quran.com/4/18">Qur’an 4:18</a> forbids this exact scenario.) For Ayisha’s part, the film implies that she converts because she has a crush on Josh.</div>
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In a movie packed with subplots, it comes as little surprise that we only see Ayisha’s conversion process in two scenes. In the first, her brother catches her listening to Franklin Graham on her smartphone. To put it simply, this scene would never happen. Why would a Muslim listen to Franklin Graham—who has <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-franklin-graham-islam-religion-war">loudly spewed Islamophobia</a> <a href="https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/688-frank-graham-claims-islam-is-a-very-evil-and-wicked-religion.html">for over</a> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/23/graham.islam.controversy/">a decade now</a>—and like what she hears? That seems like a fish endorsing a bear. Personally, I first heard Graham’s comments in college myself. I never forgot what I felt: fear. Fear of changing attitudes. Fear of plow shares beaten into swords. Fear for my safety.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The phrase “never happen” doesn’t even cover this scene of Ayisha unironically listening to Franklin Graham. This charts new territory of never-happen-ness.</td></tr>
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In the second scene, Misrab catches Ayisha becoming interested in Christianity. In the heat of the moment, with her infuriated father gnashing his teeth at her, Ayisha loudly declares her love for Jesus Christ and her conversion to Christianity. (Incidentally, I’ve seen Muslim dads at their angriest, and I’ve never met a Muslim child stupid enough to go for the nuclear option at that sight.) Misrab physically strikes her and banishes her from the house, amidst tears from all family members.</div>
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Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.ummah.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-329488.html">some Muslims actually do think this way</a>; I find that mindset as unpleasant, repugnant, and barbaric as you do. More to the point, some Islamic scholars state that Islamic parents may <a href="http://www.islamicity.com/dialogue/Q153.HTM">disinherit, but not disown</a>, wayward children. Even more to the point, it feels insulting to see a story thread about Muslims disowning children in a Christian movie. As many as <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-forsaken-a-rising-number-of-homeless-gay-teens-are-being-cast-out-by-religious-families-20140903?page=2">400,000 LGBT youth</a> live homeless in America. <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/05/the-gay-enemy-threat-in-the-christian-home/">89% of them</a> became homeless as a direct result of their parents discovering their sexual orientation or gender identity. I’ve personally met a number of children disowned, abused, or persecuted by their Christian parents. But as with Islam, one can argue that disowning children for any reason goes against the religion (<a href="http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/5-8.htm">1 Timothy 5:8</a>). Nevertheless, seeing a non-Christian parent disown a child in a Christian movie amounts to projection and propaganda.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I’ve personally heard several LGBT friends and acquaintance describe experiencing virtually everything in this harrowing abuse scene in real life… at the hands of <i>Christian</i> relatives.</td></tr>
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Of course, this film—this sanitized, saccharine interpretation of Christianity—doesn’t waste its running time on actually-relevant issues like youth homelessness. We next see Ayisha at a Newsboys concert, where she declares her love for Jesus and flirts with Josh. This raises so many questions all by itself. How does Ayisha—who doesn’t even have a home—have money for tickets to a Newsboys concert? Doesn’t anyone find it weird that she tracked Josh down to said concert after only meeting him once? Why does this Christian movie depict a homeless character without showing anybody doing that thing Jesus <a href="https://www.openbible.info/topics/homelessness">actually <i>did</i> say—repeatedly—about helping the poor</a>?</div>
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Josh doesn’t return Ayisha’s affection, because interracial romance in Hollywood requires a far more progressive and courageous movie. Indeed, the film’s core message regarding Islam amounts to: they hate us and they hate each other.</div>
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Look. I don’t have a problem with Christianity. Granted, most of my own sojourns into churches have ended with parishioners chasing me out, throwing holy water and screaming, “<i>The power of Christ compels you!!</i>” Nevertheless, Christians make up most of my friends, and I have nothing but love in my heart for each and every one of them. Folks should follow whatever religious teachings make the most sense to them or give them the most happiness.<sup>2</sup> But I part ways with anyone who makes propaganda impugning other religions whilst at the same time ignoring said behavior within their own house. One Bible verse springs to mind… John 8:7, “<a href="http://biblehub.com/john/8-7.htm">Don’t act like a Goddamn hypocrite.</a>”<br />
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<sup>1</sup> Incidentally, I can’t say I understand why the film characterizes this mass conversion as a victory. If all these students all abjured belief in God, both <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/12.htm">Matthew 12:30-32</a> and <a href="http://biblehub.com/mark/3.htm#28">Mark 3:28-29</a> clearly state that they don’t get to come back from that.<br />
<sup>2</sup> I don’t have a problem with Christian media in general, either; I actually have NEEDTOBREATHE and Family Force 5 songs on my phone! I sure do feel grateful that nobody reads these footnotes, though.</div>
<br><br><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/52c3752a345ad2ec0fc3311f" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-84210409774749714182015-11-15T17:08:00.000-08:002015-11-15T17:17:40.569-08:00Paris, je t'aime (2006)As of this writing, the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/14/world/paris-attacks/">recent terrorist attacks in Paris</a> have <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/14/world/paris-attacks/">claimed over 100 lives and left over 300 people injured</a>. Pols and pundits have already come out of the woodwork to use this tragedy as an excuse to spread their own agendas, to spread <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/11/je-suis-muslim-151114163033918.html">otherization</a> and hate. But as Martin Luther King famously said, “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” More to the point, by hating Muslims, we give ISIS <a href="http://www.memrijttm.org/dabiq-vii-feature-article-there-is-no-longer-any-gray-zone-the-world-includes-only-two-camps-that-of-isis-and-that-of-its-enemies.html">exactly what they want</a>. Like any person with an ounce of humanity, my heart goes out to the victims, their families, and the city of Paris (as well as the victims of the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/isil-claims-suicide-bombings-southern-beirut-151112193802793.html">bombings in Beirut</a>). In that spirit, let’s counter that hate with love, as embodied in the anthology film <i>Paris, je t’aime</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40RfDYRw2FIibf5rqAFj222nMLSBOJAOv0oei1cGKvWcDi37fTl-YjWW0-Ss11YxMnirQ4bOt6qgD9CDsKgIv5ZmTDarTblp5cWtxNT1AMsiqUShtdCa1WQBjSMrkZ3iKmztysbOkHbc/s1600/paris_je_taime_ver7_xlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40RfDYRw2FIibf5rqAFj222nMLSBOJAOv0oei1cGKvWcDi37fTl-YjWW0-Ss11YxMnirQ4bOt6qgD9CDsKgIv5ZmTDarTblp5cWtxNT1AMsiqUShtdCa1WQBjSMrkZ3iKmztysbOkHbc/s320/paris_je_taime_ver7_xlg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>Paris has always had a mythic image as the city of love. <i>Paris, je t’aime</i> (French for “Paris, I love you”) consists of a celebration of that spirit of love. The film’s eighteen vignettes, each with a different crew, taking place in a different arrondissement, tell stories about the transformative, life-affirming power of love: romantic love; familial love; even a generalized love of humanity. Of course, in keeping with Turban Decay’s <i>raison d'être</i><sup>i</sup>, I’ll center on the second of <i>Paris, je t’aime</i>’s vignettes, the one that directly involves Muslims. <i>Quais de Seine</i>, directed by Paul Mayeda Berges and Gurinder Chadha, details the beginning of a friendship between a white adolescent and an Arab Muslim woman.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBwEuwKtU4QTgxy6EDqAukkgoluioYT7p4-6EC-QknQXh38WQ-UYp-G2pXhyphenhyphenDIM2R3tYimxSgXT4w-cSykGdOGUpZbtbT8je_G_M5O_0k7ohqQfwjBCppV8_Ho2Sv5rOtv0b2HvhYWRc/s1600/teenagers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBwEuwKtU4QTgxy6EDqAukkgoluioYT7p4-6EC-QknQXh38WQ-UYp-G2pXhyphenhyphenDIM2R3tYimxSgXT4w-cSykGdOGUpZbtbT8je_G_M5O_0k7ohqQfwjBCppV8_Ho2Sv5rOtv0b2HvhYWRc/s320/teenagers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… Even though it initially looks like a Subway commercial.</td></tr>
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<i>Quais de Seine</i> starts in the 5th arrondissement along a bank of the Seine, where two teenage boys, Arnaud (Julien Béramis) and Manu (Thomas Dumerchez), catcall anyone who walks by, as they tease each other about their inability to get laid. (Gee, I wonder why.) Their quiet friend François (Cyril Descours) gradually notices Zarka (Leïla Bekhti), a Muslim girl sitting quietly alone. When Zarka trips over a rock, everyone in the area laughs, but François helps her up. He follows her to her Mosque (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_of_Paris">Grand Mosque of Paris</a>), where he sees Zarka with her grandfather (Salah Teskouk). After some initial awkwardness, François befriends both.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vEJiZiG986d4cNmaU5KOaufOf1_HNvZJDRuxaor4cCsVdz5bMWxBzvk7yOPBQn2MtSLjDBd0laW-nstYk-TobgznMkneDNj175EkG5175ObtfJw9lM8D9ztGCwFSbTf7-gD8TQXa4qU/s1600/grandpa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vEJiZiG986d4cNmaU5KOaufOf1_HNvZJDRuxaor4cCsVdz5bMWxBzvk7yOPBQn2MtSLjDBd0laW-nstYk-TobgznMkneDNj175EkG5175ObtfJw9lM8D9ztGCwFSbTf7-gD8TQXa4qU/s320/grandpa.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I need to master this look for when I have a daughter.</td></tr>
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For its runtime of about 6 minutes, this little short does an impressive job with the “never judge a book by its cover” theme. Several other vignettes turn out to have twist endings, which highlights <i>Quais de Seine</i>’s straightforward story and simple but important themes. Despite his poor taste in friends, François turns out to have a good heart and an ability to resist peer pressure. Zarka seems at first like the mute, subservient Arab/Muslim woman stereotype that predominates western film, but she turns out to have a strong will and the ability to make her own choices. Even Zarka’s grandfather looks at first glance like the stereotypical stern, provincial, domineering Arab patriarch, but as soon as François gets to talking with him, we see a wise man who genuinely supports his granddaughter’s career ambitions and praises François for his interest in history. Only Arnaud and Manu don’t seem to have anything going on under the surface, perhaps because all that pathetic harassing hasn’t left them enough time to look.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggscHdD80SMbagQYCGhGFPE86UBTrRDF4wmUWpRfry9mYmizQY68hQhmvRebju5T8MV7-Y9gU2sMVHqmJhZBdrGvKDC5XdDD7OMnk6jhJ-L81Q8IGqmWPb8gjKNX20kRjzzqlGbdFO21I/s1600/catcallers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggscHdD80SMbagQYCGhGFPE86UBTrRDF4wmUWpRfry9mYmizQY68hQhmvRebju5T8MV7-Y9gU2sMVHqmJhZBdrGvKDC5XdDD7OMnk6jhJ-L81Q8IGqmWPb8gjKNX20kRjzzqlGbdFO21I/s320/catcallers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Hey, girl, I figured out a great way to overshare my sexual frustrations, while at the same time incurring your dislike and abject discomfort! I call it ‘catcalling!’”</td></tr>
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The film goes out of its way to show why women would want to wear the hijab. When Zarka has her hair covered, the catcallers don’t even notice her, let alone bombard her with the unwanted sexual advances they give to anyone else who appears to have a vagina. I lost track years ago of the amount of whitesplaining and mansplaining I’ve heard about how no woman could ever want to wear such a thing and how hijabs inherently oppose gender equality and feminism. I see more wrong with that attitude of, “We have to tell women what to wear to make them equal to us.”<br />
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As a passerby walks by Zarka, he mutters, “You’re in France now,” as if to say that wearing a hijab makes her less French. Arnaud warns François, “Fool, you touch her and Osama will personally bomb your ass!” But Zarka has no discernible accent and no apparent sympathy for terrorists. There should exist no reason that her faith should make her any less French. She explains, “When I wear this I feel part of a faith, an identity.” Zarka’s hijab makes her feel like part of something bigger than herself. To her, that constitutes true beauty more than any thong or lip gloss.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can’t think of any witticisms. I just really like this image.</td></tr>
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Significantly, Emmanuel Benbihy, who produced and assembled <i>Paris, je t’aime</i>, follows <i>Quais de Seine</i> with <i>Le Marais</i>, a gay love story directed by Gus Van Sant, set in the neighboring 4th arrondissement. As with <i>Quais de Seine</i>, <i>Le Marais</i> centers around a young man awkwardly flirting with someone he barely understands. Communication barriers and cultural differences play a role in both stories. The juxtaposition of these two shorts makes for its own statement on the potential of coexistence and the universal truths of human lives. We don’t need to view Islam or Muslims as inimical to western values. Not all Muslims have homophobia in their hearts. (<a href="https://twitter.com/queermuslims">LGBT people who identify as Muslim</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/mpvusa">socially-progressive Muslims</a> absolutely exist.)<br />
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In a country with a Muslim population of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/01/09/map-frances-growing-muslim-population/">upwards of 15%</a>, this remains a lesson worth remembering. Muslims coexist with the rest of Paris. They have hopes and struggles and fears, just like everyone else. They desire <a href="http://franceintheus.org/spip.php?article620">liberty, equality, and fraternity</a> as much as any of the other ethnic or religious groups that make Paris… Paris. In the wake of these tragic, senseless killings in Paris, I hope more than anything that lessons like those in <i>Paris, je t’aime</i> remain relevant, that Paris forever remains the city of love.
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<sup>i</sup> Indulge me; I don't review a lot of French films.
<br><br><iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/53968aec9030fe115deff7f2" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-3183455530832469062015-11-15T15:48:00.001-08:002015-12-08T20:03:28.564-08:0076 Links of Muslims Denouncing Terrorism<b><i>Update:</i></b> I’ve already had people respond with something to the effect of, “Only 73?! What about all the <i>other</i> billion plus Muslims?” Several of these include lists of other Muslims speaking out. But more to the point, I shouldn’t have to provide <i>literally over a billion links to almost every single Muslim in the world</i> to make you understand the wrongness of bigotry and why you don’t get to pay back tragedy with genocide.
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Muslims hear it <i>all the time</i>.<br />
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“Why haven’t Muslims condemned these attacks?”<br />
“Why have Muslims remained silent?”<br />
“Why haven’t Muslim leaders said anything?”<br />
<br />
For expediency, let’s ignore the bigoted undercurrents inherent in presuming over 1.5 billion people as guilty unless they actively denounce the actions of less than 100,000 others who claim to share their faith. Let’s also ignore that ISIS has killed mostly Muslims who don’t share their opinions. Let’s then also ignore that ISIS has explicitly stated that they do what they do in the west to turn westerners against Muslims in the hopes of driving up ISIS’s numbers. So to actually answer these questions…<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Muslims <i>have</i> denounced terrorism. Muslims <i>do</i> denounce terrorism. All day. Every day.<br />
<br />
Nothing would make me happier than to denounce terrorism on national TV. Hell, I’d do it for free! I’d even pay my own airfare! But unfortunately, the media and people suffering from hate and confirmation bias have decided to rob Muslims of a microphone and accuse them of not speaking loud enough.<br />
<br />
So to attempt to make up for it, I’ve prepared a list. This list, assembled from a few Google searches, contains every instance I could find (in an hour on fairly sluggish wi-fi) of Muslims denouncing terrorism, including four YouTube videos and seven other lists of Muslims denouncing terrorism!<br />
<br />
The next time your racist uncle<sup>i</sup> or some random YouTube comment-warrior decides to ask you why he hasn’t heard of Muslims speaking out, copy-paste this list to give them something to do. You won’t convince them (I’ve yet to meet a bigot with enough capacity for critical thinking for that), but at least they can keep doing this knowing it doesn’t have any connection to reality.<br />
<br />
<h2>
The List</h2>
<br />
<h3>
Videos</h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMQjyRc7eiY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMQjyRc7eiY</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAxIOC8Zisc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAxIOC8Zisc</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8lW_idi7Bo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8lW_idi7Bo</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL34EBRyLps">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL34EBRyLps</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
Muslims Condemn Terrorism in General</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/not-bigots-will-care-muslims-around-world-are-condemning-paris-attacks">http://www.alternet.org/media/not-bigots-will-care-muslims-around-world-are-condemning-paris-attacks</a>
</li>
<li><a href="http://muslimsagainstterror.com/">http://muslimsagainstterror.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fatwaonterrorism.com/">http://www.fatwaonterrorism.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/02/why-dont-more-moderate-muslims-denounce-extremism/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/02/why-dont-more-moderate-muslims-denounce-extremism/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-muslim-condemnation-20150509-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-muslim-condemnation-20150509-story.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/why-muslims-hate-terrorism-more.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/why-muslims-hate-terrorism-more.html</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslim Leaders Condemn Attacks</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2015/09/09/India-Muslims-condemn-ISIS-calling-it-un-Islamic-.html">http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2015/09/09/India-Muslims-condemn-ISIS-calling-it-un-Islamic-.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://saudiembassy.net/archive/2001/statements/page5.aspx">http://saudiembassy.net/archive/2001/statements/page5.aspx</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/muslim-leaders-condemn-acts-of-terrorism.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org/muslim-leaders-condemn-acts-of-terrorism.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/01/07/what-fox-wont-show-you-muslim-leaders-are-conde/202049">http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/01/07/what-fox-wont-show-you-muslim-leaders-are-conde/202049</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/commonwordcommonlord/2015/02/think-muslims-havent-condemned-911-think-again.html">http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/commonwordcommonlord/2015/02/think-muslims-havent-condemned-911-think-again.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/irans-rouhani-brands-paris-attacks-crimes-against-humanity-054544578.html">http://news.yahoo.com/irans-rouhani-brands-paris-attacks-crimes-against-humanity-054544578.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/14/jokowi-condemns-paris-attacks.html">http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/14/jokowi-condemns-paris-attacks.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/The-Latest-London-reviews-plans-to-thwart-firearms-attacks-348793741.html">http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/The-Latest-London-reviews-plans-to-thwart-firearms-attacks-348793741.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kron4.com/2015/11/14/us-muslim-leaders-condemn-paris-attacks/">http://kron4.com/2015/11/14/us-muslim-leaders-condemn-paris-attacks/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/363225/nz-islamic-leaders-condemn-attacks">http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/363225/nz-islamic-leaders-condemn-attacks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/25/muslims_scholars_open_letter_to_isis_baghdadi_caliphate_s_actions_against.html">http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/25/muslims_scholars_open_letter_to_isis_baghdadi_caliphate_s_actions_against.html</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn ISIS/Daesh</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/commonwordcommonlord/2014/08/think-muslims-havent-condemned-isis-think-again.html">http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/commonwordcommonlord/2014/08/think-muslims-havent-condemned-isis-think-again.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/muslim-scholars-islamic-state_n_5878038.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/muslim-scholars-islamic-state_n_5878038.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.startribune.com/american-muslim-organizations-condemn-isis-terrorism/273886931/">http://www.startribune.com/american-muslim-organizations-condemn-isis-terrorism/273886931/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bridge.georgetown.edu/here-are-the-many-muslim-condemnations-of-isis-youve-been-looking-for/">http://bridge.georgetown.edu/here-are-the-many-muslim-condemnations-of-isis-youve-been-looking-for/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/08/21/muslim-leaders-have-roundly-denounced-islamic-s/200498">http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/08/21/muslim-leaders-have-roundly-denounced-islamic-s/200498</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/muslims-around-world-have-overwhelmingly-negative-views-isis-n476081?cid=sm_fb">http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/muslims-around-world-have-overwhelmingly-negative-views-isis-n476081?cid=sm_fb</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn 2015 Paris Attack</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/01/07/World-leaders-condemn-Paris-shooting-attack-.html">http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/01/07/World-leaders-condemn-Paris-shooting-attack-.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/11/16/01/42/terrorism-has-no-religion-muslims-take-to-twitter-to-condemn-paris-attacks">http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/11/16/01/42/terrorism-has-no-religion-muslims-take-to-twitter-to-condemn-paris-attacks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/muslim-groups-strongly-condemn-terror-attacks-paris">http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/muslim-groups-strongly-condemn-terror-attacks-paris</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11996902/i-am-a-muslim-paris-attacks-social-media.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11996902/i-am-a-muslim-paris-attacks-social-media.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/muslims-around-world-condemn-paris-attacks">http://www.alternet.org/media/muslims-around-world-condemn-paris-attacks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/14/how-muslims-around-the-world-condemned-the-paris-attacks/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/14/how-muslims-around-the-world-condemned-the-paris-attacks/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/11/14/muslims-strongly-condemn-paris-attacks/75772102/">http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/11/14/muslims-strongly-condemn-paris-attacks/75772102/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://time.com/4112830/muslims-paris-terror-attacks-islam-condemn/">http://time.com/4112830/muslims-paris-terror-attacks-islam-condemn/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://qz.com/550104/muslims-around-the-world-condemn-terrorism-after-the-paris-attacks/">http://qz.com/550104/muslims-around-the-world-condemn-terrorism-after-the-paris-attacks/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mcb.org.uk/horrific-attacks-in-paris-muslim-council-of-britain-responds/">http://www.mcb.org.uk/horrific-attacks-in-paris-muslim-council-of-britain-responds/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/991351/muslims-all-over-the-world-condemn-terrorism-express-solidarity-with-french/">http://tribune.com.pk/story/991351/muslims-all-over-the-world-condemn-terrorism-express-solidarity-with-french/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/paris-terror-muslim-leaders-around-the-world-condemn-heinous-attacks-a6734711.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/paris-terror-muslim-leaders-around-the-world-condemn-heinous-attacks-a6734711.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/everything-social/how-muslims-around-the-world-are-condemning-paris-attacks-and-islamophobia/">http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/everything-social/how-muslims-around-the-world-are-condemning-paris-attacks-and-islamophobia/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toowoomba-muslims-condemn-paris-terror-attacks/2841729/">http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toowoomba-muslims-condemn-paris-terror-attacks/2841729/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/11/14/local-muslims-condemn-paris-attacks/">http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/11/14/local-muslims-condemn-paris-attacks/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Paris-attacks-Bristol-muslims-condemn-terrorist/story-28174764-detail/story.html">http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Paris-attacks-Bristol-muslims-condemn-terrorist/story-28174764-detail/story.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/50705-czech-muslims-condemn-paris-attacks">http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/50705-czech-muslims-condemn-paris-attacks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/local-news/49559234-story">http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/local-news/49559234-story</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.686182">http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.686182</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/11/14/dutch-muslim-groups-condemn-paris-attacks/">http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/11/14/dutch-muslim-groups-condemn-paris-attacks/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/14/paris-attacks-islamic-state_n_8563238.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/14/paris-attacks-islamic-state_n_8563238.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/muslims-rally-against-extremism_n_5889962.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/muslims-rally-against-extremism_n_5889962.html</a>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn Charlie Hebdo Attack</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/muslims-respond-charlie-hebdo_n_6429710.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/muslims-respond-charlie-hebdo_n_6429710.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/45-examples-muslim-outrage-about-charlie-hebdo-attack-fox-news-missed">http://www.alternet.org/media/45-examples-muslim-outrage-about-charlie-hebdo-attack-fox-news-missed</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/muslims-condemn-charlie-hebdo-attack_n_6458260.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/muslims-condemn-charlie-hebdo-attack_n_6458260.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/12797-american-muslims-condemn-paris-terror-attack-defend-free-speech.html">http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/12797-american-muslims-condemn-paris-terror-attack-defend-free-speech.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.dailydot.com/politics/charlie-hebdo-muslims-condemn-shooting/">http://www.dailydot.com/politics/charlie-hebdo-muslims-condemn-shooting/</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn 2008 Mumbai Attack</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/mumbai-killers-to-be-denied-a-muslim-burial-1-1150127">http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/mumbai-killers-to-be-denied-a-muslim-burial-1-1150127</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2008/11/many_muslims_around_the_world.html">http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2008/11/many_muslims_around_the_world.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/world/asia/08muslims.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/world/asia/08muslims.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://muslimmatters.org/2008/11/26/terrorists-on-murderous-rampage-in-mumbai-join-the-condemnation/">http://muslimmatters.org/2008/11/26/terrorists-on-murderous-rampage-in-mumbai-join-the-condemnation/</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn 2005 London Attack</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/uk-attack-muslims/">http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/uk-attack-muslims/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4660411.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4660411.stm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/1370-cair-condemns-barbaric-london-terror-attacks.html">http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/1370-cair-condemns-barbaric-london-terror-attacks.html</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050917044948/http://www.icna.org/pr_london_attacks.htm">https://web.archive.org/web/20050917044948/http://www.icna.org/pr_london_attacks.htm</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Muslims Condemn 9/11</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.guleninstitute.org/news/97-gs-condemnation-message-of-terrorism/">http://www.guleninstitute.org/news/97-gs-condemnation-message-of-terrorism/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mediamonitors.net/riadabdelkarim3.html">http://www.mediamonitors.net/riadabdelkarim3.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2002/08/Muslim-Responses-To-September-11.aspx">http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2002/08/Muslim-Responses-To-September-11.aspx</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.islamicity.org/1218/muslim-americans-condemn-attack/">http://www.islamicity.org/1218/muslim-americans-condemn-attack/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm">http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.oic-oci.org/english/conf/fm/11_extraordinary/declaration.htm">http://www.oic-oci.org/english/conf/fm/11_extraordinary/declaration.htm</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Other Lists</h3>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://muslimscondemningthings.tumblr.com/">http://muslimscondemningthings.tumblr.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/islfatwa.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org/islfatwa.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/01/07/what-fox-wont-show-you-muslim-leaders-are-conde/202049">http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/01/07/what-fox-wont-show-you-muslim-leaders-are-conde/202049</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-statements-against-terrorism/">http://kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-statements-against-terrorism/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/muslim_voices_against_extremism_and_terrorism_part_i_fatwas/">http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/muslim_voices_against_extremism_and_terrorism_part_i_fatwas/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php">http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2015/01/46-examples-of-muslim-outrage-about-paris-shooting-that-fox-news-cant-seem-to-find/">http://www.rawstory.com/2015/01/46-examples-of-muslim-outrage-about-paris-shooting-that-fox-news-cant-seem-to-find/</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Incidentally, I didn’t find it at all difficult to compile this list. Most of these came from simple Google searches. I leave it to you to decide what it says about a person that s/he finds it easier to hate over a billion people than use a search engine.<br />
<br />
<sup>i</sup> And <i>just</i> in time for Thanksgiving, no less! Don’t say I never did anything for you!Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-22302561004334730742015-07-24T16:26:00.000-07:002015-07-24T16:26:41.507-07:00Hidalgo (2004)One of the most important Arab actors in history—and a personal hero of mine—died earlier this month. For decades, Omar Sharif defined Hollywood’s Middle Eastern man. His performances varied from the cunning to the credulous, from the sleazy to the debonair, but he always brought that mysterious, exotic charm that became associated with the better ethnic roles in Old Hollywood. I originally intended to write a eulogy, but <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/jul/10/omar-sharif-an-exquisite-actor-whose-charisma-baffled-hollywood"><i>The Guardian</i> eulogized circles around</a> anything I could have written. Instead, let’s celebrate Sharif’s life by talking about his work. I thought I’d start with his last high-profile film: <i>Hidalgo</i>, a mediocre movie buoyed by his warm, charismatic presence.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhZu5sYQATaXZeBU_WUpFpRRySkD082sA6abKqeELEYcOJyqVQGfqRNw7MgEWx0_pdCyQcQYMF6rmBdwk1GfSuujmC7yL-29MNTZfG_i1Nomz1lyvWBHbOZZhY5iCH5QR2C_MA34cPm4/s1600/hidalgo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhZu5sYQATaXZeBU_WUpFpRRySkD082sA6abKqeELEYcOJyqVQGfqRNw7MgEWx0_pdCyQcQYMF6rmBdwk1GfSuujmC7yL-29MNTZfG_i1Nomz1lyvWBHbOZZhY5iCH5QR2C_MA34cPm4/s320/hidalgo.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a><i>Hidalgo</i> happened when someone at Disney stumbled on the tall tales of professional circus horseman and fabulist Frank Hopkins and decided to make them a Viggo Mortensen vehicle. <i>Hidalgo</i> takes Hopkins (Mortensen), the drunken, self-destructive protagonist, from a spiraling existence working in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show to competing in the Arabian desert, in a 3000-mile desert race held by Sheikh al-Riyadh (Sharif). This all sounds wonderful… except Hopkins probably made the whole thing up—even his employment with Buffalo Bill—so one should take anything this film says about Arabs with an ocean of salt.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1XejhQpTtj9l_CPkBafzIee6FMIY5FLpgdXKbDVsaaNqckcPcqrNH56bZTqrmqaEkslK4zQI7yzg3VyCyQd5vdeQwllqJYXJY6CEM9uBsKH7keVD5OGV_LdjGD21t095niSItbURops8/s1600/fakedesert.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1XejhQpTtj9l_CPkBafzIee6FMIY5FLpgdXKbDVsaaNqckcPcqrNH56bZTqrmqaEkslK4zQI7yzg3VyCyQd5vdeQwllqJYXJY6CEM9uBsKH7keVD5OGV_LdjGD21t095niSItbURops8/s320/fakedesert.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: a <strike>soundstage</strike> desert that never happened.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ironically, for a movie about a race that never happened, starring a blonde WASP playing a half-indigenous cowboy, featuring a cast of mostly non-Arabs speaking fake Arabic, the film’s dominant theme has to do with taking control of one's own story. The catalyst for Hopkins’ decision to enter the race comes from his elder, Chief Eagle Horn (Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman), reminding him that, working for Buffalo Bill, he lives in a whitewashed, biased revision of history; this race serves as his chance to accomplish something outside of that. That this theme exists in a <i>Disney movie</i> brings this to a nosebleed-inducing level of irony. Disney <i>lives and breathes</i> whitewashed, biased revisions of history!<span id="goog_418183312"></span><br />
<br />
Our first glimpse of Hidalgo’s Arab cast comes in the form of Aziz (Adam Alexi-Malle), attaché to Sheikh al-Riyadh. Aziz looks like your stereotypical Arab oil sheikh: corpulent; reticent; supercilious; smug; casually sexist. He even whips out a khanjar and threatens to kill anyone who says anything that even sounds like an insult. To further cement Aziz as morally suspect, Hopkins later tortures him for information… You might guess why I don’t like the sight of a cowboy torturing an Arab in a 2004 film.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxyz95gRM-eiqnwSfalEZ75OmG9ksCRcCFE3sGtBgMFdYBemPvlOxvCOWpY7QdFpCmYvv_6vHsSVZ2H_Ph7kcNB3IFmv3T3GW5XHjpe0PTi5DxMsNN_IPlqdlIBm_96hMJbnhAJutCRg/s1600/aziz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxyz95gRM-eiqnwSfalEZ75OmG9ksCRcCFE3sGtBgMFdYBemPvlOxvCOWpY7QdFpCmYvv_6vHsSVZ2H_Ph7kcNB3IFmv3T3GW5XHjpe0PTi5DxMsNN_IPlqdlIBm_96hMJbnhAJutCRg/s320/aziz.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Ugh! Fine! I'll get up and move the plot along! <i>Gosh!!</i>”</td></tr>
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Through Aziz, al-Riyadh challenges our hero to a race: his own al-Hattal (هَطَّال, also a human name which means “heavy rain”) against Hidalgo. Al-Riyadh challenges Hopkins because he took personal offense to seeing Hopkins and Hidalgo billed as “the world’s greatest endurance horse and rider.” This subtly furthers stereotypes of Muslims as thin-skinned, self-aggrandizing, and rigidly inimical to free speech. (This stereotype, sadly, presages the Muhammad cartoon controversy.<sup>1</sup>)<br />
<br />
When we finally meet al-Riyadh, Sharif's preternatural likability hooks us. One almost overlooks the character’s casual sexism and xenophobia. In private, he dotes on his daughter, Princess Jazira (Zuleikha Robinson)… only to later refer to her as “lowly” and unworthy of attention in front of company. He makes statements implying he views wives as property of husbands (which contradicts Quranic statements on marriage) and brags about making his wives sleep in stable tents on cold nights to make his horse more comfortable.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJYe_lrUnM0MDDOYXf7vGVWj92hWSN4N72hk-c1BUx4a_I68zce7hYcEFxI0LehqQrnmnt4y25u_Um_KclGvrUZr4_sq_nWPmHfXl4f__yYNyI7mnDUTkaNLaD8bIbTMcpAlnvjW7-Ak/s1600/smile.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJYe_lrUnM0MDDOYXf7vGVWj92hWSN4N72hk-c1BUx4a_I68zce7hYcEFxI0LehqQrnmnt4y25u_Um_KclGvrUZr4_sq_nWPmHfXl4f__yYNyI7mnDUTkaNLaD8bIbTMcpAlnvjW7-Ak/s320/smile.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheikh al-Riyadh forgets that when his wives have to sleep in a stall, they’ll make him sleep on the couch.</td></tr>
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Al-Riyadh has promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who can best al-Hattal in a race. Writer John Fusco must have known this impress-me-and-you-get-my-daughter trope originated in medieval European legends. By showing Muslims clinging to such an outdated idea, he furthers the depiction of Arabs as trapped in the Middle Ages while their whiter cousins have moved on, technologically and morally. It doesn’t help that Jazira doesn’t consent. (It merits mentioning here that <a href="https://www.islamswomen.com/marriage/intro_to_marriage.php">Islam forbids any marriage</a> without the consent of <i>both</i> parties. Yes, there exists a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28250471">horrific child bride problem</a> in the Middle East, but working to eradicate that problem doesn’t go against Islam.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0djlJXzjHMKTwYOqzQ43UIbAjAe8_B89Ea81wTZnesx9z1QBxNNFyE-RNM0xuXAYEwSYOGocxQqpNoj-w0_Y9lnpFBpEn0S5BWqFe86Ey2sJypGHWOfiPt6Ny2G-E3HdVGhzLK_g6u0/s1600/hidalgo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0djlJXzjHMKTwYOqzQ43UIbAjAe8_B89Ea81wTZnesx9z1QBxNNFyE-RNM0xuXAYEwSYOGocxQqpNoj-w0_Y9lnpFBpEn0S5BWqFe86Ey2sJypGHWOfiPt6Ny2G-E3HdVGhzLK_g6u0/s320/hidalgo.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The film's healthiest marriage takes place between Hopkins and Hidalgo.<br />
(<b>Spoiler:</b> Hopkins takes Hidalgo's surname.)</td></tr>
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We later meet Prince bin-al-Reeh (Saïd Taghmaoui), Jazira's cousin who wants to marry her and make her his fifth wife. By the way, Islam only permits <i>four</i> wives. I have no desire to defend polygyny, but really, it wouldn’t have taken <i>that</i> much research to get that number right. Unfortunately, polygyny as well as cousin-marrying actually <i>do</i> still take place between Arabs in the Middle East… and between white people in the United States. So… that sucks.<br />
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Once Hopkins arrives in Arabia (the film makes almost no regional distinctions, and the stated race course makes no geographic sense), he looks with appropriate scorn towards the slave trade… but he buys a young boy anyway. The boy (Franky Mwangi) tries to escape and realizes he has no place to go, so he decides to willingly serve Hopkins. We never even learn the boy’s name! So the film doesn’t even make a committal statement against slavery. The film also depicts every owned slave—all of whom have darker skin than even the free black characters—as inexplicably content with their lot in life (Disney learned nothing from <i>Song of the South</i>) and willing to fight and die for their masters without hesitation. On the other hand, Jazira's remonstrance against marrying her cousin lies in her fear that he will effectively enslave her. Black slaves everywhere? No big deal. A non-black woman describes her upcoming marriage as possible slavery? <i>This will not stand!!!</i>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt19zLvFeJjD2XWJsks_QQKy_o0p2pKAGnf6SoUcH7NFNLYy8wbvlDTFMRJDuGj0Fni38AYh470JsZRLaIaXBkW4PpuXEg2PIcWXeh8M7UWmg8cuy3EbgyqV7kSuAt19IfSJPcpJ_tgqM/s1600/boy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt19zLvFeJjD2XWJsks_QQKy_o0p2pKAGnf6SoUcH7NFNLYy8wbvlDTFMRJDuGj0Fni38AYh470JsZRLaIaXBkW4PpuXEg2PIcWXeh8M7UWmg8cuy3EbgyqV7kSuAt19IfSJPcpJ_tgqM/s320/boy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let me reiterate… This boy. Becomes the property. Of the good guy. In a <i>Disney movie</i>. From just 11 years ago.</td></tr>
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The first on-screen depiction of Islam comes in the form of the sheikh’s elderly, insane goat-herder Yusef (Harsh Nayyar), the token comic relief character assigned to Hopkins. In a style reminiscent of Spike Lee’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro">Magical Negro</a>, Yusef shows up out of thin air to explain the entire race course in between wild-eyed, plangent bouts of gesticulating and begging Allah for mercy. In this way, the film acquaints us with Islam as a silly religion of crazy people in a backwards corner of the world. I love a good comic relief character as much as anyone, but the film implies that Yusef's comedy lies less in his mannerisms than his culture.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAMFzyKOrxnMr53xH5pEjuH_at4KpwfsmFGSZM5m8ULaOno4t0Hlfn4Vyjlf8O1VBmHIDtNf-Y8qlu9jB2ccKStlsH45bcBB_3Rnt16lDveCpC4rtqV3SiO61q-E8ruMs9Y1VPgekNDY/s1600/yusef.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAMFzyKOrxnMr53xH5pEjuH_at4KpwfsmFGSZM5m8ULaOno4t0Hlfn4Vyjlf8O1VBmHIDtNf-Y8qlu9jB2ccKStlsH45bcBB_3Rnt16lDveCpC4rtqV3SiO61q-E8ruMs9Y1VPgekNDY/s320/yusef.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Have you met the sheikh yet? Yeah, he almost cut off my hands in a fit of rage because I stole some milk from him. You'll love him!”</td></tr>
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The Arab/Muslim disregard-for-life stereotype figures prominently throughout, and the screenplay subtly associates Islam with mercilessness and fatalism. The Muslims continually taunt Hopkins with the threat of imminent death, by the sun or the sword. Soon after the race begins, a horse gets injured and his rider executes him. A rival warns Hopkins not to rescue the rider but to leave him to die in the desert. Later, Al-Riyadh claims he “has to” behead anyone who sees his unmarried daughter unveiled. I can’t speak to tribal customs, but Islamic texts say no such thing. Even if they did, with al-Riyadh as the most powerful man around, who would stop him from commuting a death sentence?<br />
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Halfway through the film, al-Riyadh tries to castrate Hopkins and flog Jazira because the sheikh incorrectly believes Hopkins made sexual advances on Jazira. Hopkins eventually gets out of this by pulling a Scheherazade and distracting al-Riyadh with wild west stories. This seems doubly appropriate: an Arabian Nights reference delivered via a character whose real-life counterpart probably fabricated this entire story.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4fa-NauT4iUpBcBGtdyC0mw0Eut2oeI8DcmPO7ZcLwMd2c7-T_QIuorxzruyvP__T2pZOL5wqiZqWF0uAnQs06RTUipLb_CqDvDROESli4uTumBlNMZmau-9_yCkJjCoqiYz75L9H50/s1600/sunset.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4fa-NauT4iUpBcBGtdyC0mw0Eut2oeI8DcmPO7ZcLwMd2c7-T_QIuorxzruyvP__T2pZOL5wqiZqWF0uAnQs06RTUipLb_CqDvDROESli4uTumBlNMZmau-9_yCkJjCoqiYz75L9H50/s320/sunset.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sadly, <i>Hidalgo</i> has few Arabian nights. But it does have this cool Arabian sunset.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Hidalgo</i> disguises its depiction of Arabs with a squeaky-clean veneer. The filmmakers took great pains to depict the Lakota Sioux accurately, which I applaud, but they didn’t go to nearly the same trouble with the Arabs, who get considerably more screen-time. Overall, <i>Hidalgo</i> seems like a sister film to <i>The Rocketeer</i>: an opus of schmaltz that puts feel-good emotional payoffs first. No matter how many toes they step on or how many people they misrepresent, Disney’s gotta have their happy ending.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDSLsCB6HVrTKx97MJlYeUUZw1nQWr_oLzY5D0IKe-iqTrIPsxgWLW6JBjyVIQPCy6D7tERBlfgRcGT3S8zn7VAJNZli8qA5gaJ9HgUvphOeVIhIsmvgtTB-3q222tGdg8A4tMeKtELE/s1600/katib.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDSLsCB6HVrTKx97MJlYeUUZw1nQWr_oLzY5D0IKe-iqTrIPsxgWLW6JBjyVIQPCy6D7tERBlfgRcGT3S8zn7VAJNZli8qA5gaJ9HgUvphOeVIhIsmvgtTB-3q222tGdg8A4tMeKtELE/s320/katib.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indian-English actor Silas Carson rocks a cool Arab-beard.<br />
If anyone wants to spread an “Arabs have awesome beards” stereotype, I can live with that.</td></tr>
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<sup>1</sup> People have asked me before for my opinion on the Muhammad cartoon controversy. As a pacifist, I loathe the overreactions from radical Muslims. However, while I’d never try to stop another person from drawing Muhammad, I personally strongly dislike Draw Muhammad Day. I understand and wholeheartedly agree with the need to keep free speech free, but I find Draw Muhammad Day unnecessarily antagonistic to peaceful Muslims. I also see it as a passive-aggressive means of derailing Muslim integration into non-Muslim society. In short, I oppose banning anyone from drawing Muhammad, but I still consider it a dick move.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" scrolling="no" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4ec9b86af5f8072f31000061" width="380"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-74460232605260866922015-05-04T23:29:00.001-07:002015-05-06T12:57:39.955-07:00Escape Plan (2013)As an Arab-American of Muslim upbringing, the last 14 years have made one thing painfully, ineluctably clear: although I identify as a pacifist and I’ve never even <i>met</i> a terrorist, my fellow countrymen have no qualms about sacrificing my liberty for their security.<br />
<br />
I don’t even just mean <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/11/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-are-still-five-times-more-common-today-than-before-911/" style="text-decoration: none;">hate crimes</a>. At any time, any day, for any or no reason, I could suddenly get <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site" style="text-decoration: none;">disappeared</a> by authorities. The feds could immure and torture me in <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/26/exclusive-chicago-black-site-detainee-speaks/" style="text-decoration: none;">some black site in the heart of America</a>, or <a href="http://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/7/71/426535/cpds-homan-square-cia-black-site" style="text-decoration: none;">I could face even worse treatment in Guantanamo Bay</a>, or face <i>even worse</i> treatment in an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/portland-man-tortured-uae-behest-of-fbi" style="text-decoration: none;">unknown facility on the far side of the world</a>, all with <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-sponsored-torture-former-guantanamo-prison-chief-geoffrey-miller-faces-french-court-inquiry/5440730" style="text-decoration: none;">no evidence that I’d done anything wrong</a>, at a site <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-jan-honigsberg/how-guantanamo-was-chosen_b_7153292.html" style="text-decoration: none;">specifically chosen</a> to deprive me of the use of a lawyer, with an arbitrary “enemy combatant” tag <a href="https://www.rutherford.org/constitutional_corner/amendment_vi_speedy_public_trial_by_jury/" style="text-decoration: none;">designed to make sure I can’t use</a> the Sixth or Seventh Amendments. They could <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/29/baltimore-justice-system-protests-curfew" style="text-decoration: none;">intentionally set a prohibitive fine</a>; maybe they just wouldn’t tell anyone they had me in custody at all. They could convince my friends and loved ones that I’d done something to deserve this. (More of them would believe it than I want to admit.) I might never speak to my lawyer, family, or friends again. I might literally never see the light of day again. The staff at these prisons know they could torture, brutalize, starve, and possibly murder me with no provocation and no fear of punishment <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/andreas-sch%C3%BCller/ending-impunity-bringing-cia-torture-to-justice" style="text-decoration: none;">for decades, if ever</a>. Whatever higher authorities would do to my torturers wouldn’t compare to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/cia-torture-report_n_7154964.html" style="text-decoration: none;">what they’d do to anyone who’d try to stop it</a>.<br />
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You might respond with blandishments about how, as a civic-minded film critic with a graduate-level education, I have nothing to worry about. But don’t waste your time or mine by claiming <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301476.html">this has never happened</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/my-guantanamo-nightmare.html?_r=0">to people</a> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1997083" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">who don’t deserve it</a>. Only an idiot would believe that the government <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/innocent-death-penalty-study_n_5228854.html" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">only punishes “bad people.”</a><br />
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So <i>Escape Plan</i>—a movie taking place inside “the Tomb,” a super-duper-max, ultra-secret, privately-owned, putatively “escape-proof” prison peopled with dissidents and Muslims—hits home for me.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NuYxtuE2Cmk_W1tFS7zcUjGQAt6QE5YHgETi-9auR_L000U-nT93PuXF-FIltDL-60CCbjtN6iiDXDRCPyvPkeR6Tp1FDJMWmroQSfVaR43SjLvYK5aImmnFwQjyz7XdP21RPdtPQGg/s1600/escape-plan-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NuYxtuE2Cmk_W1tFS7zcUjGQAt6QE5YHgETi-9auR_L000U-nT93PuXF-FIltDL-60CCbjtN6iiDXDRCPyvPkeR6Tp1FDJMWmroQSfVaR43SjLvYK5aImmnFwQjyz7XdP21RPdtPQGg/s1600/escape-plan-poster.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
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The film centers on highly-paid escapologist Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) and his attempts to escape the Tomb with the help of curiously solicitous fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Breslin also faces the reptilian Warden Hobbes (James Caviezel) and his violent assistant (Vinnie Jones).<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<i>Escape Plan</i> would feel like a cookie-cutter prison movie if not for the depiction of the Muslim inmates. Pakistani-American actor Faran Tahir plays Javed, the most prominent of these inmates and an honorable, if hotheaded, victim of circumstance. Javed slowly rots in the Tomb while his acquaintances remain unable to liberate him and probably unaware of his whereabouts. We learn that he worked for an opium cartel (not humanitarian work, I know, but it doesn’t exactly equate to beheading civilians for ISIS), who betrayed him and had him thrown in the Tomb. Like Breslin, he sits in prison not for what he did, but because someone with a lot of money wants him there (and sometimes, it doesn’t take <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/4/kids_for_cash_inside_one_of">anything more than that</a>).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjZj-JcLcFkLbMNEwOyA9wyTFUNgFbxFi3-rlKZXhDDFqAX2DunU2aG92L10CUj7gs40ffNaJcMaQxJTT2gicUwd7LBEH_XFVlCOQjejZ5TY_nixfODtmP7RduFiU1GcX6Km9gkgnFvc/s1600/cells.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjZj-JcLcFkLbMNEwOyA9wyTFUNgFbxFi3-rlKZXhDDFqAX2DunU2aG92L10CUj7gs40ffNaJcMaQxJTT2gicUwd7LBEH_XFVlCOQjejZ5TY_nixfODtmP7RduFiU1GcX6Km9gkgnFvc/s1600/cells.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Worst of all, the Tomb looks like a hotel designed by an overpaid Millennial.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We learn later that the real reason Breslin ended up in the Tomb had to do with breaking Rottmayer out, but Breslin could never have escaped if not for Javed. Although Javed clashes with two leads at first—particularly Rottmayer—he becomes useful later on because of this. When Breslin creates a makeshift sextant to find the Tomb’s geographical location, he entrusts it to Javed specifically because the authorities would never suspect Javed of all people of working with them. The film also implies that Javed convinced his Muslim friends off-screen to trust Breslin and Rottmayer once he realized they wanted to help. In this way, the film makes a point about the weakness of any oppressive regime. Oppressors try to pit people against each other, because oppression can’t survive when people band together. Breslin’s and Rottmayer’s alliance with the Muslims signal the turning point; their alliance turns the antagonists from invincible juggernauts to enemies with weak points.<br />
<br />
Javed’s Islamic faith proves key to the characters escaping the Tomb. He convinces Warden Hobbes to allow him to pray in the open air, surreptitiously using Breslin’s sextant against the night sky. The film makes a point of showing Javed’s remorse at using something as sacred as prayer as a tool to escape the prison. But Javed does this because he realizes that organizing a jailbreak can do good that goes beyond his own self-interest.
<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, Javed never gets as much screen-time as Breslin or Rottmayer. But Javed alone goes a long way toward a positive depiction of Muslims. He proves an essential ally, loyal and morally upright. In his final scene, he makes a hero’s sacrifice to ensure Breslin’s and Rottmayer’s escape. I didn’t completely like this the first time I watched it, since it felt like the narrative discarded Javed for lack of a desire to flesh out a character arc for him. But in a way, the film already had a pretty good arc for Javed from the viewer’s perspective. The viewer goes from seeing him as a pissy minor antagonist to a trustworthy ally. Not bad for the quaternary character in a Stallone flick.
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31wBiLeHXGNK13afHm477yfmZfVimWio40tT5t1xIxt9KJPGZkXlMe7PN-7-ne-8zPrpI8L22CvoGsnFJ8n4wqDxMdE9TC1iTf9mG7EzFXMdgSwhdeNHROcogVHV2rC6-UTrC4FbRK-c/s1600/javed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31wBiLeHXGNK13afHm477yfmZfVimWio40tT5t1xIxt9KJPGZkXlMe7PN-7-ne-8zPrpI8L22CvoGsnFJ8n4wqDxMdE9TC1iTf9mG7EzFXMdgSwhdeNHROcogVHV2rC6-UTrC4FbRK-c/s1600/javed.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… or a guy who bears a disturbing resemblance to Clint Howard.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The other Muslims feel more like an undifferentiated mass than individual characters. Few get lines; only one other Muslim even gets named on-screen. But even as a group, the film shows the Muslims working to survive through solidarity and determination. Even when all hope seems lost, they continue to pray regularly and watch each other’s backs. The Muslims come to symbolize the unbreakable nature of the human spirit. Even though conditions at real-life offshore prisons drove <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101987.html">36 Muslims to attempt suicide</a> by as early as 2005 (and it takes a lot to drive a single Muslim to suicide; <a href="http://www.missionislam.com/health/suicidenotescape.htm">Islam emphatically forbids it</a>), people determined to maintain hope will maintain hope.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl05gY4miW5gVarMaliKxNIv9QTAKHWqpbY2hwEUAoFwnVGrmanBPZ6s0OYfxBPJX59SXdTNfxdXXmAgbXzo_uOovBj1u9ApoKQF-Fw611PXo185F5Q-2bpdzwRqpixYghWN_T6H9O1o/s1600/muslims.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl05gY4miW5gVarMaliKxNIv9QTAKHWqpbY2hwEUAoFwnVGrmanBPZ6s0OYfxBPJX59SXdTNfxdXXmAgbXzo_uOovBj1u9ApoKQF-Fw611PXo185F5Q-2bpdzwRqpixYghWN_T6H9O1o/s1600/muslims.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They also look surprisingly badass doing it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
All in all, the depiction of Muslims stands out to me as surprisingly positive (especially in a movie starring a former Republican governor and four prominent conservatives: Stallone, Caviezel, Jones, and 50 Cent). I appreciated that the film doesn’t imply that the Muslims necessarily committed the crimes imputed to them. At no point does the film blame Islam or imply that Islam caused these people to wind up here. But their role in the story still takes a backseat to the central narrative of Breslin’s escape. Still, Muslims get enough screen-time for Escape Plan to make its point: detaining people because of their religion or appearance never has and never will lead to a better society.<br />
<br />
Like the best prison movies, <i>Escape Plan</i> echoes the famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">Stanford prison experiment</a>. The guards, rendered anonymous to the inmates by masks and uniforms that cover every square inch of their skin, act like stormtroopers. Rottmayer relates how they once murdered an inmate and left his body for three days, an anecdote that presages a certain <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/why-was-michael-brown-s-body-left-there-for-hours/article_0b73ec58-c6a1-516e-882f-74d18a4246e0.html" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">real-life police killing</a>. Sam Neill plays the reluctant prison doctor, who wants to help but fears the consequences (<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/cia-operative-prison-punishment-whistleblowing-torture/story?id=27474359" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">probably for</a> <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/federal-judge-tosses-florida-prison-whistleblower-case/2220112" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">good reason</a>).
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA8sKJt8tQoP0PjXTfySMtf-n0vhLuPW3NvPjesnvG06DBr-MPHbnOHUvvOXWfQ0Fe0g7AIsmw6wslhF9xiwbAb0IAriGUQWxjf0DNie5_AfBh3bsmm5P7IR8yArw3_x94Yh6MtaY1DU/s1600/neill.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA8sKJt8tQoP0PjXTfySMtf-n0vhLuPW3NvPjesnvG06DBr-MPHbnOHUvvOXWfQ0Fe0g7AIsmw6wslhF9xiwbAb0IAriGUQWxjf0DNie5_AfBh3bsmm5P7IR8yArw3_x94Yh6MtaY1DU/s320/neill.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Sam Neill’s career spans four decades. <i>Finally</i>, he’s mastered the hesitant stare.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Escape Plan</i> gets by on Breslin’s MacGyver-esque resourcefulness. We get plenty of action scenes, but they feel more than anything like an inferior version of the prison scenes in <i>The Raid 2</i>. <i>Escape Plan</i> also feels overlong at 115 minutes. It uses up its biggest plot twist halfway through; the remainder plods. Alex Heffes’ escalating score would work well on a shorter film, but it can only do so much to keep this one moving. The screenplay both telegraphs its plot twists and saves most for the end. This results in the movie putting a big chunk of its exposition in the worst place: the last few minutes.<br />
<br />
Director Mikael Håfström doesn’t do a bad job, but his directing feels utilitarian. He does make use of a few interesting visual motifs, though, such as cubes and hot lights. He sells the latter with smart use of dissolves and close-ups.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxD7sTSctNNh-ptp91IUq9w6Iiku_9nwV5vOtrCL0pXj7AVSRtlpa6_cYpjC8nDX3vbB4WaucW1rTVEvONijQEa4trehKbks4rsAf1fb7IsYCW5313vQnVDwEN9QfeLulaijjkRlrKhFU/s1600/balls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxD7sTSctNNh-ptp91IUq9w6Iiku_9nwV5vOtrCL0pXj7AVSRtlpa6_cYpjC8nDX3vbB4WaucW1rTVEvONijQEa4trehKbks4rsAf1fb7IsYCW5313vQnVDwEN9QfeLulaijjkRlrKhFU/s320/balls.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Well, <i>this</i> certainly made me believe in the room’s heat.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As for the supporting cast, Amy Ryan—one of the best actresses working today—plays Breslin’s loyal friend and voice of reason Abigail. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Breslin" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">Sound familiar?</a>) 50 Cent plays Breslin’s understudy, Hush. His backstory makes an understated but important point about the capacity of convicted felons for redemption. Ursine-American character actor Vincent D’Onofrio plays Breslin’s neurotic CEO, Lester Clark. One can tell Clark has an agenda just by the guy playing him. Like Gary Sinise, D’Onofrio never seems to play a guy who doesn’t seem a little off.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7TuBFGjiMR6vslth1BcXQ1-4fGm5ZNRvHMH6sVmg1V9t7CIRqwLC8h4oIc4lyE5aa5MNxmy41lE1m3tY_-mwwKKJGInNbzN196Blw4gpU8pv5f8gbgLs3IrORlfeHjDiggL23FTFtC0/s1600/supportingcast.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7TuBFGjiMR6vslth1BcXQ1-4fGm5ZNRvHMH6sVmg1V9t7CIRqwLC8h4oIc4lyE5aa5MNxmy41lE1m3tY_-mwwKKJGInNbzN196Blw4gpU8pv5f8gbgLs3IrORlfeHjDiggL23FTFtC0/s1600/supportingcast.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You know that feeling when you find yourself at the office and you have no effect on anything but you have to pretend to look important?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This movie won’t stand among Stallone or Schwarzenegger’s iconic roles from the 80s. You won't see the iconic scenes of their heydays. No old generals visit their reclusive war buddies to talk them into coming out of retirement. Nobody singlehandedly invades a foreign island covered in machine guns and bandoliers with cigars dangling from their mouths. Nobody trains for weeks in a meat locker to defend America through boxing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_62ILKFiYJpKal7b3Pb5UHS4xgux9dmyIt6GhTzRoM90Q6g1mxW7WoUdy1C0OoeHSmCu1nORF_r_w5GWvEye1ELoc0r_6e30dVRJe0lb1AAjKEM4nB4WzNn0wQPW3LxPtJcNA8zYV7Y/s1600/machinegun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_62ILKFiYJpKal7b3Pb5UHS4xgux9dmyIt6GhTzRoM90Q6g1mxW7WoUdy1C0OoeHSmCu1nORF_r_w5GWvEye1ELoc0r_6e30dVRJe0lb1AAjKEM4nB4WzNn0wQPW3LxPtJcNA8zYV7Y/s320/machinegun.png" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">The finale still features Arnold firing a machine gun off the side of a choppa.<br />Because Schwarzenegger.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But most importantly, the two leads' star power gets asses in seats. Let’s hope that while people watch, they get this movie’s point: sacrificing liberty for security usually means losing too much of both.
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" scrolling="no" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/516a285af5f807832f000000" width="380"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-79800101051547327452015-04-27T09:04:00.001-07:002015-05-14T07:48:42.512-07:00Front Row CentralHi, everyone.<br />
<br />
I apologize wholeheartedly for my absence for these past few months. I recently founded a film review site with some friends: <a href="http://frontrowcentral.com/">Front Row Central</a>. I feel tremendously proud of our work there, and I hope you all check it out! I absolutely plan to keep reviewing Arab movies and blogging about them here, but you’ll also see them on FRC too. I also started another column there dealing with American road movies: <a href="http://frontrowcentral.com/category/features/inner-state-5/">Inner State 5</a>.<br />
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My day job has grown unusually demanding, so I haven't had the ability to review movies like I want to, but you haven’t seen the last of me, I promise!Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-77296524254605983872014-10-26T06:21:00.000-07:002014-10-26T06:23:16.695-07:00The Sea Hawk (1924)I have no interest in sports. But as a former Seattleite, I know I have to cover this movie at some point this year just because of its title. I meant to get to it right after the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory, but then I just sort of… continued to not give a shit about professional sports.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hipF9vyN2m7LdB9G5gNO4A9pqsKJGHHW9V8ZLnYvyJjCea_8rPI2txWjk3_ICY5PRDBPF6qnwvYVMRmPpWzvY2dChrGd1gUZjUTsFWHHd5iMaF-Dju7v0R-IVNFVBAA1Ni6EH74GX5o/s1600/poster-8507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hipF9vyN2m7LdB9G5gNO4A9pqsKJGHHW9V8ZLnYvyJjCea_8rPI2txWjk3_ICY5PRDBPF6qnwvYVMRmPpWzvY2dChrGd1gUZjUTsFWHHd5iMaF-Dju7v0R-IVNFVBAA1Ni6EH74GX5o/s1600/poster-8507.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
Anyway, <i>The Sea Hawk</i>—an Elizabethan period piece adapted from a book by Rafael Sabatini—chronicles the transformation of Sir Oliver Tressilian (Milton Sills)—a courageous but arrogant Cornish seafarer—into Sakr-el-Bahr (<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ar"><span class="hps">صقر البحر</span></span>, which actually does mean “hawk of the sea”), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates">Barbary pirate</a> and scourge of the Spanish.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<h4>
The Muslims</h4>
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In the first act, Oliver’s half-brother Lionel (Lloyd Hughes) frames Oliver for murder, has him kidnapped, and steals his fiancée, a noblewoman by the name of Rosamund Godolphin. Oliver soon finds himself exiled and enslaved aboard a brutal Spanish galleon. He eventually escapes, abjures Christianity for Islam, and dedicates his life to piracy.<br />
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<i>The Sea Hawk</i> treats Muslims and Moors almost the same as the British Christians. In fact, it portrays Moors <i>more</i> positively than the Spanish. The film depicts both Christians and Muslims as slavers, but because Oliver found himself enslaved by other Christians, he appears to see Islam as the marginally better choice (Islam prohibits enslaving freeborn Muslims). The film and the book both came out during the period James Loewen calls
the “nadir of race relations,” which makes its attitude toward slavery
all the creepier.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-IxO3BcZAS4OUXZI2Ok9lmIi1qkH5_m4URMc69LcGfB3nLsaqy00DztFdBDVi9Wk_ZYSQm634ul3f4wcKvnjbfIh_nRI3qtiigYauqBB-dcSYKt_-DpVm1MrZgaZknLyovPaUWg9JcRc/s1600/sakr.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-IxO3BcZAS4OUXZI2Ok9lmIi1qkH5_m4URMc69LcGfB3nLsaqy00DztFdBDVi9Wk_ZYSQm634ul3f4wcKvnjbfIh_nRI3qtiigYauqBB-dcSYKt_-DpVm1MrZgaZknLyovPaUWg9JcRc/s1600/sakr.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But the film never explains how Oliver came to share a wardrobe with Genghis Khan.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Oliver and Companions </h4>
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Oliver makes for a decidedly strange and hypocritical antihero. He spends six months as a slave, yet he later purchases and makes use of slaves himself. He eventually even purchases Rosamund and Lionel as slaves!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb49vQFZvl2VAK2oKAVDQAzQ3ZHWGJPzZA1J13r46twZCEoGhYAyTFziYIugjTUfBKQ6dCnJDfdADqu2xPGkkBezdu7tApGxJEbNk9PepAHmZd9ch8EjZ-c20N8rGMpqYoimW1L9H_vHA/s1600/oliverslave.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb49vQFZvl2VAK2oKAVDQAzQ3ZHWGJPzZA1J13r46twZCEoGhYAyTFziYIugjTUfBKQ6dCnJDfdADqu2xPGkkBezdu7tApGxJEbNk9PepAHmZd9ch8EjZ-c20N8rGMpqYoimW1L9H_vHA/s1600/oliverslave.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oliver just spent six months as a galley slave. Look into those cold, hard eyes and watch him learn absolutely nothing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oliver spends the entire film in love with Rosamund, but their relationship looks pretty unhealthy. The film opens with him dueling and stabbing her legal guardian, Sir John Killigrew, because Sir John accused him of piracy and cowardice. Oliver later sails back to Cornwall, kidnaps Rosamund, and speed-marries her without her consent. Oliver maintains a habit of steamrolling over Rosamund’s free will; even his privations and rise to prominence in Algiers doesn’t change this.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDl7lOJsVK-ol9s7vCsW02zXUhCAdmRQBI2iS3KjcMgQ-LrrRSU3E4DyZcx9WW0rWHhCPJa6lMrWvCnSWvtMoV-uvwQ_P2GJZvdYGd7eWfveTV0IN2xfUyLehBcmdY_Nnymm69FgI_Yf4/s1600/embrace.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDl7lOJsVK-ol9s7vCsW02zXUhCAdmRQBI2iS3KjcMgQ-LrrRSU3E4DyZcx9WW0rWHhCPJa6lMrWvCnSWvtMoV-uvwQ_P2GJZvdYGd7eWfveTV0IN2xfUyLehBcmdY_Nnymm69FgI_Yf4/s1600/embrace.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Rosamund, my love, I know you just saw me stab your father figure, but I can explain that right now we should totally have sex.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The film depicts Oliver and his half-brother Lionel with echoes of Thor and Loki. Although the ironically-named Lionel initially falls into his villainous role through cowardice, he quickly figures out how to use Oliver’s headstrong personality against him. The film makes a running theme out of Lionel embodying the very qualities he imputes to Oliver, such as homicidal tendencies, greed, and fecklessness.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ypR5jCIExphlHloKR-MWvRm-LySYI9yFNAkx7Qbz1IUJfaJzDz6FORBfHOILKe8m4VRxE-ZSBvcbqgEeHfcCIBbbYLCy7v4J8hGBU2kyHGs5SK8L7YkEWCIJlbp1DMlQcjH2oJAx7Rc/s1600/lionel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ypR5jCIExphlHloKR-MWvRm-LySYI9yFNAkx7Qbz1IUJfaJzDz6FORBfHOILKe8m4VRxE-ZSBvcbqgEeHfcCIBbbYLCy7v4J8hGBU2kyHGs5SK8L7YkEWCIJlbp1DMlQcjH2oJAx7Rc/s1600/lionel.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing against Wil Wheaton, but Lloyd Hughes also kind of looks like Wil Wheaton.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the Moorish side of things, all decisions ultimately fall to Asad-ed-Din (أسد الدين, a name that literally means “lion of the faith”), Basha of Algiers and Lionel’s counterpart in the Moorish world. Like Lionel, Asad treats Oliver/Sakr like family, but he ultimately decides to scheme against his protégé over Rosamund. In Asad’s duality with Lionel, one gets the feeling that Oliver’s exile can’t erase the struggles that he has to face. Oliver’s temperament, not his location, determines the nature his struggles.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFzK0spehfbNi-O_6jTiMH7Va5WfBIt_feQFU_a9CLkkYvMybhHQoUu43o-7wsA4_OC7qQMStB1jOK7d394P5dchcRqrtML_J6-U3ZjRbyKw58Zkox7Gr22OIOnZJXEGxS2ivvQ_Lihs/s1600/asadeddin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFzK0spehfbNi-O_6jTiMH7Va5WfBIt_feQFU_a9CLkkYvMybhHQoUu43o-7wsA4_OC7qQMStB1jOK7d394P5dchcRqrtML_J6-U3ZjRbyKw58Zkox7Gr22OIOnZJXEGxS2ivvQ_Lihs/s1600/asadeddin.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fortunately for the music world, Asad wouldn’t live long enough to sue ZZ Top.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We also see another parallel in two lackeys. Wallace Beery boosts the film slightly as Jasper Leigh, the venal ship’s captain who enacts Lionel’s orders to shanghai Oliver. Beery ultimately realizes that serving Oliver instead would prove good for his health, so he amends his ways to help out his former captive. He becomes the quirkiest and drunkest—although definitely not the bravest—of the supporting characters.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Bfc0Mc6JvXrIkTjNsRR1e88cqy_NpdNP3ILVMF4hsq2ssjst2MRLQKkap0o14ZMozOWC0ED2W6c7gIFC4QovTxssBe1sKRL4-FD_6yutQjjpz2KD0FSIcLV1MVuMQ6-QYFFTjAVbXeA/s1600/jasperleigh.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Bfc0Mc6JvXrIkTjNsRR1e88cqy_NpdNP3ILVMF4hsq2ssjst2MRLQKkap0o14ZMozOWC0ED2W6c7gIFC4QovTxssBe1sKRL4-FD_6yutQjjpz2KD0FSIcLV1MVuMQ6-QYFFTjAVbXeA/s1600/jasperleigh.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes, a bandana makes a man look like a pirate.<br />
Other times, a bandana makes a man look like the quirky housekeeper in a sitcom.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Robert Bolder plays Jasper’s Algerian counterpart, sleazy slaver Ayoub, an agent of Asad’s family. When Oliver captures Rosamund and Lionel, in keeping with Islamic custom, the state sells both into slavery. Ayoub attempts to buy Rosamund for his master. In the book, he succeeds. In the film, he loses to Oliver but lives to scheme another day.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkNZf0thk9iOy7lXd3KF3G1Yr9a2qXRoXzwXlOTVaMv9jY6H5RbXRbS8o2uMXQNXwBRdaOpoN5qPuChB6a4bRVR1I-dHAct8_wQyrLCVyiBH5G0fIA44S-vIJi08DmqW5tTlgiQnwo9E/s1600/ayoub.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkNZf0thk9iOy7lXd3KF3G1Yr9a2qXRoXzwXlOTVaMv9jY6H5RbXRbS8o2uMXQNXwBRdaOpoN5qPuChB6a4bRVR1I-dHAct8_wQyrLCVyiBH5G0fIA44S-vIJi08DmqW5tTlgiQnwo9E/s1600/ayoub.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can’t tell from the picture, but he looks like a total jackass in context.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
All in all, the film treats its English characters and its Moorish characters as more-or-less equal: equally capable of nobility, magnanimity, and honor as well as guile, gullibility, and enslavement. Also, both sides <i>really</i> hate Spain.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5a00xqRIoeKFzep9WugRlxfMW2iZVqV07AEuiazMGZqU-p6LwU8s5dTnE7ju5kTRE5X0YdF4T2pM6A5tLw2TdCV1TjA_L44Ytu1cVi62ogolGrJbVAeqW1aa1Ni8laHg72jNh4SSoQqk/s1600/spanishboat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5a00xqRIoeKFzep9WugRlxfMW2iZVqV07AEuiazMGZqU-p6LwU8s5dTnE7ju5kTRE5X0YdF4T2pM6A5tLw2TdCV1TjA_L44Ytu1cVi62ogolGrJbVAeqW1aa1Ni8laHg72jNh4SSoQqk/s1600/spanishboat.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that smug Spanish boat with its stupid sails and its stupid spars and its stupid forecastle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
The Directing</h4>
<br />
For a silent, the film has novel cinematography. In five years, Frank Lloyd would earn the Academy Award for Best Director for <i>The Divine Lady</i>. Nevertheless, in 1924, his command of the language of film had yet to fully mature. Lloyd weaves scenes together in a way that feels confusing when he can’t accompany them with changes in sound or color. He weaves together two romantic scenes early on in a disorienting manner, with abrupt jump cuts zigzagging back and forth. Battle scenes become confusing as he jumps from wide shots to two-shots to two-shots from a different angle without regard to continuity.<br />
<br />
Still, though, Lloyd sells the most climactic parts. The fight scenes work on the silent film tradition of throwing a bunch of extras into the frame and having them all duke it out with each other. These scenes don’t exactly sparkle by today’s standards, but they work well in the service of the film.<br />
<br />
Lloyd even pulls a Méliès and uses hand-painted film in one shot.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNCS0Jx7gv7hKwg-vJ9fip4kfjSVVqpLcG_qJAhcURZ9ytyM1FPyAeff7-tb76pKNDLJQvOCHKCSkrU0h_pcVotdZbYjI5xu-H3ib6j-HYuKt3VNE7el5fC-AJZtPwHqOGodgIIKQ-hE/s1600/torches.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNCS0Jx7gv7hKwg-vJ9fip4kfjSVVqpLcG_qJAhcURZ9ytyM1FPyAeff7-tb76pKNDLJQvOCHKCSkrU0h_pcVotdZbYjI5xu-H3ib6j-HYuKt3VNE7el5fC-AJZtPwHqOGodgIIKQ-hE/s1600/torches.gif" height="242" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks pretty cool for 1924, huh?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So the film has a thing or two going for it, but the script still moves at a plodding pace. J.G. Hawks simplified the plot as he adapted the novel for the screen, which proved a wise move, but he and Lloyd still didn’t get the pacing right. The film just seldom feels very exciting. It doesn’t kick into gear until halfway into its run-time, and even after that, a false ending holds up the pace even more. Despite the length, the real ending feels rushed, almost perfunctory.<br />
<br />
At least Lloyd also uses some wonderful establishing shots. Some of these shots would later wind up in the loose 1940 remake starring Errol Flynn. The pretty exteriors
don’t entirely save the dragging narrative, but they mitigate the boredom.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiig67Mqe2WmXu9hoNPocnkeVNBggSPZlGgMnWa8BcXrqUG_pX-s0xz1oxe4ob3PCp1UPo7aPfK7ayKWxEjX1xvOGVoLdMqZdDtxuZYVq8RA_vPHbzSbJ349Ai4qCXLS_8Fpu239TEufw/s1600/penarrow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiig67Mqe2WmXu9hoNPocnkeVNBggSPZlGgMnWa8BcXrqUG_pX-s0xz1oxe4ob3PCp1UPo7aPfK7ayKWxEjX1xvOGVoLdMqZdDtxuZYVq8RA_vPHbzSbJ349Ai4qCXLS_8Fpu239TEufw/s1600/penarrow.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the power of film to enable me to experience Cornwall without the cold.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Speaking of boredom, today the Seattle Seahawks play the Carolina Panthers and I have some football to ignore. So to summarize, I give this film a score of, “Eh.”
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<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4eb0a1f5f5f807326e000001" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-26992389786225123212014-09-12T03:35:00.000-07:002014-09-12T03:37:11.209-07:00The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)With Richard Kiel’s recent passing, I felt like pouring one out for him in the form of watching his most famous role (outside of <i>Happy Gilmore</i> and inspiring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grill_%28jewelry%29">idiotic tooth-wear</a>, anyway). So I checked out his first appearance as Jaws in <i>The Spy Who Loved Me</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://i.imgur.com/mbSWTev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/mbSWTev.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></div>
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I should warn you, the reader, that I actually like Roger Moore. Most people like Connery the best, and I agree, but I think Moore made a great James Bond for his time. Sure, the stunt scenes look ridiculous with his footage intercut in, but he brought a sense of humor and camp sensibility to Bond that I thought did the series a lot of favors at that point in its history.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgakCRWbmrN4enBZQjKVtoaVLlEMDT-OEb5dUEtRAqGQ2LouBYQ6lm_AOuhBPolYMKcZt0p-knTUVF1wdfd1BzXLognMQTpO6ufFk2mTsDqD2TbpEGSO5g4sFtmM_mnCxNnvSox0U6Q5vE/s1600/closeup.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgakCRWbmrN4enBZQjKVtoaVLlEMDT-OEb5dUEtRAqGQ2LouBYQ6lm_AOuhBPolYMKcZt0p-knTUVF1wdfd1BzXLognMQTpO6ufFk2mTsDqD2TbpEGSO5g4sFtmM_mnCxNnvSox0U6Q5vE/s1600/closeup.gif" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can really see how stressed Roger Moore looks…</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C6ycjiZWNVjGq40lrsovyb42NEi46jeqR3eceAEk0PTTEcw24GxQ1iKPH_pDw1hl3k2T1dWY5b2hQftjCtpvX2bDa8qktRivXr9j12DxBZ9tb0pXp-o7eTs60n7vDMDxg2V5rXxJFS0/s1600/farshot.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C6ycjiZWNVjGq40lrsovyb42NEi46jeqR3eceAEk0PTTEcw24GxQ1iKPH_pDw1hl3k2T1dWY5b2hQftjCtpvX2bDa8qktRivXr9j12DxBZ9tb0pXp-o7eTs60n7vDMDxg2V5rXxJFS0/s1600/farshot.gif" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… while his stunt double does <i>this</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like all James Bond films, I found this one a bit overlong and overambitious, but I still enjoyed it. Of course, in keeping with this blog, I’ll begin by talking about Egypt.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Bond & Egypt</h3>
<br />
The Egyptian government worried themselves quite a bit over their country’s depiction in this film even before its creation. The government only allowed shooting in Egypt after approving the script. A government representative remained on the set throughout shooting to make sure the film depicted Egypt in a flattering light. From a cinematographic perspective, Egypt looks gorgeous in the film. Material-wise, as the government undoubtedly concluded, I didn’t find much to offend me as an Arab.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYLCTHKOEzaBDJpnmlLYGO1Ha2oeURtmC0Bnob_UxxDGKZo9lZrM4RoLAgM0S8WB1ufrPiA32E7vtl30fMSbcJzxQhkE5xWGWLtcydAGELaURXIG3TSJbl_NHzhPPzfasnySStYsxpw8/s1600/hosein.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYLCTHKOEzaBDJpnmlLYGO1Ha2oeURtmC0Bnob_UxxDGKZo9lZrM4RoLAgM0S8WB1ufrPiA32E7vtl30fMSbcJzxQhkE5xWGWLtcydAGELaURXIG3TSJbl_NHzhPPzfasnySStYsxpw8/s1600/hosein.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hosein, the most prominent “Arab” in the film, totally doesn’t look at all like an Aryan Englishman who dresses in a dimly-lit thrift shop. Nope. No siree Bob.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Egyptian people served largely the same purpose as the native people in any of the various lands Bond visits throughout the films. The women indulge his predatory pick-up-artistry. The men arrogantly play both sides of the Iron Curtain. They give Bond information or they die. Often both.<br />
<br />
The Egyptians in this film stood out to me mostly for their abject sexism. Most of the Egyptian women serve as mute servants in the background. Only one utters any scripted words on-screen and she turns out to work for the enemy. Nevertheless, calling characters in a Bond film sexist feels a bit like calling someone in AA an alcoholic. Considering Bond seems to occasionally forget that women can vote now, any friend of a his would probably take “sexist” as a compliment. As someone who’s seen a lot (but not all) of the series, I didn’t really find anything about Egypt’s sexism more offensive than the usual Bond-movie sexism.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpSKdDlgkBHThXQYQN0-2LtOFauZGskr9sZp6MHDVgB0lXhvoAw3pzWD6YfA2vmcZ4Z0rXXJw080BbmzD15PaEAYISUVlvyr_wdFu9_Vc6C-VhJJX_8ZqjbGtPE5AVD1SLlRJlH3wIX0/s1600/arabwomen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpSKdDlgkBHThXQYQN0-2LtOFauZGskr9sZp6MHDVgB0lXhvoAw3pzWD6YfA2vmcZ4Z0rXXJw080BbmzD15PaEAYISUVlvyr_wdFu9_Vc6C-VhJJX_8ZqjbGtPE5AVD1SLlRJlH3wIX0/s1600/arabwomen.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let’s not get me wrong; I find this offensive.<br />
But the entire series treats women as hotel amenities, so this by itself doesn’t exactly stand out.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPIuwTfMnUK6f9rTDNpuWR7E-Uml3gXFlgH_0jkRkqP4bTRIUccUWqQssNQ71zApwba3MmMHkgFMD2yWnbME4gF65ula8tSNO39EUPZJSZVsdI7TffVWC7Zd4wz6YxhovaA0whMXFO58/s1600/egyptianwomen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPIuwTfMnUK6f9rTDNpuWR7E-Uml3gXFlgH_0jkRkqP4bTRIUccUWqQssNQ71zApwba3MmMHkgFMD2yWnbME4gF65ula8tSNO39EUPZJSZVsdI7TffVWC7Zd4wz6YxhovaA0whMXFO58/s1600/egyptianwomen.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Of course, Bond ignores the hordes of Egyptian extras who <i>don’t</i> inexplicably want in his pants.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Only one moment stands out as a dig against the Egyptian people. Bond tricks Jaws into triggering a scaffolding collapse and then drily quips, “Egyptian builders.” I didn’t personally find this terribly offensive, since I suspect the writers would have Bond say that in any country in that context. Also, the line got a huge laugh amongst Egyptian audiences, so if they took it as good-natured raillery, I don’t consider it my place to tell them not to.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhka1wXV911q9c197gZ9DHYwLNo5UaOUuACSmQdvmg8J8Y1xA_MVDwvnKTCq73cthfp-iveDoi_ahHKDTr9vuxqp1IsnXjoZG3mwIzuYueU9j7Dl5tIVaktIaoNmHS0bKkJWav7-i3mTJw/s1600/kalba.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhka1wXV911q9c197gZ9DHYwLNo5UaOUuACSmQdvmg8J8Y1xA_MVDwvnKTCq73cthfp-iveDoi_ahHKDTr9vuxqp1IsnXjoZG3mwIzuYueU9j7Dl5tIVaktIaoNmHS0bKkJWav7-i3mTJw/s1600/kalba.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If I really wanted to feel offended, Max Kalba here has a surname very close to “كلبة,” which means “bitch.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So at no point does this movie really offend me as an Arab. Frankly, it didn’t really give me enough material to care one way or the other. As a feminist, well, here, that issue has a bit more complexity…<br />
<br />
<h3>
Public vs. Private</h3>
<br />
Some people watch Bond films for the cars, others for the girls, and others to look at the gadgets and all the disparate ways in which the writers didn’t think of smartphones.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESrUJE_B9kYSwwgs-j2qU122KJci8uIwNZEfoIDPkFsnEjsHeD-ZsgtnZTas8oWcvfGv_coxA0OYYJgnQSOdnxjPC6oz3HNejNTMTRq9EcxbQbI2-HCI099uvaKRwPorgyZlst8K-vNU/s1600/text.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESrUJE_B9kYSwwgs-j2qU122KJci8uIwNZEfoIDPkFsnEjsHeD-ZsgtnZTas8oWcvfGv_coxA0OYYJgnQSOdnxjPC6oz3HNejNTMTRq9EcxbQbI2-HCI099uvaKRwPorgyZlst8K-vNU/s1600/text.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This <i>still</i> looks more appealing than the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/what-do-the-worlds-top-watchmakers-think-of-apple-watch-1410449406">Apple Watch</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-7SGRnVwMio90FH0xqKcqSudG9uPfAKnD_a0DrZW0u0SM6pMlN0cnd-o0jt91VBHN6D6XNFwGYo2adv5lBamyKhGWHPlelqVwjiIEBu3U6UxxAnjoSLYrm2-wXIo_HraSaqBZNgaEE8/s1600/q.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-7SGRnVwMio90FH0xqKcqSudG9uPfAKnD_a0DrZW0u0SM6pMlN0cnd-o0jt91VBHN6D6XNFwGYo2adv5lBamyKhGWHPlelqVwjiIEBu3U6UxxAnjoSLYrm2-wXIo_HraSaqBZNgaEE8/s1600/q.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also, I suppose we all like to see Q sass it up while he fails to anticipate the Internet.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I, for one, like Bond films for the villains. If I had my way, I’d put Oddjob & Jaws in every Bond movie as the Bebop & Rocksteady of spy films. This film has at least one of the two, so I approve.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_E2nqhyphenhyphenWWPm_DL0dQntxBPutxs_aQnbfpREmSwXV1rQavSfdmBhdCQlj3zLquKBhpHbMPlVbYPRIID5BmeeZzd9iFI3VroseG9zmfJ5ZFozEmGggVyNFwv3Z_FIcHyjRxI2gobKZUTkY/s1600/703215-7893338-jawshanken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_E2nqhyphenhyphenWWPm_DL0dQntxBPutxs_aQnbfpREmSwXV1rQavSfdmBhdCQlj3zLquKBhpHbMPlVbYPRIID5BmeeZzd9iFI3VroseG9zmfJ5ZFozEmGggVyNFwv3Z_FIcHyjRxI2gobKZUTkY/s1600/703215-7893338-jawshanken.jpg" height="320" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even animated, just <i>look</i> at this badass and tell me you don’t want to buy his action figure off eBay!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In the characterization of the villains, <i>The Spy Who Loved Me</i> stands out as unusually progressive and autocritical for a Bond film. The film’s very plot calls for Russia and the west to put aside their differences and fight a common enemy: privatization.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAWCF1TMQlflZnhacmIhHKAn3mZ95c6I9TWLstpJeNHlJnoSLhElOUcWGhm3mVpAnzbJE_HX1rdyFZw7vKrw7toR2qCBKa4Gq36oroFCh0XwR5UQ7A634yGbWBf6UT1zmHb8HGIf2GCE/s1600/atlantisfit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyAWCF1TMQlflZnhacmIhHKAn3mZ95c6I9TWLstpJeNHlJnoSLhElOUcWGhm3mVpAnzbJE_HX1rdyFZw7vKrw7toR2qCBKa4Gq36oroFCh0XwR5UQ7A634yGbWBf6UT1zmHb8HGIf2GCE/s1600/atlantisfit.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can always spot a lair of evil by how much it looks like a spider.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We know the antagonist, Karl Stromberg, as a megalomaniacal plutocrat beset by a Herostratic desire to remake the world in his own image. Unlike Bond’s usual stripe of villain, Stromberg doesn’t lower himself to extortion; no ransom would stop him from annihilating Moscow and New York to consolidate a hegemon of his own creation. In this, Stromberg represents the dark side of corporate oligarchy, the desire to use money as a destructive force to make oneself more powerful.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkfwsLGq3XN6svN3sqPcfiyJ8NI11GEVON9Eev-xHbF1zLFsk9gMfQA6GStJ0Tr3jTTXS2VG2-IentNffsnoe0oGNw9pk7_Ih3zYMbdDZznTE9dH4kpFH0UtmPy1gVLOazjz5qT4iQXw/s1600/strombergfit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkfwsLGq3XN6svN3sqPcfiyJ8NI11GEVON9Eev-xHbF1zLFsk9gMfQA6GStJ0Tr3jTTXS2VG2-IentNffsnoe0oGNw9pk7_Ih3zYMbdDZznTE9dH4kpFH0UtmPy1gVLOazjz5qT4iQXw/s1600/strombergfit.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know evil when I see it, especially when it looks this much like Rupert Murdoch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
His main henchman, the vertiginous Zbigniew “Jaws” Krycsiwiki, acts like a vampire: a nigh-indestructible superhuman who kills people with a bite on the neck. In literature, vampires have traditionally represented a special kind of predator that becomes more powerful by weakening others. Jaws’ actions, then, reflect on the predatory nature of plutocracy and far-right greed. Jaws exists to help Stromberg get richer and more powerful by making many, many other people worse off.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51koutT6xs4plosMdK9ABPG5lpF0RKh1TeCiKlGZiFS5S29NbK9673qnyomI7XhDg7GX3Acqhmbyj9L32DhT4JRr9wSArQ3dnHjrsxKhpSyUeo7Awy-LZVTZQs1o3dzZEd3f7pA5H8dc/s1600/jaws.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51koutT6xs4plosMdK9ABPG5lpF0RKh1TeCiKlGZiFS5S29NbK9673qnyomI7XhDg7GX3Acqhmbyj9L32DhT4JRr9wSArQ3dnHjrsxKhpSyUeo7Awy-LZVTZQs1o3dzZEd3f7pA5H8dc/s1600/jaws.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like many of the 1%, Jaws also tries cutting-edge medical techniques to address his iron deficiency.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJmSVzCNsItaEXMeNZRWgAYWudOrryREiq_r2wHzsgzo7qDCubTh1aamfZA_DUODxA7nHnTlPpVhiZwNVipIwt75zRNuIzGscPE4pDPbXMcYUrvejEjg7y98zEu95o9mgQUhyLI6mWCo/s1600/cartop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJmSVzCNsItaEXMeNZRWgAYWudOrryREiq_r2wHzsgzo7qDCubTh1aamfZA_DUODxA7nHnTlPpVhiZwNVipIwt75zRNuIzGscPE4pDPbXMcYUrvejEjg7y98zEu95o9mgQUhyLI6mWCo/s1600/cartop.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Partway through the film, Jaws realizes he always wanted a convertible.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like Roger Moore, though, Richard Kiel brings a sense of humor to the film. He knows when to look menacing and when to look silly. He imitates just enough of Boris Karloff’s mannerisms to sell the latter.<br />
<br />
In another example of plutocracy run amok, Stromberg employs an entire private military—with officers and enlisted ranks and everything—to act out his orders. This private armed force feels like a precursor to Blackwater, soldiers in a military with a lot more money and a lot fewer rules. We see these soldiers participate in (at worst) or condone (at best) kidnapping, murder, and treason. Again, the film sends the same message: the state—which has to please the people on some level or risk revolution—has, by its very nature, a level of accountability for which the private sector has no use.<br />
<br />
The film depicts the Soviet Union with surprising sympathy. The film seems to advance the idea that extreme privatization affects both sides of the Cold War enough to put it on hold.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjay5wXca41MEVh9tbOCmKygzjetIm1UQsO5Fs5f98IviiSkHKdw66hWjH3xD5MZuxRsmg6LBylwsYNUVXKDfV_6MNt_s4vvS2ROU1f-LHrWFYAUPNqe4vrR19xc5w8pIMw-le4ciOlvSw/s1600/base.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjay5wXca41MEVh9tbOCmKygzjetIm1UQsO5Fs5f98IviiSkHKdw66hWjH3xD5MZuxRsmg6LBylwsYNUVXKDfV_6MNt_s4vvS2ROU1f-LHrWFYAUPNqe4vrR19xc5w8pIMw-le4ciOlvSw/s1600/base.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The conversation of an ancient tomb into a base also strikes me as a tacit admission of first- and second-world imperialism.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Sex & Sexism</h3>
<br />
News sources <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christian-piatt/mark-driscoll-women-as-pe_b_5804964.html">recently reported</a> that infamously abusive, greedy megachurch potentate and accomplished piece of shit Mark Driscoll once referred to women as “penis houses.” In a display of the sort of loyalty and rectitude typical of organized religion, his Mars Hill church only recently started acknowledging this and distancing themselves from Driscoll after they noticed Driscoll’s detrimental effects on their fundraising. I bring that up here because Driscoll’s sort of misogyny seems like the exact kind of attitude one would acquire from watching too many James Bond movies in childhood.<br />
<br />
We all know James Bond films have a reputation for sexism. It often seems remarkable that a series that never (intentionally) does nude scenes<sup>i</sup> can so consistently depict women as objects deficient of free will. But for a pre-Judi Dench Bond film, <i>The Spy Who Loved Me</i> actually comes closer to shining a light on its own sexism than most. The film achieves this by giving Bond a foil, a Russian (near) equal and opposite. You’d never know it from the name, but Bond meets his match in… Agent XXX.<br />
<br />
Barbara Bach plays Agent XXX, Major Anya Amasova. Bach’s Russian accent could have really used a little work, but other than that, I really liked her character. She possesses a level of training and proficiency relatively close to Bond’s. Several times, Bond underestimates her and to his own humiliation. Unlike virtually every other character in Bond history, she succeeds in striking a nerve with him when she mentions his dead wife. She actually plays an active, relevant role in the story, with a motive that makes her part-friend, part-enemy.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGudCgcAQmf65AeRH8Ut-OwrMzJPNGXxFR4Tj43Djijev0NJSlXA_Yw3k1MUZb1n0VXnj4mjLNvfrNOaWagyhpqkfSnx8pUM3ojwy-XJ7-hA0EsZrb5dC18CzUMCmgVdheApUkEOkcsnk/s1600/bondxxx.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGudCgcAQmf65AeRH8Ut-OwrMzJPNGXxFR4Tj43Djijev0NJSlXA_Yw3k1MUZb1n0VXnj4mjLNvfrNOaWagyhpqkfSnx8pUM3ojwy-XJ7-hA0EsZrb5dC18CzUMCmgVdheApUkEOkcsnk/s1600/bondxxx.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their mutual distrust goes a long way toward making the characterization appealing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKEnso0U2doG60DKrFBAJ0OxGUVyKrZjvEJ5xtgln59ZZgoJviHJM-GtsJZw52GCKt38Xzb7bzdK39hNG_3GGMalZeu1OAnXDJHWGHkCGD-iroMZYvHDHSm8M-Nw3QDlKkoJe9y2sgLCk/s1600/cigarette.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKEnso0U2doG60DKrFBAJ0OxGUVyKrZjvEJ5xtgln59ZZgoJviHJM-GtsJZw52GCKt38Xzb7bzdK39hNG_3GGMalZeu1OAnXDJHWGHkCGD-iroMZYvHDHSm8M-Nw3QDlKkoJe9y2sgLCk/s1600/cigarette.gif" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her method of delivering knockout gas also teaches a valuable lesson about dating smokers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unfortunately, in Bond movie tradition, the film still depicts Major Amasova as somewhat inferior. The film makes a point of showing that <i>Commander</i> James Bond still outranks her. As a major female character in a Bond film, perforce, she gets kidnapped and Bond risks everything to rescue her like a knight in shining armor.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60gjsf71_fk7baqftunvG85KefbVjB2qMrXgsOM5h09kKbiREZSmdogrg7xlwaFLDd0MIetjiWunQrZ4l-io_VBBOkJ7avtnzKPlkZDSe6R2EmPweoKtnOl0FHVmPh9QU5pOGTQX1Bwk/s1600/tiedup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60gjsf71_fk7baqftunvG85KefbVjB2qMrXgsOM5h09kKbiREZSmdogrg7xlwaFLDd0MIetjiWunQrZ4l-io_VBBOkJ7avtnzKPlkZDSe6R2EmPweoKtnOl0FHVmPh9QU5pOGTQX1Bwk/s1600/tiedup.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See what happens to even the most progressive Bond girls?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Also, of course we never see Amasova again after this film. So I can’t call this film a sterling example of feminism, but it still stands out amongst its parent series.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLo7A6m0hSow-sdZUNOUEFgY66NLtwObebM59irh2MWjqqz5RxxVB_adRbumgNNTVRC-qHKroFFcyGnaKxIsXun_mXgQxGgUsrV6irt6eHccOD1I4K7BFxzdv816S4KsTEPQ9VrDzEMo/s1600/silhouette.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLo7A6m0hSow-sdZUNOUEFgY66NLtwObebM59irh2MWjqqz5RxxVB_adRbumgNNTVRC-qHKroFFcyGnaKxIsXun_mXgQxGgUsrV6irt6eHccOD1I4K7BFxzdv816S4KsTEPQ9VrDzEMo/s1600/silhouette.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As much as I like this shot, I could do without Amasova always walking several steps behind Bond.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
More than most Bond films up to this point, The Spy Who Loved Me really does seem cognizant—even critical—of Bond’s sexism. On two occasions, henchwomen nearly kill Bond by distracting him with their secret technique of “having boobs.” It seems to have become an open secret amongst Bond’s friends and enemies alike that a pretty face will take his mind off his job and make him vulnerable.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ0y_lIrCTSRmlqIbKo96gZa945f4UnQOWWjwGpeTNIXoNvEzC6LcdwOQfOSfOeePb0H1H64L89G4iknDeIybc3QsVfz0-ck0HrD_P3EeigFlMz3q7lh_EU-SOINepvw7ERSK4GFddBA/s1600/shutdoor.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ0y_lIrCTSRmlqIbKo96gZa945f4UnQOWWjwGpeTNIXoNvEzC6LcdwOQfOSfOeePb0H1H64L89G4iknDeIybc3QsVfz0-ck0HrD_P3EeigFlMz3q7lh_EU-SOINepvw7ERSK4GFddBA/s1600/shutdoor.gif" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frankly, behaving like this, he deserves it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I really liked <i>The Spy Who Loved Me</i>. It has its weaknesses. I really disliked the score and even a less-sexist Bond movie still has an annoying amount of sexism. The plot remains predictable throughout.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsFNIAf3SmdEKSbl3WmE7tQHsBUV-iE4eNjpBfMYWPSleIOdVqjlHuSCVnJJoJIZ8NUbVB1h6ntCKWHb0PS1FR6grICnauvfeRxV6UPdSIR-9B_y98lXDuZ7E6x4acKKSYJFTNPHDGiM/s1600/deadfolks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsFNIAf3SmdEKSbl3WmE7tQHsBUV-iE4eNjpBfMYWPSleIOdVqjlHuSCVnJJoJIZ8NUbVB1h6ntCKWHb0PS1FR6grICnauvfeRxV6UPdSIR-9B_y98lXDuZ7E6x4acKKSYJFTNPHDGiM/s1600/deadfolks.png" height="136" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More often than not, in a Bond film you can look at a character and know when s/he will die.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But the film clearly exists as a product of its time, a time of unusual trepidation within a relative lull in the Cold War. Considering Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher would both take power only a few years later, I can’t help but wonder how this film’s narrative would have changed under the leadership of two arch-conservatives who couldn’t spend enough time touting men like Stromberg as admirable captains of industry. Considering how much Thatcher and Reagan had in common with Bond—with their love of black & white morality and self-determination—this film feels, more than any Bond film I’ve seen before it, like the first time Bond’s creators established that they could step back and think critically about what they’ve made.<br />
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<sup>i</sup> I consider myself a feminist and I find America’s female breast taboo antiquated, sexist, and irrational. But I have needs, Broccoli family! I’d have a much easier time sitting through these 2+-hour Bond movies if they’d at least throw me a nipple or two! 23 nipple-less movies now?! Come on!<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" scrolling="no" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4eb0fd50f5f807a96c000007" width="380"></iframe><br />Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-32670837364194139462014-06-15T10:53:00.000-07:002014-06-15T11:02:18.416-07:00Goodbye, Casey KasemA longtime hero of mine passed away this morning. More than any other actor, Casey Kasem always felt to me like the face of Arab-Americans. Whenever anyone asks me about famous Arabs, I invariably find myself naming him first.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I’ve always considered him one of the best role models in Hollywood for anyone to look up to. Sure, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDYK2H0ldbo">he had his bad days like anyone else</a> (although even his vulgarity-laden paroxysms of frustration sound strangely mellifluous), but one can hardly deny that he worked extremely hard to accomplish what he accomplished. He hosted the <i>Top 40</i> radio program for 34 years! He voiced Shaggy for 39 years! He worked on <i>Sesame Street</i> for 19 years! He voiced Robin for 17 years! He has also left a trail of humanitarian and political work that stretches for miles, such as helping Jerry Lewis on his annual telethons.<br />
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What can I say about a legend like Casey that others won’t have already said? I could talk about how much it saddens me to lose a personal hero and role model, but you’ll hear that from others who had a better connection and/or a better ability to articulate their grief. Instead, I wanted to share with you two of his accomplishments that I admire most. In addition to the example he set personally for decades, Kasem also wrote two pieces standing up for Arab Americans.<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://b.3cdn.net/aai/49f2fefb78373d78ec_thm6ib30r.pdf"><i><b>Arab Americans: Making a Difference</b></i></a>: Kasem wrote this short brochure for the Arab-American Institute Foundation. He lists a number of Arab celebrities and role models. Notice that he humbly omits himself!</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ameu.org/getattachment/eb588714-7b14-4412-9a63-c6c5a4fe8e8b/Arab-Defamation-in-the-Media.aspx"><b><i>Arab Defamation in the Media: Its Consequences and Solutions</i></b></a>: Here, Kasem beautifully articulates his own experiences as a famous Arab, as well as what he’s observed of Arabs in TV and film. He talks about the maligned images of reel Arabs and what we can do about it. He really says what I’ve tried to say with this blog since I began it.</li>
</ul>
Anyway, I find it hard to say goodbye to a man whom I’ve looked up to since childhood, but thankfully he gave us a lot to remember him by. Of course, my heart goes out to his family and friends, whom I hope have found the ability to put their recent legal differences aside. As trite or hokey as it may seem, I think we all know how he’d say farewell to us all if he could…<br />
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<i>“Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!”</i> Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-39335984930404074882014-05-31T21:05:00.001-07:002015-04-27T09:05:02.574-07:00Achmed Saves America (2014)I loathe Jeff Dunham.<br />
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I don’t mean to say I have a personal beef with him. Maybe he has a wonderful personality. Maybe he put a lot of hard work into doing all those voices whilst moving his mouth just enough for his less drunk audience members to see the bounce of his Adam’s apple. Maybe he pays his bills on time or buys a round when he goes out with Bill Engvall or Guy Fieri or Joe the Plumber or whoever; I don’t know. I just know that I find his comedy jejune, racist, and insufferably unfunny. He fancies himself an “equal opportunity offender” as he uses bland comedy to effectively monetize racism in the vein of Lisa Lampanelli, but for “equal” opportunity, he spends an inordinate amount of time touting his stereotypical Arab Muslim dummy, Achmed.<br />
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So I regret to inform you all that Achmed got a movie, and I regret to remind myself that I’ve now seen it.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In the interests of full disclosure… As it happens, in those halcyon years before Jeff Dunham achieved fame, “Achmed” had become my middle school nickname thanks to racist, rural bullies, so I can’t deny that I already approach this film with a bad association and not a little bit of confirmation bias. From what little of Achmed I’d had the misfortune to watch before this film, I’ve also always seen him as the Arab equivalent of a golliwog or Joe Jitsu or Go-Go Gomez or the Cleveland Indians logo. To put it simply, this film didn’t look prepossessing before I watched it, and I certainly didn’t end up surprised.<br />
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<h4>
Achmed the Totally-Not-Muslim Terrorist</h4>
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To set the stage for the abject void of humor to follow, <em>Achmed Saves America</em> starts off with a superfluous live-action cold open where Tinkerbubba (a Peter Pan version of Dunham’s markedly more affectionate caricature of rednecks) vouchsafes Achmed his wish to become a cartoon character. From there, we move into domestic drama with a foreign enemy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRUHHHfgSUoEDRLymEg7twqFv6MGke5yH1E2oQmggFnlVxTLZP3hh72zHxsgKqthoH8lQgQu0fKEfHyry-WPGQVMEWzFETXt9N_c0b2AmUw7EIq4M-tYMLG61q6Q8jNcIXojBi3e5AcY/s1600/animatedachmed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRUHHHfgSUoEDRLymEg7twqFv6MGke5yH1E2oQmggFnlVxTLZP3hh72zHxsgKqthoH8lQgQu0fKEfHyry-WPGQVMEWzFETXt9N_c0b2AmUw7EIq4M-tYMLG61q6Q8jNcIXojBi3e5AcY/s1600/animatedachmed.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I find the resemblance to <em>Song of the South</em> more than apropos.</td></tr>
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Continuing a long reel tradition of generalizing a region over 5000 km in breadth to a single stereotypical country, Achmed’s adventure begins in Mizpakmanistan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/IsQCArU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/IsQCArU.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Get it? <em>Get it?</em> Because of how those Muslims make their womenfolk dress?</td></tr>
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Mizpakmanistan apparently has a constitution and government built around prominently displaying every Arab/Muslim/terrorist stereotype imaginable, where everyone lives in caves, “knee-deep in camel poop,” where the men “cover their wives so they look like Pac-Man ghosts.”<br />
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The writers pull a <em>Dictator</em> (2012) and attempt to mitigate the malicious intent of the humor by having Achmed call himself a non-Muslim. At one point a presumably-moderate imam joins a rabbi and a priest in forcefully denouncing terrorists. But with the sheer number of jokes dedicated to torture, prayer, the evil of pigs, Judaism, and female agency, and minatory accusations of religious “infidelity,” it doesn’t take a genius to see the actual intent behind the humor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUu1UIzVY__1bCIQLSrpwtwHXNRJLZZZ1VCNkrEFxvRdB9ZSPBWF2SlJk7qJJ6Cm22mlgkU1z9NAc9FfHCQh6daLGoa5UBQeUw-d3E5UkYQydXfOmrkzjVbAVqgGxAbKC_KoDS1APjJq4/s1600/bomb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUu1UIzVY__1bCIQLSrpwtwHXNRJLZZZ1VCNkrEFxvRdB9ZSPBWF2SlJk7qJJ6Cm22mlgkU1z9NAc9FfHCQh6daLGoa5UBQeUw-d3E5UkYQydXfOmrkzjVbAVqgGxAbKC_KoDS1APjJq4/s1600/bomb.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Muslim stereotypes here. Nope. No siree Bob.</td></tr>
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<h4>
The Other Main Characters (if you could call them that)</h4>
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Achmed quickly suicide-bombs his way into his famous skeletal form before accidentally hitching a ride to his hated enemy, America. There, he comes to live with his naïve, beneficent “host family,” the Wilsons, the blandest animated family in television history.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryURe_bAIHa00PERCBfOewFqasxzl6uSIrSD0XB5SG57B5Ja7ZVo-SUgKjrLshhbZB7zqI6F16e6-CyoiO40sNU7f4kAAJvLwaCtIA-GKbuPUC8dBCOfest2EUGFwsS-Q6iMK3nZb-Kk/s1600/family.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryURe_bAIHa00PERCBfOewFqasxzl6uSIrSD0XB5SG57B5Ja7ZVo-SUgKjrLshhbZB7zqI6F16e6-CyoiO40sNU7f4kAAJvLwaCtIA-GKbuPUC8dBCOfest2EUGFwsS-Q6iMK3nZb-Kk/s1600/family.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you know anything about these characters at first glance, except that you <em>really</em> don’t care about them?</td></tr>
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A grade school child could draw the Wilsons. The lack of any volume or character or line of action in their design evokes <em>Family Guy</em>, the TV show that the creators here clearly want to imitate. Even <em>Family Guy</em>, for its own simplistic and disorganized art style, has variation in jaws and eyes and skin tone. Neither the distinctive stylistic touches of <em>The Simpsons</em>, the instantly identifiable characterization of <em>Fugget About It</em> or <em>Bob’s Burgers</em>, nor the specificity and consistency of <em>King of the Hill</em> appear here. It looks like somebody designed every character in this movie except Achmed in the space of two hours.<br />
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From here, the plot follows all of the boring comedy movies you’ve already seen: Achmed endears himself to his family, he abjures his terrorist ways, he later gets outed, and he has to redeem himself and save the family for taking his blame, proving that his loyalties lie with America.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL85KRkq0YNLPXuP9lEGpifdy1Z6zWs81XD1vefHOTeanGF2NAzsRhojbFe2zazP6TCD-zoKay8rGe45km896xoVf5amFvA9cYbedqVDmYKfm23FJIsOYs9rZhshPTmeCRI5FOBTy3v48/s1600/flagsbed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL85KRkq0YNLPXuP9lEGpifdy1Z6zWs81XD1vefHOTeanGF2NAzsRhojbFe2zazP6TCD-zoKay8rGe45km896xoVf5amFvA9cYbedqVDmYKfm23FJIsOYs9rZhshPTmeCRI5FOBTy3v48/s1600/flagsbed.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I’d probably find this shot funny if I didn’t have to watch the movie to see it.</td></tr>
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The first half concerns itself with Achmed ingratiating himself with the Wilsons in the most boring sitcom possible. The second half sees Achmed reunite with his erstwhile boss, Hassan al-Hassan, in the most boring buddy-comedy possible. Achmed spends the second half of the movie prolixly informing Hassan of America’s greatness with alacrity and persuading Hassan to get over his irrational anti-American dudgeon, all while they evade Americans who want to kill them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqP9aBxHhb8wcJsrZ3N2bIjbf142zq108PKTPj1jGEkyb09-gH0vdWHJtt8r0otticXlq_cPZH8Jphl73wOemm9JypNuCnflsnYw2TaE7L811Neoh_9qOLBvtUImFubRLrgKco1OB-bps/s1600/hiding.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqP9aBxHhb8wcJsrZ3N2bIjbf142zq108PKTPj1jGEkyb09-gH0vdWHJtt8r0otticXlq_cPZH8Jphl73wOemm9JypNuCnflsnYw2TaE7L811Neoh_9qOLBvtUImFubRLrgKco1OB-bps/s1600/hiding.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Achmed and Hassan hide from the eight people who care about this movie enough to advance the story by bothering to look for them.</td></tr>
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<h4>
The Politics… or Something</h4>
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Late in the film, two men who had spent most of the running time at each other’s throats spontaneously fall in love with each other, but the camera cuts away just before their lips make contact. This serves as a microcosm for the film’s entire political “statement”… which it doesn’t really have.<br />
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The film constantly comes close to—and stops short of—actually having something substantial to say. One minute the characters accuse Michelle Obama of terrorism; the next, Achmed accuses both political extremes of screwing up America. Characters will occasionally mention unjust imprisonment, the decline of American businesses, or American provinciality, but these ideas quickly get trampled on by Achmed’s newfound blind jingoism before they can add up to an actual statement.<br />
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We also see some skewering of both sides of the political spectrum, although the left gets it considerably worse than the right. For most of the film, Carl Zimmer fills the role of the former, a supercilious, effeminate, credulous Democrat who takes inordinate pride in his Toyota Prius and behaves rudely to all. His counterpart, Chet Anderson (another Jeff Dunham role), receives a surfeit of screen-time as a poor man’s Burt Gummer, albeit a relatively affable, ultra-conservative one. The writers make a point of showing that the latter has fundamentally good intentions in between bouts of complaining about minorities and foreigners.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0ssSWxAVC41rHcszzL47OMEihKtRClJN6gXX9ZuRHzwF2Uhk28ttPPUboEpuE-koEvoHSIyp8oiIBjk_5NV0_MFGhXgJnhglFQ52A9MB0sMHs4RtXjO_9HxIaHhpjRKl7D9tYQEEVTs/s1600/leftright.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0ssSWxAVC41rHcszzL47OMEihKtRClJN6gXX9ZuRHzwF2Uhk28ttPPUboEpuE-koEvoHSIyp8oiIBjk_5NV0_MFGhXgJnhglFQ52A9MB0sMHs4RtXjO_9HxIaHhpjRKl7D9tYQEEVTs/s1600/leftright.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In probably the only instance of <i>mise-en-scène</i> in the film, these three characters represent their spots in the spectrum.</td></tr>
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This comes to a head in a media montage where left-wing talking heads get noticeably more mean-spirited caricatures than their right-wing counterpart Bill O’Reilly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVJRTmFA73fgWYrv8wSFtZBGq7Cv-eBiTKVdTcabmc3KJutZtBIJ-nDXsmr0ekq0D0xvu7oFpo89EMRDQ6g5zFDECgARytU_cE5oEJr5qB7l1aQoqCNa4yt_sk5pJXoDPSe6u0Rxmfns/s1600/msnbs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOVJRTmFA73fgWYrv8wSFtZBGq7Cv-eBiTKVdTcabmc3KJutZtBIJ-nDXsmr0ekq0D0xvu7oFpo89EMRDQ6g5zFDECgARytU_cE5oEJr5qB7l1aQoqCNa4yt_sk5pJXoDPSe6u0Rxmfns/s1600/msnbs.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This aquiline not-Rachel Maddow leers smugly behind a poop-logo.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOT68fzxfQ2LRBML_9B8qdIVw3GiRKzkQqRDgmsKeX_qtJbp14w8vNi2oC4c3cE6d922DPqkQDTCdiR5Vv52z04MLr0zGmIiWYaCKz8CWRE5yko2C6rlp7XBO9p37SPz6N93FlpdBBIU/s1600/oprah.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOT68fzxfQ2LRBML_9B8qdIVw3GiRKzkQqRDgmsKeX_qtJbp14w8vNi2oC4c3cE6d922DPqkQDTCdiR5Vv52z04MLr0zGmIiWYaCKz8CWRE5yko2C6rlp7XBO9p37SPz6N93FlpdBBIU/s1600/oprah.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not-Oprah Winfrey can’t stop eating long enough to make a point.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOV0oA_-FJEb7iXBW106kJLsLeBzXM3zH1dYrZsZcaLnTAvzuubywod7r0K3kEFS_bK4tNNZIAPIoXGlkhrX0MjJNkWI4I6lSrfrvfRkShbN71t_Agyej6RKVSYFSO2hAW5dIR8yGWgvA/s1600/bill.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOV0oA_-FJEb7iXBW106kJLsLeBzXM3zH1dYrZsZcaLnTAvzuubywod7r0K3kEFS_bK4tNNZIAPIoXGlkhrX0MjJNkWI4I6lSrfrvfRkShbN71t_Agyej6RKVSYFSO2hAW5dIR8yGWgvA/s1600/bill.png" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not-Bill O’Reilly… squints. How edgy.</td></tr>
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None of this would bother me so much if the film would simply make a point and stick with it. If the film wanted to say that we don’t give America’s enemies a fair chance to get to know us, or that we need to keep immigrants out to feel safe, or that America’s isolationism heralds its eventual demise, I’d at least feel like I watched the film for a reason. Hearing the film continually <em>start</em> to say these things and <em>end</em> with a derivative gag ripped from Seth MacFarlane’s playbook somehow makes the film more vexatious than if director Frank Marino and writer Michael Price had risked saying something invidious. The half-hearted political statements ultimately end up as frustrating as the vanilla humor.<br />
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Look, Marino and Price, I get it. You see America as a nation in dire straits. Point of fact, I agree. But if you want to revitalize American industry and bring back the middle class so badly, then instead of making money for <a href="http://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/25/3914504/bellator-5-billion-viacom-ufc-pay-eddie-alvarez-mma">the fourth-largest media conglomerate</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-morris/success-for-dummies_b_350592.html">the third highest-paid comedian in America</a>, start by making a point.
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" scrolling="no" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/532c0dd89030fe1f2cae2ba8" width="380"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-27819140003942910412014-02-05T18:10:00.000-08:002014-02-05T18:10:41.530-08:00Ms. Marvel #1 (2014)No, I have no qualms about using my film blog to talk about a comic book. Sue me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwoeJhuX5aQPMRXnnz65cISh-0drg_CssC1d52ggeln0wEXY9hYPN2qvV-xBOty_29xflEM2op2cd5EjO0PIRSO8GJyjbZOBQjSdeWu3cOxJC5dA6X7SgKVtASqi8ZWZ0z8zHmOF66jc/s1600/comics-ms-marvel-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwoeJhuX5aQPMRXnnz65cISh-0drg_CssC1d52ggeln0wEXY9hYPN2qvV-xBOty_29xflEM2op2cd5EjO0PIRSO8GJyjbZOBQjSdeWu3cOxJC5dA6X7SgKVtASqi8ZWZ0z8zHmOF66jc/s1600/comics-ms-marvel-1.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
I’ve followed <i>X-Men</i> comics since 1992, and I’ve always had a particular fondness for Carol Danvers, a quondam Starjammer and Avenger (who has briefly shacked up with the X-Men herself) who plays strongly into the backstory of the X-Woman Rogue. I like Danvers’ character: opinionated but compassionate, powerful but just. Even so, my interest in superhero comics has waned dramatically over the years.<sup>1</sup><br />
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<h3>
Kamala Khan: Ms. Marvel </h3>
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So I had a degree of trepidation at the idea of reading about a new Ms. Marvel, whose comic debuted today. I never particularly liked the idea of “passing” a superhero mantle from one person to another, but I’ve long accepted it as a part of the genre, like retcons or reversible death. I jumped at it when <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/ms-marvel-why-does-marvels-new-reboot-succeed-because-its-muslim-teen-superhero-is-sweet-conflicted-and-utterly-relatable/2014/02/04/42908ac8-8dc6-11e3-95dd-36ff657a4dae_blog.html">this well-written article</a> pointed out that it features a positive female Muslim protagonist.<br />
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The book grabbed me from the first panel.<br />
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In a move reminiscent of Jaime Reyes’ inheritance of the Blue Beetle mantle, the title of Ms. Marvel now falls to another teenager, 16-year-old Jerseyite Kamala Khan. American-Muslim writer G. Willow Wilson and Pakistani-American editor Sana Amanat clearly imbue Kamala with their own life experience, creating a character that feels very real right off the bat.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4BOblu8yZNnbooC-WXRgSdFdx1ekm3mapp-nE4_-vdowTtL5Vz_PHzv4E24FNTDMGKdalmCmgMSdS0-dydw08tCJ6w7W1xslS9gaT9TXhGZO-_2R5U-26GGDeb-hODiW9vKYppk3Z2hE/s1600/kamala.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4BOblu8yZNnbooC-WXRgSdFdx1ekm3mapp-nE4_-vdowTtL5Vz_PHzv4E24FNTDMGKdalmCmgMSdS0-dydw08tCJ6w7W1xslS9gaT9TXhGZO-_2R5U-26GGDeb-hODiW9vKYppk3Z2hE/s1600/kamala.png" height="320" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the character design, even her civvies with the appropriate lightning bolt jacket.</td></tr>
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I found myself instantly able to identify with Kamala. Like her, I grew up in America as a second-generation immigrant, but because of my name and Muslim upbringing, people tend to not see my American cultural identity. It felt incredibly refreshing seeing Kamala think exactly as I did as a teenager. I saw a lot of myself in her quotidian struggles and dilemmas as well: supercilious jocks (who assume nobody, least of all women, would ever follow Islam <i>willingly</i>); a family that seems patriotic but culturally at odds with the outside world; the need every adolescent feels for an independent identity, for something to say and for people to hear it.<br />
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At one point, particularly provincial teenagers trick Kamala into drinking alcohol. This rang true for me right away. I can’t count the number of times people (even adults) tried to trick me into eating pork for a cheap laugh<sup>2</sup> or an ephemeral feeling of dominance by ignorance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNKNG-Dtrnczlwfffa21I7SmgGpOpy2dTLZlPIRs6EFQMaWy3G2GgO4URVCymRkzY5WE_OkRPrLj_wPz7iPn7xgVy6bkJywgr-gZOVKcH_4W_63niMg83lL4p8tv1E6VOKMNfwJp2lCs/s1600/vodka.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNKNG-Dtrnczlwfffa21I7SmgGpOpy2dTLZlPIRs6EFQMaWy3G2GgO4URVCymRkzY5WE_OkRPrLj_wPz7iPn7xgVy6bkJywgr-gZOVKcH_4W_63niMg83lL4p8tv1E6VOKMNfwJp2lCs/s1600/vodka.png" height="320" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using trickery to bypass a teenage girl’s free will: hilarity incarnate.</td></tr>
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Kamala feels like a wonderful counterpoint to another Marvel Muslim superheroine, Sooraya Qadir, the young X-Woman Dust. Kamala adheres to Islam to a reasonable degree but lacks Sooraya’s piety. Like many western Muslims, Kamala doesn’t wear the hijab (and in fact, the book makes a point that its female characters wear it of their own volition), but her heavy hair acts like a bit of a veil… albeit more in the thematic sense of conveying her withdrawn, diffident personality than any kind of religious statement.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Future of Ms. Marvel</h3>
<br />
Unfortunately, the book ends all too soon. We get to meet the supporting cast: Kamala’s conservative, affluent immigrant parents; her indolent, ever-praying brother; her hijab-wearing, Turkish best friend Nakia; her protective friend Bruno. We don’t get to see any of Kamala’s superhero conflicts in this first issue. But if they measure up to what he see of her civilian life, I predict big things from this book. It has wonderful characterization and costume design. Even more than that, Adrian Alphona’s beautiful art imparts this book with an identity uniquely its own (even distinct from Alphona’s earlier work on <i>Runaways</i>). The colors look like watercolor, never extremely bold but beautiful in their unity. The lines vary little in thickness, feeling at times like the pencil sketches of a daydreamer… like Kamala.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-X-Qo3duDH_94hi2YutpSDjzV3SUO_N0BL-bAqd80XhNOIZj3t6ibyJlXJtq1_csXGePVdv1JDyzn4gk9Livk8_WALsLul91hVBMT2pplcRyHmaKqz39vXM00XryqSZUbNGnWUhnxuZc/s1600/dreams.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-X-Qo3duDH_94hi2YutpSDjzV3SUO_N0BL-bAqd80XhNOIZj3t6ibyJlXJtq1_csXGePVdv1JDyzn4gk9Livk8_WALsLul91hVBMT2pplcRyHmaKqz39vXM00XryqSZUbNGnWUhnxuZc/s1600/dreams.png" height="320" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Everything</em> about this gorgeous page—even the low angle—sells Kamala as a dreamer who deifies superheroes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mostly, I just hope the series amasses a good rogues’ gallery.<sup>3</sup> I can already see some of the beginnings of Kamala’s future struggles: her naïveté and callow recklessness will clearly cause her problems, and her goodhearted nature will put her in some precarious ethical situations. She has already started her quest to find her own identity by appropriating someone else’s, which says a lot about her own self-esteem, self-confidence, and maturity. Like Peter Parker when he started out, Kamala seems to view her burgeoning superhero status as subordinate to her life as a “strange” and “different” high school student.<br />
<br />
Marvel denies that they created a female Muslim protagonist as a political statement. I actually love that about the character. The way to cultural acceptance lies not in further otherization by way of calling attention to oneself as different, but in showing that people who seem different in fact live everyday lives with ups and downs just like the rest of us. For instance, as a Straight Ally, I loved seeing same-sex couples and LGBT men and women handled as a part of normal modern life in such films as <i>Cedar Rapids</i>, <i>Mrs. Doubtfire</i>, <i>Show Me Love</i>, and <i>The Kids Are All Right</i>. I hope Kamala receives similar treatment as a Muslim-American teenager.<br />
<br />
Whatever happens, I know I, for one, will keep buying as soon as the book hits the stands to find out for myself. <br />
<br />
<sup>1</sup> I feel this way in particular about the X-Men comics, which have come to feel circular and repetitive in the extreme. I still feel to this day that, writing-wise, the X-Men peaked in Chris Claremont’s legendary first run. Since then, even at its best (or weirdest, or freshest, or any other adjective that describes Grant Morrison’s work on New X-Men), it feels comparatively convoluted, anodyne, and Sisyphean—especially when Claremont himself takes the helm and tries to recreate his heyday. The franchise’s bloated, often-circular continuity feels like a sock that has seen not enough days in a washer and too many days on a foot.<br />
<sup>2</sup> Frankly, to this day I don’t see why they found that so amusing. “You ate something because I lied” doesn’t even <i>sound</i> like a funny prank. Even especially immature pranks like the venerable Pen 15 club at least involve a moment where the mark makes a humorous leap of credulity.<br />
<sup>3</sup> Personally, I tend to find supervillains the most interesting part of superhero comics and movies by far. I consider <i>Dick Tracy</i> and the 1966 <i>Batman</i> film my favorites of the entire genre. They have something most superhero movies don’t spend nearly enough time building: a unique, visually distinctive world and a number of variegated character designs… as well as a number of different colorful villains getting up to all sorts of mayhem. I watch superhero movies looking mostly for those specific qualities, since I know better than to expect much from the story or characterization.Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-89423926602467383942013-12-31T23:42:00.000-08:002014-01-02T13:48:42.560-08:00Ishtar (1987)In Hollywood, Elaine May’s Middle-Eastern Cold War farce <i>Ishtar</i> has become synonymous with failure. The film had a notoriously catastrophic production; discord abounded, tempers flared, and friendships shattered. Production went so far over budget that <em>Ishtar</em> became <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-06-01/features/9306010009_1_video-stores-film-costume-design">the biggest-budget comedy in history</a> up to that point. May found herself fighting against everyone as well as her own health. <i>Ishtar</i> earned only about 26% of what it cost. Critics called it every name in the book. What started as star Warren Beatty vouchsafing a career opportunity to his friend May ended in a dramatic falling-out between the two and later a breakup between Beatty and his then-girlfriend, co-star Isabelle Adjani, because of this film. May found her directing career destroyed and her Hollywood career in general reduced to a tiny trickle. Only in the last few years has the film become even possible to procure legally in America.<br />
<br />
So infamous has its reputation become that to this day, critics use it as a standard by which they judge modern-day box office failures. For instance, <i>Waterworld</i>’s box office failure induced critics to derisively nickname it “Fishtar.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHkv2J-dKjjTgC0txzCk1ehG91mPf_xANJmA1e2ViWkwiv2pvc5pWCQimp4oqPW35jhFdkvWmux-PJrEOzQRydi2Qm-9pFbK3hk2IugyXpef3qT3JeDAVBAdMpgDH3YWsgg2SvAPZOoag/s1600/ishtar_ver2_xxlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHkv2J-dKjjTgC0txzCk1ehG91mPf_xANJmA1e2ViWkwiv2pvc5pWCQimp4oqPW35jhFdkvWmux-PJrEOzQRydi2Qm-9pFbK3hk2IugyXpef3qT3JeDAVBAdMpgDH3YWsgg2SvAPZOoag/s320/ishtar_ver2_xxlg.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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I found this reputation exaggerated (much like fellow bombs <em>Hudson Hawk</em> and <em>Even Cowgirls Get the Blues</em>). I judge the film as not terrific, but a mildly amusing proto-bromance. It feels mostly like one of those inoffensive, undistinguished comedies you watch and forget by the end of the week, like <i>Get Smart</i>, <i>Welcome to Collinwood</i>, <i>RV</i>, or any given Broken Lizard film. Your average film buff would “review” it in conversation with a perfunctory shrug and an insouciant utterance of, “Yeah, I’ve seen it.”<br />
<br />
<h3>
Arabs of <em>Ishtar</em></h3>
<br />
Although <em>Ishtar</em> takes place in the fictional title city in Morocco,<sup>1</sup> the Arab characters serve mostly as background noise for the interplay between the two stars, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman. The screenplay boasts walls of exposition in an attempt to integrate the two stars into the setting and the geopolitics therein, but the Moroccan citizenry still only play a minor role overall.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvv-QMST9IxrjMAvmA9O4mvnos8Mm_YKHwj_5g3j97018CpJn25eG12SiqNyyk7QFyS9M243kmAXWZGCr8B_zdfUk1UPt5mWpAK4rhW0CHQNyFFKZIcT4wfG5BSmbKB38KFlvFXLolIo/s1600/morocco.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvv-QMST9IxrjMAvmA9O4mvnos8Mm_YKHwj_5g3j97018CpJn25eG12SiqNyyk7QFyS9M243kmAXWZGCr8B_zdfUk1UPt5mWpAK4rhW0CHQNyFFKZIcT4wfG5BSmbKB38KFlvFXLolIo/s320/morocco.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They still look pretty and variegated, though.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymSS31rlMDkuBQOs1zQJGN6uzlbDmQtm99CcYHiFbjZfPATm6BC-gA7NRCPqD01Jnco3WpwQGTzt-e0pwA4W3i4xA5MptnRiiojM99cTfirWqtRl2EBXtiWc5-Q-aHSy3XkJ16cYAVhQ/s1600/agents.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjymSS31rlMDkuBQOs1zQJGN6uzlbDmQtm99CcYHiFbjZfPATm6BC-gA7NRCPqD01Jnco3WpwQGTzt-e0pwA4W3i4xA5MptnRiiojM99cTfirWqtRl2EBXtiWc5-Q-aHSy3XkJ16cYAVhQ/s320/agents.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CIA agents, KGB agents, Arab agents, and Turkish agents, all disguised as something else, flank the two main characters.<br />
This serves as a microcosm for the film.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Most of the speaking Arab roles have their grounding in the usual Hollywood clichés.<br />
<br />
Half-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabyle_people">Kabyle</a> model/actress Isabelle Adjani plays Shirra Assel, the central love interest and a Communist-allied insurgent leader. Adjani plays Shirra as androgynous and tenacious, which I like. Still, her putative “boyish” appearance in the film (which, frankly, I don’t see) feels like it has its roots in the longstanding Hollywood reputation of Arab women as somehow less attractive than Aryan women.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Ep7OPzxRP756PV407JD1ulTfXUEemaPiJlhvHiDJb_2bn0iySsw9hnKFNwPU9MOLAsC78gl1QZhCvoHvK0oNDlUnEHIV4QBGE-ZqTqE9-J9ejtQHlZefTHMqMYfFgkjFFEgz4GGmf7A/s1600/shirra.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Ep7OPzxRP756PV407JD1ulTfXUEemaPiJlhvHiDJb_2bn0iySsw9hnKFNwPU9MOLAsC78gl1QZhCvoHvK0oNDlUnEHIV4QBGE-ZqTqE9-J9ejtQHlZefTHMqMYfFgkjFFEgz4GGmf7A/s320/shirra.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then again, I’ll compliment <em>anyone</em> standing in front of me with a suppressed Mac-10.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Shirra describes Morocco as “an ancient, devious country,” once again playing off the American reputation of the Arab World as exotic and barbaric.<br />
<br />
May portrays Shirra’s insurgent cell as morally roughly equivalent to their oppressors. I found this very much a product of its time; in post-9/11 America, just about any film would portray these characters as malicious, malevolent, barbaric terrorists. This film doesn’t go <em>that</em> far, but it does depict them as Communists (a decidedly negative appellation in a Cold War American film) using less-than-honorable means.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwiTr-aE-LDUOHwFPNmABVtepqwtsGs0PpkeLEoXaSHa34-o1JQofDF17zFeHyV7uN5X4zBAKpAcKtMkZUuI-PVnOCbMwllcUqmFo1eKc5MXXEp6EAWFoCqfXvT07_3eWN2aY-y7i7YM/s1600/insurgents.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwiTr-aE-LDUOHwFPNmABVtepqwtsGs0PpkeLEoXaSHa34-o1JQofDF17zFeHyV7uN5X4zBAKpAcKtMkZUuI-PVnOCbMwllcUqmFo1eKc5MXXEp6EAWFoCqfXvT07_3eWN2aY-y7i7YM/s320/insurgents.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have some moral issues with the haze of secondhand smoke they create too.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another actual Arab actor, Fuad Hageb, plays Abdul, the protagonists’ soi-disant “guide” in Morocco (secretly a member of said cell). He acts every bit the unctuous, fawning “street rat,” reminiscent of Abu in <em>The Thief of Bagdad</em> (1940) or Aladdin.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcuXsMjnJXwSznOTgyaVLMOxKM2QnwiMYeZQXDNlwRbZQnVUoeNJV3ramf9I3aZVUBgSm1MJncxDAZMECkbveUhPKRpx74UrbF1WOK15OGl4JPQA2UvH9g_TefN0Pmzn4-dajFxX6TJM/s1600/abdul.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcuXsMjnJXwSznOTgyaVLMOxKM2QnwiMYeZQXDNlwRbZQnVUoeNJV3ramf9I3aZVUBgSm1MJncxDAZMECkbveUhPKRpx74UrbF1WOK15OGl4JPQA2UvH9g_TefN0Pmzn4-dajFxX6TJM/s320/abdul.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuad offers to sell them hashish because truly, in his heart of hearts, he wants to help these men by getting them high.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Later in the film, our heroes stumble upon a black market auction between Australian arms dealers and Berber tribesmen. This leads to a general categorization of these Moroccans as ignorant, provincial, and dangerous.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWw-9qg_WEB81I9m_gb_ZvkQKwmezIx-htVDpZ_NfQ39s3OqtjtosLpj21hPs1sAJsOCdyRVRqYGBi27UDhIgvpIjcjQPwkhS4Db5_y5FrlxqdmydtBqxPu72k36zF2VHoe_9rJjrzIUM/s1600/auction.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWw-9qg_WEB81I9m_gb_ZvkQKwmezIx-htVDpZ_NfQ39s3OqtjtosLpj21hPs1sAJsOCdyRVRqYGBi27UDhIgvpIjcjQPwkhS4Db5_y5FrlxqdmydtBqxPu72k36zF2VHoe_9rJjrzIUM/s320/auction.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They all appear to shop at the same place too.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Actual Moroccan Aharon Ipalé plays Emir Yousef, the authoritarian panjandrum in control of Ishtar, whose loyalty straddles the taut line between America and Libya. Ipalé plays the emir with the usual sly, cunning, backstabbing persona one sees in moneyed Arabs in American film.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZPO1xk8AciobPCG7ewmXHNKGnPTvCEJFEjs-0VaU_DNQ1eQH6OV6qFDHd6IxV2yQmUyRPbSc0-pklVR5JJAojHBB9ngoIULjDF-MkntRm26Af2yaLYub5kXfvAuhkiD67MxEdthrzNg/s1600/emir.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZPO1xk8AciobPCG7ewmXHNKGnPTvCEJFEjs-0VaU_DNQ1eQH6OV6qFDHd6IxV2yQmUyRPbSc0-pklVR5JJAojHBB9ngoIULjDF-MkntRm26Af2yaLYub5kXfvAuhkiD67MxEdthrzNg/s320/emir.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The emir plays dumb as he plans his next move.</td></tr>
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All things considered, I find it difficult to take offense at the depiction of Arabs in <em>Ishtar</em>, since most of the Aryan characters appear similarly oblivious, slow-witted, or conniving. The film depicts cloak-and-dagger intrigue and skullduggery on <em>all</em> sides. The film also makes subtle jokes at how ridiculous the American characters look in Moroccan clothes, but people have joked about looking ridiculous in the wrong clothes since the dawn of Man, so I don’t see much of a problem there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvBF1PKBxSQXjba7NaQG0xL4S2WMBh3UMhf75784_tt1ThVZAgYQhld9OhIQ30rhEC_JTmWCDOGaIwVK8CxyD4tpTma-s3fByxcQrnY5P_7GK7tpi-n5sXZ6yCXTvYFJCf1_R2TQHJwk/s1600/clothes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvBF1PKBxSQXjba7NaQG0xL4S2WMBh3UMhf75784_tt1ThVZAgYQhld9OhIQ30rhEC_JTmWCDOGaIwVK8CxyD4tpTma-s3fByxcQrnY5P_7GK7tpi-n5sXZ6yCXTvYFJCf1_R2TQHJwk/s320/clothes.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The comedy lies less in the clothes than the mannerisms anyway. Three years later, these two…</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzgX3S19hBF0n9tp9diUcISyjWR4VhWoegdv0Q6-E7IN8BJgv9JKGuDXkW7KBScy5pK4dilV2EWgg41RQBOFV_mxGkogWJcx7dqE1tZ5_bkTiLEHYKFQRLq8EAzF_2BRJ7jfNKnApfFo/s1600/dicktracy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzgX3S19hBF0n9tp9diUcISyjWR4VhWoegdv0Q6-E7IN8BJgv9JKGuDXkW7KBScy5pK4dilV2EWgg41RQBOFV_mxGkogWJcx7dqE1tZ5_bkTiLEHYKFQRLq8EAzF_2BRJ7jfNKnApfFo/s320/dicktracy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… will dress like <em>this</em>.<sup>2</sup></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Besides, at this point, I can’t help but consider it a minor victory whenever Arabs play Arabs in a Hollywood film.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Everything Else of <em>Ishtar</em></h3>
<br />
<em>Ishtar</em> tells the story of Lyle Rogers (Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Hoffman), a Steely Dan-esque team of two gormless, unsuccessful, aging singer-songwriters, oblivious to their ineptitude, who have the ambition to become the next Simon & Garfunkel and the naïveté to fail spectacularly thereat. This gets them a booking in Morocco, where they quickly find themselves hapless pawns in a much larger political game.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CgEPHoIyNwXMHz_JKdiYozqHguphmWeASfu07pjvEI_GQAmph62jaa_zmfIDSp19xkRoeDXlWP4UVeExUDtvQS5dI_8j48RwR2IVtV-SX-YW5SnZlBBBNkXVR8zkD1O8UA0oXuhq2ng/s1600/duo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CgEPHoIyNwXMHz_JKdiYozqHguphmWeASfu07pjvEI_GQAmph62jaa_zmfIDSp19xkRoeDXlWP4UVeExUDtvQS5dI_8j48RwR2IVtV-SX-YW5SnZlBBBNkXVR8zkD1O8UA0oXuhq2ng/s320/duo.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rogers & Clarke look better in their own minds than on the stage.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
May intended this film as a love letter to the <em>Road to…</em> film series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (with Dorothy Lamour always playing the love interest, a role Adjani inherits in this film). Despite May’s intentions, <i>Ishtar</i> couldn’t feel more different. Both duos rely on their existing celebrity status for a lot of the laughs, but Hoffman & Beatty play their roles as more earnest and less self-aware, thereby failing to recreate the inimitable chemistry between Crosby & Hope.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1AgbewPAAQQSB_152m6Yxd5BT4u6AFrwYeIDqR9WRQhb87pEU7APeuhHnI4-wxixUH32SXJMV4-lU-TNdxxs31IpyKNdlnaVPXZZhj__DmLjQ4JsNhSwYkgbcdBZ_85c-6uv80Qw2TA/s1600/pair.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1AgbewPAAQQSB_152m6Yxd5BT4u6AFrwYeIDqR9WRQhb87pEU7APeuhHnI4-wxixUH32SXJMV4-lU-TNdxxs31IpyKNdlnaVPXZZhj__DmLjQ4JsNhSwYkgbcdBZ_85c-6uv80Qw2TA/s320/pair.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The quasi-romantic overtones still remain, at least.</td></tr>
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May replaces the fourth-wall-prodding, self-deprecating comedy between Crosby & Hope with something subtler, more subdued, and more “serious.” Paul Williams’ “bad on purpose” music feels nothing like Crosby’s and Hope’s stagey, banter-filled performances, which intensifies the gulf. Where the <em>Road to…</em> films operate off of the open secret that the story serves as a mere excuse for the comedy, <i>Ishtar</i> loses itself in its story, often allowing the story to completely commandeer the comedy. It doesn’t help that Beatty and Hoffman spend large swaths of the film—and most of the second act—separated.<br />
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To its credit, though, the film gets funnier as it goes. As in <em>Road to Morocco</em>, the two get a chance to really play off each other as they hunt for an oasis in the obligatory desert sequence that comprises the third act.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqLdQmY4uNIwmlXrj3QkPjDCTuL51RDikUUNqSuHrs0cqicbnq81nLoQPHdSdwrzz0YiYYZo57DBS80G4qZ3ftixrhai8s0P1JY-cTlnehchMRiOe1pq0xom5hjIR_9SI-HZ3T0ePjcE/s1600/desert.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDqLdQmY4uNIwmlXrj3QkPjDCTuL51RDikUUNqSuHrs0cqicbnq81nLoQPHdSdwrzz0YiYYZo57DBS80G4qZ3ftixrhai8s0P1JY-cTlnehchMRiOe1pq0xom5hjIR_9SI-HZ3T0ePjcE/s320/desert.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also, May gives Hoffman & Beatty a lot of delightfully awkward two-shots.</td></tr>
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In one of the few other parallels with <em>Road to Morocco</em>, the story turns on a prophecy. In this case, a map—the film’s token MacGuffin—foretells that two “messengers of God” will appear in Ishtar, Morocco. (Guess who!) The film’s comedy takes a backseat to this somewhat overdone story for most of the second act, causing this to often feel like two different films mashed together.<br />
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In all probability, <em>Ishtar</em>’s politics played some small part in its performance. When the protagonists become embroiled in the power struggle between the incumbent far-right leader and American ally Emir Yousef and the far-left, Communist-allied insurgents, the situation escalates into a climax that questions America’s allegiances in the Middle East and makes Reagan’s America look disloyal to its citizens. Although President Reagan had an approval rating <a href="http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating_detail.cfm?allRate=True&presidentName=Reagan">hovering around 50%</a> at that time—his lowest in four years—that still probably amounted to enough people who didn’t want to pay to see a film that openly challenges their politics.<br />
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I recommend that any film buff watch this film once simply to see Warren Beatty play against type. The bumbling, gullible, socially-maladjusted milquetoast he plays in this film feels like a 180° turn from his arrogant, womanizing persona. Seeing Warren Beatty as a diffident, lachrymose, ungainly novice causes the kind of mind-blowing cognitive dissonance one must experience firsthand to believe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0m7bksje66cfx2Br_6IVVHl_YME1E7Lds_8kBIG2uKm98R8ShqVJIj26dkPy-OFxZWOj3-nk3Gs4MTvVpdhEVwD-QHSMWPZv4BuUfyRb51HUVLEc_HQa_sTto3tIK_k8LyLJ1-0WY00/s1600/listening.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0m7bksje66cfx2Br_6IVVHl_YME1E7Lds_8kBIG2uKm98R8ShqVJIj26dkPy-OFxZWOj3-nk3Gs4MTvVpdhEVwD-QHSMWPZv4BuUfyRb51HUVLEc_HQa_sTto3tIK_k8LyLJ1-0WY00/s320/listening.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With an intriguing self-awareness, Beatty and Hoffman play with the weirdness of seeing them as struggling, wide-eyed hopefuls.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFdfAhd0VPYyMGN-w2iFNG7vI5A-shyBoq_Nfzecy30oonIJ1SrG3iQMV20oE5z_FUHEhnaazZSEalTfv-FkDcFQcWN7421bdkL8Aok-peVJ_8TRl408VZuIOipPmuFIrbQJz1HRJ8s4/s1600/icecream.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFdfAhd0VPYyMGN-w2iFNG7vI5A-shyBoq_Nfzecy30oonIJ1SrG3iQMV20oE5z_FUHEhnaazZSEalTfv-FkDcFQcWN7421bdkL8Aok-peVJ_8TRl408VZuIOipPmuFIrbQJz1HRJ8s4/s320/icecream.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This probably also marks the only time you’ll ever see Warren Beatty as an ice cream man.</td></tr>
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Hoffman holds his own as a credulous, self-aggrandizing, quirky songwriter as well, but with the much wider diversity in his résumé, it doesn’t feel as incongruous.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIRET-l2iyNX6mimmn5LGM2ICtjUpUXT-odRSGO4hvmF4c5yx4faSgebim2YMqeeHy3YYR6SCDrSmCD-3a4Pqu5OjITYIBcyzHvASwrqXNt7hvoRMvQ0sGFWAr2aRRIBqPjlkP7AGnJc/s1600/jump.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAIRET-l2iyNX6mimmn5LGM2ICtjUpUXT-odRSGO4hvmF4c5yx4faSgebim2YMqeeHy3YYR6SCDrSmCD-3a4Pqu5OjITYIBcyzHvASwrqXNt7hvoRMvQ0sGFWAr2aRRIBqPjlkP7AGnJc/s320/jump.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chuck over-prepares for suicide.</td></tr>
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Human cardboard box Charles Grodin proves the biggest drag on the film as CIA agent Jim Harrison. As the straightest of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_man_%28stock_character%29">straight men</a>, he gets several scenes where he drones unfunny, unnecessary, boring exposition that ties into real-life geopolitics but summarily kills the rest of the film’s momentum. Grodin’s character exists mostly to sow distrust between the two protagonists, which ultimately does more harm than good to the protagonists’ comedic interplay.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFnAiV2XoRKgznPmdTJYmQ-CcfmsM6Y-NhbcwIeI0_sg-ixYz4kL7GipmpxazqdXUODX7w1e96QhVKMQj1Yj1kmzlgIQkkCwqDhov3y34IsMKZ1GoGZAHIzf6QDymq0RfzG1WgUIgyxk/s1600/grodin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFnAiV2XoRKgznPmdTJYmQ-CcfmsM6Y-NhbcwIeI0_sg-ixYz4kL7GipmpxazqdXUODX7w1e96QhVKMQj1Yj1kmzlgIQkkCwqDhov3y34IsMKZ1GoGZAHIzf6QDymq0RfzG1WgUIgyxk/s320/grodin.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least Grodin does it romantically…</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9ZR2kqKI2MhiuyD-LTif2HSy7ivnVBlNsGxX5cSonFr_dDT2QdOUwrWAcDvb6lTODjEaGX_1dPeKvmdJ1DqoM_BE0fv15iEpsNRyX038xoFxXxRJmahNp35fnmEqkLBX-wAMceM84_E/s1600/exposition.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9ZR2kqKI2MhiuyD-LTif2HSy7ivnVBlNsGxX5cSonFr_dDT2QdOUwrWAcDvb6lTODjEaGX_1dPeKvmdJ1DqoM_BE0fv15iEpsNRyX038xoFxXxRJmahNp35fnmEqkLBX-wAMceM84_E/s320/exposition.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… at first.</td></tr>
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I found the set design surprisingly impressive. For all that May did wrong with this movie, she, Paul Sylbert, and Jim Erickson seemed to have a keen sense of how to convey character through where people live and spend their time.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhMUavMXW5dd4wCR_NV6OSD2EuYJxv064T8RqaRC6pa8ZH1uVHKSIWROAQjVZ9dl87Cgi_E4X_rTYXU6jgzGAAuqe2oqoVWNei5ti-0rY55otSPiNkiHp6g5cYTu2XTiVtIVIP3iJb3I/s1600/freedtalent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhMUavMXW5dd4wCR_NV6OSD2EuYJxv064T8RqaRC6pa8ZH1uVHKSIWROAQjVZ9dl87Cgi_E4X_rTYXU6jgzGAAuqe2oqoVWNei5ti-0rY55otSPiNkiHp6g5cYTu2XTiVtIVIP3iJb3I/s320/freedtalent.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By the time Jack Weston answers the phone and grunts, “Freed Talent Agency,” our eyes have already told us all about Marty Freed’s character.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKffE3MlxzIpebY7YnIKGD__SBr0f4rQh_kkyECXzIF8mARmruSCgZdvLPJ4r-PkQ48H36ZcRPAn2TMe7IuOlhrU7omNkirFMoPttQOeETH1sVj9zd8OgP7EUocpIvJ9Xju1W_IhOY4pc/s1600/pinkroom.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKffE3MlxzIpebY7YnIKGD__SBr0f4rQh_kkyECXzIF8mARmruSCgZdvLPJ4r-PkQ48H36ZcRPAn2TMe7IuOlhrU7omNkirFMoPttQOeETH1sVj9zd8OgP7EUocpIvJ9Xju1W_IhOY4pc/s320/pinkroom.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shot of Lyle’s house in the midst of a divorce says a thousand words about his life now <em>and</em> before he met Chuck.</td></tr>
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Paul Williams does a decent job with the score. His job entails writing catchy “bad” music and he does it well. This film doesn’t give a true cross-section of his formidable talents like the amazing <i>Phantom of the Paradise</i> does, but he pulls his weight. He also scores the action scenes, making them surprisingly engrossing, if relatively brief.<br />
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In any case, I wouldn’t call this an earth-shattering film by any stretch of the imagination. It feels somewhat obsolete now that we have political comedies like <i>Burn After Reading</i> and oblivious-to-their-incompetence comedies like <i>Waiting For Guffman</i>, but I’ve killed two hours in worse ways before. Although the political aspect of the film still feels disjointed from the actual narrative, the film still makes an interesting point that remains relevant in the wake of Arab Spring: the American government’s interests in a foreign nation don’t always coincide with the best interests or the will of its people. As of this writing, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12813859">we have yet to see</a> all of the ramifications of the Arab uprisings, so it never hurts to remember this.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> In yet another demonstration of how much Hollywood actually knows about the Arab world, they named their fictional Moroccan city after a deity worshipped thousands of years ago, <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+between+Morocco+and+Mesopotamia">1567 miles away</a>. By that logic, the Confederate States of America started as a Mayan colony.<br />
<sup>2</sup> For those of you living under a rock, this still comes from <em>Dick Tracy</em>, my favorite “superhero” movie of all time.
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4eb04a5af5f8071d40000000" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-80604820660456201162013-12-31T13:32:00.000-08:002014-01-02T13:48:04.949-08:00Road to Morocco (1942)In their heyday, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope teamed up to make seven <i>Road to…</i> films. <i>Road to Morocco</i>, the third one, made history as the first feature film to have characters break the fourth wall. It serves as a typical example of contemporaneous Hollywood comedies, of the chemistry common in comedy teams in the days of vaudeville, and most annoyingly, of how film portrayed Arabs at the time.<br />
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<h3>
Arabs in <i>Road to Morocco</i>: Devious, Barbaric, Filthy (the Usual)</h3>
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Of course, <i>Road to Morocco</i> came out in a different time, a time in the midst of World War II when the Vichy French government held onto Morocco,<sup>1</sup> even though as Jack Shaheen pointed out in <u>Reel Bad Arabs</u>, most Moroccans sided with the Allies. In any case, what we call “political correctness” didn’t really exist in 1942 and racism ran rampant everywhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUCMgIdEqkaggmn020ShkVBbcjHywKNRP4gDsO67TJ9NZ0mcDk_u8LfA8et-SBUm8K21VC5TcfNzdsC_iPTcwQ3RzayVUNxjACAS3SQJcYdypSedEG8JBBlvpkg6zJpGPM-n-fvhtNao/s1600/button.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUCMgIdEqkaggmn020ShkVBbcjHywKNRP4gDsO67TJ9NZ0mcDk_u8LfA8et-SBUm8K21VC5TcfNzdsC_iPTcwQ3RzayVUNxjACAS3SQJcYdypSedEG8JBBlvpkg6zJpGPM-n-fvhtNao/s320/button.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This still from early in the film demonstrates my point; many Chinese-Americans at the time <a href="http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/subtopic2c.html">actually wore</a> these buttons.</td></tr>
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The <em>Road to…</em> films aimed to spoof adventure films of the time. <em>Road to Morocco</em> stands out as a showcase of Arab stereotypes in film, even beyond the films it supposedly parodies. Although I did find the film funny in places and I have no problem laughing at myself, it still strikes me that all the usual Arab stereotypes show up… The men appear dirty, toothless, and rapacious. They enthusiastically embrace slavery<sup>2</sup> and treat women like Monopoly money. With the exception of one slave woman, every last Arab character in the film has an ulterior motive or some degree of malevolent intent. As a spoof of a genre, all the usual <i>scènes à faire</i> show up: the pampered but heavily-guarded princess; perpetually angry grocers; murderous palace guards; rapacious sheiks; mute, subservient women; obedient, resigned slaves…<br />
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In what will surprise nobody, no actual Arab actors appear in the film. In that sense, with everything else, the depiction of Arabs feels much like the depiction of Native Americans in <i>F-Troop</i>: not openly malicious, but certainly pernicious in its reinforcement of misconceptions.<br />
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Before we even see any Arab characters, Hope & Crosby give us an idea what to expect by listing some stereotypes. Crosby makes reference to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Seven_Veils">Dance of the Seven Veils</a>. Hope sings, “The men eat fire, sleep on nails, and saw their wives in half”—a Hindu performance piece, a <a href="http://www.bedofnails.org/About-Bed-of-Nails/default.aspx">bit of Indian mysticism</a>, and a stage magic trick that debuted in London, respectively. But hey, India and Morocco lie only <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+India+to+Morocco">5053 miles apart</a>, so one could easily confuse them, right? I just wish someone told me sooner about my racial ability to eat fire and sleep on nails; I could’ve saved a lot of money on an oven and made a mattress for pocket change at Home Depot.<br />
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When we arrive at Karameesh (the film’s fictional surrogate for Marrakesh), we see a people with no regard for life. The majority of the men brandish swords in public and constantly imply that they’ll stab or amputate on anyone who even mildly inconveniences them. For instance, a Moroccan waiter (played stereotypically by Cy Schindell) upbraids the two protagonists for their edacity, menacingly brandishing a dagger and a tally stick as he shouts maledictions about how many “kolacks” the pair owe him.<sup>3</sup><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilf2YEZ0SKGhFaPYmCoZBn5yrfgpmmEkwnLYp_menJtRaM0IadR1fFaknxEaTx9w7DQ46rpO2f0I4R2n8sBLL7EBPfD6VgXt8Wjw1g2EmZtQx-C1323qss2wMFnzd3XeAFvsWMnrLiBlI/s1600/proprietor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilf2YEZ0SKGhFaPYmCoZBn5yrfgpmmEkwnLYp_menJtRaM0IadR1fFaknxEaTx9w7DQ46rpO2f0I4R2n8sBLL7EBPfD6VgXt8Wjw1g2EmZtQx-C1323qss2wMFnzd3XeAFvsWMnrLiBlI/s320/proprietor.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like Adam Sandler’s <em>SNL</em> characters, he also appears capable of only one facial expression.</td></tr>
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The disregard for life manifests itself with particular gruesomeness inside an erstwhile courtroom in Karameesh’s palace, where amputated heads sit on pedestals like a hunter’s trophies, posthumously nodding back and forth in a silent eternity. The film effectively tells us that Arabs take pleasure and pride in a draconian legal system and capital punishment.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOvel1UW66n4gpB4QAX5ye7rFQrMUsnXTjguFWuohb7Iq__hHW0Gf1IINi8tBvzd9QuKYknePybjQhodK8qkaDWUjQ4J4p9Jqh3uY9oMImgWHxDj3U9I_RvwCnvWrOvntY1KgIf73Lrc/s1600/nodding.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOvel1UW66n4gpB4QAX5ye7rFQrMUsnXTjguFWuohb7Iq__hHW0Gf1IINi8tBvzd9QuKYknePybjQhodK8qkaDWUjQ4J4p9Jqh3uY9oMImgWHxDj3U9I_RvwCnvWrOvntY1KgIf73Lrc/s320/nodding.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the risk of disappointing my readers, I have yet to meet an Arab who possesses a human head collection.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Arabs who don’t overtly want to kill or amputate simply satisfy themselves by profiting from slavery. An Arab slaver (played by Dan Seymour, who would have a decades-long career of playing corpulent Middle and Far Eastern stereotypes) sets the main plot in motion by causally buying Hope’s character from Crosby’s.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvTvJIwG_HXbunBnFFfSH_Jq1PPKXryyvtgy5EA5FgUaEDPJ6rw-6hremVWVwMzKpIMw7CS2A0jhAWDPz-sWzz_rmFtnn4lrwGVCyrCUChBTjW97Ptujq01dMezagMiFwEg6kgCjWC64/s1600/slaver.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvTvJIwG_HXbunBnFFfSH_Jq1PPKXryyvtgy5EA5FgUaEDPJ6rw-6hremVWVwMzKpIMw7CS2A0jhAWDPz-sWzz_rmFtnn4lrwGVCyrCUChBTjW97Ptujq01dMezagMiFwEg6kgCjWC64/s320/slaver.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This takes place in a <em>restaurant</em>, because Dan Seymour has no problem interrupting your dinner to enslave you.</td></tr>
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The plot eventually turns on an astrological prediction made for Morocco’s royal family. The idea of basing major life decisions on astrology makes the Arab characters seem gullible in itself; this only worsens when it turns out the gormless astrologer made a silly mistake. This entire segment only speaks to how little the writers knew about Morocco, since in real life, Morocco’s Sunni Muslim ruling family would certainly have kept with the Qur’an’s <a href="http://sunnahonline.com/library/beliefs-and-methodology/101-astrology">categorical rejection of astrology</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwOUIjiEtTWd3G6SZkCCNCa23JNOXgn0_XZz_31XYZxNPsNyW8k4gZa7L0Y1fkZt1Y-4nMa6lOPiUIuLpiuNdJhhw-snpB0lqn5w4_-HSjmZKQ1oh1D7hRbrehWf3v84PgL4DbZPCQFc/s1600/astrology.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwOUIjiEtTWd3G6SZkCCNCa23JNOXgn0_XZz_31XYZxNPsNyW8k4gZa7L0Y1fkZt1Y-4nMa6lOPiUIuLpiuNdJhhw-snpB0lqn5w4_-HSjmZKQ1oh1D7hRbrehWf3v84PgL4DbZPCQFc/s320/astrology.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Russian actor, a Mexican actor, and a white actress play three Arab Muslims pretending to take astrology seriously.<br />
Oh, Hollywood.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Arabs’ gullibility intensifies near the end of the film. As always happens, the love interests get kidnapped and it falls to our heroes to rescue them. They prank their way to winning the day in a climax that, while funny, makes the Arab characters look uniformly gullible, impulsive, and undignified.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPNJax_5ZQN_P8O435Qpk-_fIgLgsmrcm1qyVftpGnbXPXVnJrzi88316-E_JAPmbUjh0qi_kR7nF74S4EfpAgU4zV6GxeknPDnL3nsNbZ6iw-SPiLN3TplOxL3N62pGN8XqT9tx9sDc/s1600/prank.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPNJax_5ZQN_P8O435Qpk-_fIgLgsmrcm1qyVftpGnbXPXVnJrzi88316-E_JAPmbUjh0qi_kR7nF74S4EfpAgU4zV6GxeknPDnL3nsNbZ6iw-SPiLN3TplOxL3N62pGN8XqT9tx9sDc/s320/prank.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mikhail Rasumny attempts to look dignified without pants.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dorothy Lamour (the series’ female foil in the vein of Margaret Dumont) plays Princess Shalmar, who buys Hope’s character in hopes of marrying him and making him a prince. As with nearly every other Arab character, her blandishments belie a malevolent ulterior motive, adding to the sneaky and underhanded Arab stereotype and the disregard for life that plagues Arabs in film. One could scarcely find a less Arab-looking actress than Dorothy Lamour, but she stars as the leading lady in every <em>Road to…</em> film, so I can respect that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZz4wUP25MOQvcz3oae7DZZWWjhrxsxojgQcy8XeYVsj-rFF9mAx0c6z5zYjs3fcHgs2Cq7bviO2htTQYqD8h-SFmpEQGnR48h7Gbr6xwUaPfvIjYqr074pMI4fGUNSGLOpxwx5WHW_0/s1600/princess.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZz4wUP25MOQvcz3oae7DZZWWjhrxsxojgQcy8XeYVsj-rFF9mAx0c6z5zYjs3fcHgs2Cq7bviO2htTQYqD8h-SFmpEQGnR48h7Gbr6xwUaPfvIjYqr074pMI4fGUNSGLOpxwx5WHW_0/s320/princess.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If I ever found myself in Hope’s position, sharing a bed with a “princess” like Lamour, you certainly wouldn’t hear me complaining about how Arab she looks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dona Drake—who looks about as “Arab” as Lamour—plays the only pure-hearted Arab in the film, a slave girl named Mihirmah. While she genuinely wants to protect Hope’s character, she throws herself at him with an abandon that makes her seem naïve, slow-witted, and poorly-written. A woman behaving in 1943 America the way she does in this film would receive relentless opprobrium and shaming.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePuEiRz8jSUctsPNihVh-YpvFbbRMTdBDd8O0GR7On_TH3oEpv5J9gG6NuRTXXyqxeN2NsCeNJhmNAFIttc4pmttLckCX2rFF_S1BqiK4orI4Kn4RyGC_fntn8tLnwtrKtdwUCqdm3lo/s1600/mihirmah.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePuEiRz8jSUctsPNihVh-YpvFbbRMTdBDd8O0GR7On_TH3oEpv5J9gG6NuRTXXyqxeN2NsCeNJhmNAFIttc4pmttLckCX2rFF_S1BqiK4orI4Kn4RyGC_fntn8tLnwtrKtdwUCqdm3lo/s320/mihirmah.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once again, at that time, in that context, I’d find it <em>real</em> hard to complain.</td></tr>
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Frankly, I feel like Mihirmah’s existence serves as a another snide shot at Arabs, that not only do Arabs have no moral qualms about slavery, but that in their civilization, puissance has an inverse relationship to wisdom and rectitude.<br />
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<h3>
Other Butts of the Joke</h3>
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Like contemporary comedies, <em>Road to Morocco</em> doesn’t stop at mocking Arabs. In possibly closest thing to accuracy in the entire film, Muslim merchants give a developmentally-disabled man food for free in keeping with the <a href="http://amfhr.com/index.php/articles/88-feeding-the-hungry-an-islamic-perspective">Islamic tenet of beneficence</a> toward the less fortunate.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMoEpdbxcPif_2WmcvRM3NHyCEoD3r92MU4eOrVScCMpPwfMnzjrO1iV8AZWGFyxOoUu6cdWJX_MHdnBUPgaXw2xxKQxEAi7MuVmr1o9YWvi79AuHPgh-DvtVCMepP-Nux31uhy-NhKCU/s1600/food.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMoEpdbxcPif_2WmcvRM3NHyCEoD3r92MU4eOrVScCMpPwfMnzjrO1iV8AZWGFyxOoUu6cdWJX_MHdnBUPgaXw2xxKQxEAi7MuVmr1o9YWvi79AuHPgh-DvtVCMepP-Nux31uhy-NhKCU/s320/food.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just wish the film didn’t depict this in a way that feels vaguely mean-spirited in itself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like clockwork, Hope and Crosby see this and get dollar signs in their eyes. They immediately veer into ableist humor for a long and—by today’s standards—awkward scene. Of course, mocking the disabled has remained a comedy staple to this day, so I’ll leave it to the reader to decide how offended to feel by this.<br />
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As with innumerable films of the period, black characters invariably occupy servile positions, carrying white characters, dancing, or manhandling those who fall out of their masters’ favor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEeZ5Zk5f9Y-gji5G5nLMSJvAE_G7LKTxLrwltvmb2aB3L12ueFQe5DkRsOoMPrHmooxfWz36FvKVR4lVk7cNY8UxMGbm1yiCAmzWCJnNZqhGS0x6l-YhxaPNWKIzgi8hk4LDLm5NsxU/s1600/blackcarriers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEeZ5Zk5f9Y-gji5G5nLMSJvAE_G7LKTxLrwltvmb2aB3L12ueFQe5DkRsOoMPrHmooxfWz36FvKVR4lVk7cNY8UxMGbm1yiCAmzWCJnNZqhGS0x6l-YhxaPNWKIzgi8hk4LDLm5NsxU/s320/blackcarriers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black slaves carry a white princess on a palanquin, probably the closest look we actually get at any of the many black extras.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HQQNzlCbTJ8U8WJCsBATnWWAni98AETM5HXwK8lB_UgaLL1Vq2u9gadTq5UO4BwsVWs-fsqWh9C0BiNtpB7-aJEuRhswvnC5Ka6wRIc3o0mwDw3E3fOxfddtCcf4RZM16YT0SFjVBEU/s1600/dancer.gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HQQNzlCbTJ8U8WJCsBATnWWAni98AETM5HXwK8lB_UgaLL1Vq2u9gadTq5UO4BwsVWs-fsqWh9C0BiNtpB7-aJEuRhswvnC5Ka6wRIc3o0mwDw3E3fOxfddtCcf4RZM16YT0SFjVBEU/s320/dancer.gif.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let’s not get me wrong, though. As much as I hate the relegation of non-whites in film to servility and dancing, I do approve of <em>this</em> dancer!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Obviously, <em>Road to Morocco</em> didn’t invent racism or ableism in film, and these examples typify what one would see in film at the time, but it still remains important to point these things out as they arise. The racism stands out as especially odious in this film because jokes about slavery abound throughout.<br />
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<h3>
Acting and Other Performances</h3>
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One must note that, despite its many flaws, <em>Road to Morocco</em>’s decidedly jejune script obviously served simply to bring together Hope, Crosby, and Lamour and giving them an avenue for singing and working their improv-heavy comedy. Overall, I found myself enjoying both the comedy and music in spite of everything else.<br />
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Although there always exists some risk in making a sweeping statement about film history, for years I’ve had a theory that, while modern films have better acting than those of Old Hollywood, the latter feature actors with better <i>chemistry</i>. (I believe vaudeville played a role in this, especially for groups who had many years to hone their acts like the Marx Brothers.) Crosby and Hope have the kind of chemistry that makes it very easy to see why there exist seven of these films. Even as they talk with insouciance about killing each other or selling each other into slavery, they do it with a spontaneity and call-and-response rhythm that makes them incredibly charming. One can tell just from watching them that ad-libbing abounded, to the point that on some days, production just <a href="http://prettycleverfilms.com/essays/hope-crosbys-road-to-irreverence/">threw the day’s script out</a> entirely.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAyC1PjeNqu5Qje5njM1fJd5Wob3F57oMFlC7zSH7NuijkLDWnogj12k7rmVq93pzMKN8FuJRZEFvrGE_HCNwnCmuyah3RUn2yKX2VoQFn_HR-iErsdbS6rsdPhbz8mOYskUOZrszWCk/s1600/hopecrosby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAyC1PjeNqu5Qje5njM1fJd5Wob3F57oMFlC7zSH7NuijkLDWnogj12k7rmVq93pzMKN8FuJRZEFvrGE_HCNwnCmuyah3RUn2yKX2VoQFn_HR-iErsdbS6rsdPhbz8mOYskUOZrszWCk/s320/hopecrosby.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These two could even make starving on a drifting raft look fun.</td></tr>
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Hope also gets a very funny secondary role as Aunt Lucy, a ghost who periodically appears (using then-sophisticated chroma keying technology) in dream sequences, lecturing in falsetto to guilt the men out of their inanition.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCMo5r3sTEW4261TUyGe_GlMtrDqvMTqjelOhP_ApB31qQH9Ou99bmhzvN8u3Fi9IbneVGfTpnZGkpSa3E3EksB29BTseBYpKXhyphenhyphengC6a6X2ndbD0crGEgicE9ZvFDZb33xyuwVfEAt6E/s1600/auntlucy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCMo5r3sTEW4261TUyGe_GlMtrDqvMTqjelOhP_ApB31qQH9Ou99bmhzvN8u3Fi9IbneVGfTpnZGkpSa3E3EksB29BTseBYpKXhyphenhyphengC6a6X2ndbD0crGEgicE9ZvFDZb33xyuwVfEAt6E/s320/auntlucy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Hope rocks the elderly-Goldilocks look.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Crosby gets to ply his trade as well, pushing the narrative with several musical numbers. Although I’ve heard few positive things and many negative things about him as a person, I must admit the man had one heck of a set of pipes. Lamour and Hope get to sing as well. Hope brings the comedy and Lamour has a stunning, resonant voice in her own right. As in Fleischer Studios’ contemporary cartoons, the comedy and the music play well off each other, adding charm to the entire production.<br />
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As many problems as Old Hollywood had in depicting the Middle East, I must admit that Old Hollywood films set in the Middle East often have beautiful matte work. <em>Road to Morocco</em> holds its own there, with a set design that gives the film a vibrancy one wouldn’t expect considering production took place in a studio backlot. Director David Butler often juxtaposes Crosby with these mattes as he sings, giving the songs a pleasant air of romance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsj5l_WagLPHq178EZjmfeQSJOMe9uspYEIlAPGXHDR6tQqPnGDtD6kyS76NLOlh9Y35UJYi33pdVKtu1UpyFRm2Zosn0NzJQJMBbS0sj7qryfJenw7O_no8IsQUUtQC2kRmow2bxGGg/s1600/matte.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsj5l_WagLPHq178EZjmfeQSJOMe9uspYEIlAPGXHDR6tQqPnGDtD6kyS76NLOlh9Y35UJYi33pdVKtu1UpyFRm2Zosn0NzJQJMBbS0sj7qryfJenw7O_no8IsQUUtQC2kRmow2bxGGg/s320/matte.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The perspective looks a little off around the vanishing point, but the artist has probably died, so who cares?</td></tr>
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Nowadays, the <em>Road to…</em> films probably remain best known as the basis for a number of episodes of the perennially unfunny and frustratingly perdurable <em>Family Guy</em>.<sup>4</sup> Seth MacFarlane fell in love with the format and has voiced Brian and Stewie Griffin acting out the Crosby and Hope roles in an ultimately futile attempt to single-handedly replicate Crosby’s and Hope’s chemistry. For all of <em>Road to Morocco</em>’s issues, like everything else that appears on <em>Family Guy</em>, given the choice, I’d recommend watching the original film over <em>Family Guy</em>’s plagiarism couched as parody.<br />
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In fact, consider that my net review this film: if you ever have to choose, watch this instead of <em>Family Guy</em>.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> In fact, the Allied forces carried out Operation Torch to invade Morocco literally two days before this film hit theaters!<br />
<sup>2</sup> Morocco had, in fact, abolished slavery in 1922.<br />
<sup>3</sup> Despite that the made-up word “kolacks” evokes an image of some backwards economy that just discovered how money works, at the time, Morocco actually used francs for currency.<br />
<sup>4</sup> <i>Road to Morocco</i>, in particular, probably also inspired Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, a villainess played by Carolyn Jones in the 1966 <i>Batman</i> series. The episodes “Marsha, Queen of Diamonds” and “Marsha’s Scheme of Diamonds” bear a number of similarities to <i>Road to Morocco</i>. As an enormous fan of that show, I won’t complain.
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4ebf9606f5f8072e18000002" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-37449303729855058102013-11-24T13:13:00.001-08:002014-01-02T13:49:28.634-08:00Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)I never expected see the day when I’d cover a Godzilla film of all things on this blog. But as it turns out, outside of the usual statements on post-Hiroshima Japan, <i>Godzilla vs. Biollante</i> has plenty to say about the Middle East and its role in a burgeoning world of corporate warfare by way of biotech.<br />
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<h3>
The Plot… and Arabs</h3>
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<i>Godzilla vs. Biollante</i> employs the fictional Arab Republic of Saradia as a focus for its views on the Middle East.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCUC_N1LmYaZPMJ95nlD2vaydBlQS5qYRhTcihtUy7b7_7zYcxJiQk4Kq2UyW3CxCEnFpg8tktMfE8NvQjYvRUJfnv6yOfGbcc_GoJPEbMKUcZjt7qPgxGLQ_QGn6B94NYkHAw95qCJA/s1600/saradia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCUC_N1LmYaZPMJ95nlD2vaydBlQS5qYRhTcihtUy7b7_7zYcxJiQk4Kq2UyW3CxCEnFpg8tktMfE8NvQjYvRUJfnv6yOfGbcc_GoJPEbMKUcZjt7qPgxGLQ_QGn6B94NYkHAw95qCJA/s320/saradia.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fortuitously, identifying Arab countries in film seldom takes much effort. Just look for traditional Muslim garb…</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFO6krYXrEpcxOS3Dg2rQnfjpxOJMCW2Z6443dZavkjDL9nTUDDrMPpmIm1w6UecnPJOde1RWDFHZWK8q6StaTUqQPWYW6UrX6nVFqpWcjrhs5x1GTB9bPCGqC1WdaznmMeJa-Wtjg2M/s1600/saradianoil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFO6krYXrEpcxOS3Dg2rQnfjpxOJMCW2Z6443dZavkjDL9nTUDDrMPpmIm1w6UecnPJOde1RWDFHZWK8q6StaTUqQPWYW6UrX6nVFqpWcjrhs5x1GTB9bPCGqC1WdaznmMeJa-Wtjg2M/s320/saradianoil.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… and oil.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Contemporaneous images of Arab countries as inimical to the West—exacerbated by such real-life crises as the 1980s oil glut and the tension between Iraq and its neighbors Kuwait and Iran—communicate to us the film’s perception of Arabs: anti-Western zealots desperate to use Japan’s biological advances to attenuate America’s incipient dominance over the moribund Communist bloc. Every Arab in this film who speaks serves as a villain, either menacing or maladroit.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYBvyrKfDjJFNrx-AN8AVlw3ytpEr4pUVr2Z7FyVvDMtcDNErQ6jFebJ1tvR2biFfzIGqGLSV_hMaPwSIr-Vme59ceZFzpW8HgUZ4E7WfB9PlSz6OrKdWVLg115opO6Komr-1CYfS5fc/s1600/boing.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYBvyrKfDjJFNrx-AN8AVlw3ytpEr4pUVr2Z7FyVvDMtcDNErQ6jFebJ1tvR2biFfzIGqGLSV_hMaPwSIr-Vme59ceZFzpW8HgUZ4E7WfB9PlSz6OrKdWVLg115opO6Komr-1CYfS5fc/s320/boing.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one bit of comic relief in the film: an Arab gets hit in the head to a zany metallic <em>boing</em>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Godzilla vs. Biollante</i>’s “human plot” centers on Dr. Kazuhito Kirishima, a geneticist with the Tsukuba Bioengineering Laboratory, who tries to defeat Godzilla using Godzilla’s cells and anti-nuclear bacteria reverse-engineered therefrom to legitimately challenge the monster. His girlfriend, Asuka Ōkouchi, gets him work with her father, Seikun, who runs the Ōkouchi Foundation, a financial backer of the Tsukuba lab and keeper of Godzilla’s cellular material. Before the events of the film, Seikun occupied himself with a decidedly different project: saving the semen of Nobel Prize winners for future generations. (<em>I promise you I did not make a word of this up.</em>)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhdKvF5ovZf9VERhy9y72TCXCr_RFC5tjXPDtEyFgU79R23bd1otplSg0VvHut7HrTM3kWQxXGG4Bq0TpGXB5dOEZeMDHDNL-zDXklWLL3FPFDylgSlWwrNWkTmL6bMTDmJYcU5sXZ2A/s1600/CEO.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhdKvF5ovZf9VERhy9y72TCXCr_RFC5tjXPDtEyFgU79R23bd1otplSg0VvHut7HrTM3kWQxXGG4Bq0TpGXB5dOEZeMDHDNL-zDXklWLL3FPFDylgSlWwrNWkTmL6bMTDmJYcU5sXZ2A/s320/CEO.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seikun Ōkouchi fans himself as he dreams of Nobel semen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Dr. Kirishima ends up working with Dr. Genichiro Shiragami, an embittered plant biologist who uses Godzilla cells for his own ends, ultimately creating Biollante. Although the two doctors don’t particularly like each other, they eventually have to work together to stop the gigantic mess that their research causes.<br />
<br />
Kirishima, Shiragami, and their colleagues find their efforts hindered by Bio-Major, an unscrupulous American genetics conglomerate aiming to monopolize genetic information worldwide. Their machinations include espionage, theft, and even deliberately activating Godzilla.<br />
<br />
To tie this back into the Arab discussion, the Arabs serve as meddlesome quaternary antagonists, embodied by Abdul Saulman (played by Iden Yamanral), a bearded, reticent hitman who roams around in a nondescript Mitsubishi Starion, killing practically everyone he even sees to get his hands on anti-nuclear bacteria for his own employer, the Saradia Oil Corporation.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHGrCKQUnOEUePY1fM8V2wTGxOdSzj8vf7J_Yb5ipFpZOgE5FCP3eUwhmnxVO53sAXzqwRN2Ff0PvBu1rwqcVv0Ubc4O8KcPDg1d2yu-tymDw6ilgadTyAcSO8COdbd_pXhqzorbRSuk/s1600/assassin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHGrCKQUnOEUePY1fM8V2wTGxOdSzj8vf7J_Yb5ipFpZOgE5FCP3eUwhmnxVO53sAXzqwRN2Ff0PvBu1rwqcVv0Ubc4O8KcPDg1d2yu-tymDw6ilgadTyAcSO8COdbd_pXhqzorbRSuk/s320/assassin.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I admit, I take some solace that he does all this whilst looking incredibly stylish.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Consequently, the film characterizes every speaking Arab as a co-conspirator in a plot to destroy America using Japan as collateral damage.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkh0hg8cM2NcdUwV_q_xCwgb4tN3kNZwDAtingA-0nL650tw1DPsT8UrhjRvEDaDzAcm6uNP_zpwxlshQ8yv_uOYmkQabPhGXOuS39OdiWUJGclhCOpH_1wKUExM344B779AuZLccI6B0/s1600/saladia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkh0hg8cM2NcdUwV_q_xCwgb4tN3kNZwDAtingA-0nL650tw1DPsT8UrhjRvEDaDzAcm6uNP_zpwxlshQ8yv_uOYmkQabPhGXOuS39OdiWUJGclhCOpH_1wKUExM344B779AuZLccI6B0/s320/saladia.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Worse, the Saradians apparently can’t even spell their own country’s name.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If all of this intrigue seems boring, convoluted, or confusing, try not to let it get to you. Remember that none of this serves any real purpose outside of setting up excuses for two men in rubber suits to spend the third act beating the snot out of each other amidst a miniature Japan.<br />
<br />
At least the film entertains with its dialogue. Koji Takahashi and the “Saradian” actors quite obviously learned their English lines phonetically. One character refers to Japan as “the Japan” and pronounces nuclear to rhyme with éclair. I recommend this film to anyone who finds badly-spoken English as awkwardly hilarious as I do.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5rgE-9_sJVx4zs8Z58_w3ESJhb-v0y4mbPQKLwEOkSUbz9TZCPCTzqAzwjl5UbDGVg7R4c48VbfLr1qOwFEKyoVC-SG5BSXckKUn0oN8mqbpWoiJJib8139gsnslRP21ijpzuINl0BU/s1600/oneliner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5rgE-9_sJVx4zs8Z58_w3ESJhb-v0y4mbPQKLwEOkSUbz9TZCPCTzqAzwjl5UbDGVg7R4c48VbfLr1qOwFEKyoVC-SG5BSXckKUn0oN8mqbpWoiJJib8139gsnslRP21ijpzuINl0BU/s320/oneliner.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Saradian assassin steals a case and goes for the ol’ post-massacre one-liner.<br />
What he means: “OK, see you guys!”<br />
What he says: “Case, you guys!”<br />
At least he can correctly identify a case, I guess.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_bhp_PS3p5hj-8eRONEucLgd3YGFlfEpghFLBgheF8C0w6OXjJ_cdX5TR2eVbQD1nFzn-Hf2mk5mQm1ftTynDPLLroT3jcC6hRsWVibfOZboSsh379YyWz_7gP4U6cRrONML8wlZlD4/s1600/speaking.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_bhp_PS3p5hj-8eRONEucLgd3YGFlfEpghFLBgheF8C0w6OXjJ_cdX5TR2eVbQD1nFzn-Hf2mk5mQm1ftTynDPLLroT3jcC6hRsWVibfOZboSsh379YyWz_7gP4U6cRrONML8wlZlD4/s320/speaking.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“But those cells… would have been <em>mere</em> flesh if it <em>wer</em>-unt for your genuous [genius] in clarifying the <em>entire</em> picture.”<br />
“No!! You… provided to me… way the <em>best</em>… robort [laboratory].”<br />
“In this country, we own everything because of the oil ins [lands]. But we cannot depend on forever. We must find a way to transform this wast [vast] desert into a… [dramatic pause] <em>granary</em>!”<br />
“My dooter [daughter] Erika… has succeeded… in closet-bleeding [cross-breeding]… a new type of weed… from weed and… <em>cactus cells</em>. Dis [this] weed… can grow… in the dessert [desert]… if… we add… self-reproductive… <em>Jenna</em>-tick [genetic] information… from… the… Godzillacell [Godzilla cells]… an indestructive [indestructible] super-plant will be completed.”<br />
“Good! Then the America will certainly be mortified! Their position as the largess surreal [largest cereal] exporter in the world will chick [shake]! [Evil laugh. No, really. He cackles like a supervillain here.]”<br />
This took an <em>unbelievable</em> number of passes to transcribe, incidentally.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
The Monsters</h3>
<br />
Of course, as any Godzilla fan knows, the “human plots” invariably take a backseat to the inevitable monster battles. This film gives the monster antagonist role to Biollante, a verdurous “clone” of Godzilla composed of rapidly-pullulating, nuclear-material-eating plant cells… with some human cells worked in there too.<br />
<br />
In addition to the risible dialogue, the plot has no scientific accuracy to speak of. Here we have Dr. Shiragami explaining Biollante and Godzilla in scientifically impossible terms…<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
More than just the same family. Identical, made from the same cells. One animal, one plant.</blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ob5zDuyc7XNQtdGROcPAlgv-StobcYQgSQXgbLKzk8akjuroOqW9zyMOYmB9qyXB2bHEAN2J0gNIblCxxOuAc029B8bs_CboZEhOxMG0uKc8RASIvzDcPkBLkMLVfpOMvhpO3go-ia8/s1600/biollante.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ob5zDuyc7XNQtdGROcPAlgv-StobcYQgSQXgbLKzk8akjuroOqW9zyMOYmB9qyXB2bHEAN2J0gNIblCxxOuAc029B8bs_CboZEhOxMG0uKc8RASIvzDcPkBLkMLVfpOMvhpO3go-ia8/s320/biollante.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Godzilla and Biollante: identical twins.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Biollante communicates to the humans—and, by extension, the viewer—in the person of Miki Saegusa, a teenage telepath-cum-psychokinetic who can read the minds of plants. She works for an organization called—seriously— the “Mental Science Exploitation Center.”<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iRqwYNlJZnVSGptMyiO240KZ1mVk7xTzgbciAakyvRrEUahDw-48r3q8lDZ_bT2GUkV_qirrAa-fuvokXwW3MYXEKT8eSXialwYavMezKcaJ6StMcF7wxZlC1JeXJXzci8gKzLB9XcE/s1600/miki.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iRqwYNlJZnVSGptMyiO240KZ1mVk7xTzgbciAakyvRrEUahDw-48r3q8lDZ_bT2GUkV_qirrAa-fuvokXwW3MYXEKT8eSXialwYavMezKcaJ6StMcF7wxZlC1JeXJXzci8gKzLB9XcE/s320/miki.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We first meet young Miki in the act of furiously interrogating a rosebush.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Somehow, the ESP elements in combination with the biotech corporate warfare make the film even <em>more</em> lovably discursive than your average Godzilla film.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6mAZR9rBQ9HsOpzfu7FH9fHtUGJDV8D49iebkL5oNZF9rtn0lz_BQ0t70iIPXaC76Z1fZRLrnEBLw8b_iTWNoag39cTf8wxhUk5miUXF-LneGlosG0qq2a9infNT3U43kkjZ2FrExY2M/s1600/drawings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6mAZR9rBQ9HsOpzfu7FH9fHtUGJDV8D49iebkL5oNZF9rtn0lz_BQ0t70iIPXaC76Z1fZRLrnEBLw8b_iTWNoag39cTf8wxhUk5miUXF-LneGlosG0qq2a9infNT3U43kkjZ2FrExY2M/s320/drawings.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A research center full of telepathic children also makes for some novel foreshadowing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Roses recur as a theme throughout the film. They seem to embody regret and ruminations on the past, hence their appearance on Biollante itself.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iSxp9iMZybpS2s1jLBTU4YEHFEaFRGpBs1gUWETJujeRYgQbGUFSqtzDXZuYi0gO_JdV0mNsf8pvX6U4G5-l4l5q2DJR1uN-l3SulAwiE6zkfVwySmvGbOQNuTFBHeL8Kn1m1OL_pek/s1600/biollante.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iSxp9iMZybpS2s1jLBTU4YEHFEaFRGpBs1gUWETJujeRYgQbGUFSqtzDXZuYi0gO_JdV0mNsf8pvX6U4G5-l4l5q2DJR1uN-l3SulAwiE6zkfVwySmvGbOQNuTFBHeL8Kn1m1OL_pek/s320/biollante.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Biollante makes an interesting first impression as a gigantic rosebush.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Japan Self Defense Forces do more than throw human cannon fodder at the monsters. They make use of Super-X 2, an amphibious, heavily-armored military vessel that uses a synthetic diamond called the Fire Mirror to redirect Godzilla’s flame breath<sup>ii</sup> and anti-nuclear bacteria missiles to terminally weaken the monster.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKSR_YL7u1iZ6kdyX5FLjLgze-H2250XiPW00pGvKaTHG9WmKdofAvS-a19YyNAnNDRmZ2qZpOEXGrOqNM49u55OGnzmSG6TFJ3qvLtIqI-KJ7E0RG3uaWeEew6Y-_lCJZgSOv1nqPWw/s1600/lasers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKSR_YL7u1iZ6kdyX5FLjLgze-H2250XiPW00pGvKaTHG9WmKdofAvS-a19YyNAnNDRmZ2qZpOEXGrOqNM49u55OGnzmSG6TFJ3qvLtIqI-KJ7E0RG3uaWeEew6Y-_lCJZgSOv1nqPWw/s320/lasers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a move that may have inspired the X-Men’s Bishop, the Super-X 2 nails Godzilla with his own breath, amplified.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The anti-nuclear bacteria forms a subplot in its own right, sparking a brief but interesting discussion on the post-nuclear society such bacteria would herald. Despite that this discussion should have massive implications for a series that started by exploring Japan’s perception of nuclear warfare in the wake of Hiroshima, this discussion unfortunately gets lost amidst the many other subplots in this film.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Within the Godzilla Series</h3>
<br />
The monster battles reflect the crossroads in which the filmmakers find themselves at this point in the Godzilla series’ history. Its predecessor, <i>Godzilla</i> (1985) (also known as <i>The Return of Godzilla</i> or <i>Godzilla ‘85</i>, depending on which sliver of the grey market you consult), marked the beginning of Godzilla’s Heisei period.<sup>i</sup> The Heisei period stands out for its wholesale rejection of the Shōwa period’s cheesy aesthetic and sympathetic portrayal of the “good” monsters. <i>The Return of Godzilla</i> made Godzilla’s status as an enemy and major threat toward Japan abundantly clear. Its driving score and pointedly dark palette work to paint Godzilla as a serious menace that will stop at nothing to level Japan for only his own temporary satiation.<br />
<br />
<i>Godzilla vs. Biollante</i> ultimately stops short of its predecessor’s uniformly antagonistic characterization of Godzilla. As the first Heisei Godzilla film to feature multiple monsters, hints of the more sympathetic Shōwa treatment shine through as the film progresses. (That Godzilla’s old playmates had yet to return for the Heisei period did mitigate this somewhat, though.) By the end, this film implores us to see Godzilla less as a wild, obstreperous instrument of blind destruction than an embodiment of regret over mankind’s past follies (a portrayal somewhat in keeping with <i>Godzilla</i> (1954), the very first Godzilla film).<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7otBSJMg3hdALHUo3g4CA8tflnnfFaRxcaCfiVJYansRjQSKbuSyI6vuoc5RKU52Ayb_g1oEaMnkbNCc0zBCMzkjp1HQVys8DnWe_KGOug6YThR6pmn3A4nAeEjLx1TSwyxt9z9rVaM/s1600/godzilla.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7otBSJMg3hdALHUo3g4CA8tflnnfFaRxcaCfiVJYansRjQSKbuSyI6vuoc5RKU52Ayb_g1oEaMnkbNCc0zBCMzkjp1HQVys8DnWe_KGOug6YThR6pmn3A4nAeEjLx1TSwyxt9z9rVaM/s320/godzilla.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This film’s Godzilla had spent the last five years entombed alive inside an active volcano. In all fairness, that would piss <em>anyone</em> off.</td></tr>
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In any case, despite its under-performance upon its initial release, I found this one of the better Godzilla films. The film has some strange flaws: it has this incongruous Superman-esque score and the plot continually occludes the lines dividing protagonists, antagonists, important characters, bit parts, et cetera. Aesthetically, it occupies a strange and intriguing middle ground between the Heisei period’s faux-seriousness and the silliness of the other films up to that point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4ZhLRJluhOfHwVZBxr9mc-6zKJWSZacov_-DEk0XH8Oo9otso9srnIE8inhOJ3_-d2vmxPgn47wWOpAQwAvPHV8QQLF4Y4rAkMnJBihHNQgnMYWiyYBKuLcPHFokesql5GaWbJsz-N4/s1600/miniature.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4ZhLRJluhOfHwVZBxr9mc-6zKJWSZacov_-DEk0XH8Oo9otso9srnIE8inhOJ3_-d2vmxPgn47wWOpAQwAvPHV8QQLF4Y4rAkMnJBihHNQgnMYWiyYBKuLcPHFokesql5GaWbJsz-N4/s320/miniature.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The miniature work looks better with each successive Godzilla film. By this 17th film, they just look gorgeous.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvIILkBhxnKEKs_p2rVYbuHV8islAQmIsZppCfATsBUZCLFBz_oB6l4IQAZLyC2aiZvj0JPCtA59T_dDzYFtXnZrZWxKTE_G83JjKWB7v2zl8hTpB_NJGDyd0ZX5XkRp_titIyx5pyH0/s1600/protoCGI.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNvIILkBhxnKEKs_p2rVYbuHV8islAQmIsZppCfATsBUZCLFBz_oB6l4IQAZLyC2aiZvj0JPCtA59T_dDzYFtXnZrZWxKTE_G83JjKWB7v2zl8hTpB_NJGDyd0ZX5XkRp_titIyx5pyH0/s320/protoCGI.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The JSDF’s 3D modeling doesn't hold up as well as one would think, though.</td></tr>
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I wish the film had more of a unique identity and aesthetic—however weird—like <i>Godzilla vs. Hedorah</i> or more of an integration between the monster and human plots like <i>The Terror of Mechagodzilla</i>, but I still find it an interesting and very watchable cross-section of Japan’s views of both the Godzilla series and its own role in an international landscape on the brink of a massive sea change.<br />
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<sup>i</sup> Technically, the Heisei period began with <i>Godzilla vs. Biollante</i>, since Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, but fans consider <i>The Return of Godzilla</i> the de facto start of the Godzilla series’ Heisei period, as it marks the return of Godzilla from a nine-year absence and has considerably more in common with its successors than its predecessors.<br />
<sup>ii</sup> I'd have called it “Laser Halitosis” myself, but to their detriment, they didn’t ask me.
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4ed95d96f5f807b666000009" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-31626807772318974252013-10-18T12:30:00.002-07:002014-01-02T13:50:14.558-08:00Asad (2012)Although films about Somalia don’t normally fall within my purview with this blog, I found <i>Asad</i> sufficiently moving and the premise close enough to the Arab World to deserve mention.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTNriaIqvXDbXY6F3ySQDgj6tuDgG1i9xDRjC8GlnB7CRyRSUCFZ3EJU_SuziTfbVIGGErOv0zxNqXOCJWELJiSDx2LAm43blCTZCu7WAFXIKw6eJhbGsIjjeLiQDIEdXtx5APMI2Zp4/s1600/Asad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTNriaIqvXDbXY6F3ySQDgj6tuDgG1i9xDRjC8GlnB7CRyRSUCFZ3EJU_SuziTfbVIGGErOv0zxNqXOCJWELJiSDx2LAm43blCTZCu7WAFXIKw6eJhbGsIjjeLiQDIEdXtx5APMI2Zp4/s320/Asad.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<i>Asad</i> takes a mere 18 minutes to tell a fascinating story about life in Somalia. Actual Somali refugees and asylum seekers comprise the entire cast (with the exception of one minor non-speaking role). Bryan Buckley directed the film, shot in Paternoster, an actual fishing village in South Africa’s West Cape.<sup>i</sup><br />
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<i>Asad</i>’s story resembles a fable. The title character—a precocious young boy whose age belies his seafaring knowledge—finds himself in that age-old dilemma between the easy life of a pirate and the hard, honest life of a fisherman. His tenacity and independence make him ill-suited for the former, while his size and low self-esteem put him at a disadvantage in the latter. Either way, as the “man” of his penurious family, he already considers feeding his sisters and mother his responsibility, and he knows he has to live up to it. On top of that, he has a burning desire to succeed on his own merits.<br />
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Fascinatingly, the story feels like an adaptation of Hemingway’s <u>The Old Man and the Sea</u>, with the roles of the two characters reversed and the focus put on the boy. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzQNbYA520GkegAu0l_2yra78UFd3o9802EKulfNlAl49E_FmCbpUJ_ryXeeKzNGxWT4oxS0feBM01DbcuMu1LaUPMlsDetjrLwGqyZhvFqB0-D_7i94PDhq4_dhaQp3jpPJgl5wQDXU/s1600/stone.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzQNbYA520GkegAu0l_2yra78UFd3o9802EKulfNlAl49E_FmCbpUJ_ryXeeKzNGxWT4oxS0feBM01DbcuMu1LaUPMlsDetjrLwGqyZhvFqB0-D_7i94PDhq4_dhaQp3jpPJgl5wQDXU/s320/stone.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This large stone serves as the crossroads from which Asad can see both paths.<br />
Slightly low-angle shots like these dot the entire film, which serves wonderfully to sell young Asad’s perspective.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asad ruminates about his passion for the sea and his desire to deliver his family from their squalid life.</td></tr>
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Such a simple story works quite well because in each of these disparate paths, Asad has a role model. Laban, a boy a few years older than Asad, becomes part of the <i>badaadinta badah</i> (“saviors of the sea,” <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/24/a-pioneer-of-somali-piracy">the pirates’ euphemistic appellation for themselves</a>)<i> </i>for the money, not minding that he has to follow orders unquestioningly, however dangerous or unwise. Laban worships money and thus, he worships Jay-Z’s riches (which serves as another subtle point about the corrupting power of materialistic American images abroad). At the other end, Erasto, the village’s putative last honest fisherman, excels at fishing and gives generously of himself but lacks money or popularity.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGPlVUWv7xFAgBupp9vqGtkWrl2J6J-o8G01zRO9ZGbe58CQVoeid-TOGOApgZKfUn8ofm5oY0ndzPtM3JWBD0__Bj0dwTT9FlIrQ8BJX3FIPoCUNAUeTGBhcPgsDVfXFxV034yZbwX0/s1600/laban.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGPlVUWv7xFAgBupp9vqGtkWrl2J6J-o8G01zRO9ZGbe58CQVoeid-TOGOApgZKfUn8ofm5oY0ndzPtM3JWBD0__Bj0dwTT9FlIrQ8BJX3FIPoCUNAUeTGBhcPgsDVfXFxV034yZbwX0/s320/laban.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laban believes piracy will make him more like the man on his shirt.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEy5TasYiapYw3B8kgjXiVCxwC5-OD30sN_V-rwLOZT9I4qDi4YS3R3wft2ixxr_SUZ3Tmd9JK-imwB80g5zGDydKX4JC1UJP_30EJELg8YHZAOLB0GzU5b27_UB0wUOW0hIxyBnFWRY/s1600/Erasto.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiEy5TasYiapYw3B8kgjXiVCxwC5-OD30sN_V-rwLOZT9I4qDi4YS3R3wft2ixxr_SUZ3Tmd9JK-imwB80g5zGDydKX4JC1UJP_30EJELg8YHZAOLB0GzU5b27_UB0wUOW0hIxyBnFWRY/s320/Erasto.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking of honesty, Erasto doesn’t need to exaggerate like your average fisherman.</td></tr>
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Through these characters, we get a picture of life in Somalia outside the images of pirates and warlords that dominate our news media’s images thereof. Rather, the film shows us how those pirates and warlords destroy these regular people for personal gain. The “pirates” we see mostly consist of mere boys who follow orders without question. A gang of rapacious soldiers from Mogadishu (which, from this tiny fishing village, looks like “the big city”) nearly kill Asad and Ali—an already-injured friend roughly Asad’s age—for no real reason.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgq8Wv1LFkEyCj_3-JfohgZH9wgd0_MJtSoJv179S1JPFYciTrFcy-oOaK_GoQvxmW84RYkEF0hSh2b0amFsbpgg-OClD7P3ii7EX00BAGMHSlKiv4g3YnsgTrwKip0fkIPdAtXT8Y9A/s1600/soldiers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgq8Wv1LFkEyCj_3-JfohgZH9wgd0_MJtSoJv179S1JPFYciTrFcy-oOaK_GoQvxmW84RYkEF0hSh2b0amFsbpgg-OClD7P3ii7EX00BAGMHSlKiv4g3YnsgTrwKip0fkIPdAtXT8Y9A/s320/soldiers.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asad ably persuades the soldiers into exchanging the fish for Ali’s life.<br />
Buckley uses a flurry of cuts of varying height and closeness to imbue this scene with real fear.</td></tr>
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Through all of this, we see young Asad survive by his wits and determination. Ultimately, his intelligence and compassion become the axle around which the story turns, making the film all the more satisfying for it. Buckland’s eye for cinematography allows him to bring out the gritty beauty in the impoverished fishing village and the open ocean in all its vastness. In the former, one quickly gains a sense of community from Asad’s interactions with his acquaintances throughout the tiny village. The low-key yet exotic score brings the full gamut of Asad’s quietly-expressed emotions into view.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinF1mMIjp5TwK9iPv9-8cuttWAVS6rD1pl-gnYtY0JK9kP_W1WiuckfuiIh2-oGig0Joms1iT23YiEX_J7kz6WgAPvmhh6wWlsgaAXJ92D2u1VefuWlE_4eXVnw26U0OB2joai1D_puIE/s1600/boat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinF1mMIjp5TwK9iPv9-8cuttWAVS6rD1pl-gnYtY0JK9kP_W1WiuckfuiIh2-oGig0Joms1iT23YiEX_J7kz6WgAPvmhh6wWlsgaAXJ92D2u1VefuWlE_4eXVnw26U0OB2joai1D_puIE/s320/boat.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this shot most of all. It says everything about Asad’s struggle to survive in such a large, dangerous world.</td></tr>
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As a cat person, I loved the ending too. Watch the film on Amazon Instant and see what I mean.<br />
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<sup>i</sup> Frankly, that South Africa makes such a good shooting location for this short says plenty about the abject conditions <i>there</i> too.
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/50f84ebe345ad2c558000003" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-74293521334964153192013-10-17T22:18:00.000-07:002013-10-18T12:31:16.727-07:00Aladdin (1992)Of all movies to contain Arabs, I’ve had the most requests for Disney’s <i>Aladdin</i>. So if it means getting people to read my variegated and usually-angry opinions on reel Arabs, well, then, let’s do this!<br />
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Jack Shaheen wrote extensively on <i>Aladdin</i> in <u>Reel Bad Arabs</u>. He drew attention in particular to the contrast between the softer, more anglicized features of Aladdin and Jasmine as compared to the more angular, more “Arab” features of Jafar. In fairness, this trend extends beyond <i>Aladdin</i>. Disney has drawn protagonists with scarce, rounded lines since <i>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs</i> (1937) and antagonists with harsh, angular features since <i>Cinderella</i> (1950). Nevertheless, I feel inclined to take Shaheen’s side on this one. Aladdin and Jasmine look more-or-less like Aryans with heavy eyebrows, convex noses, and olive-tinted skin, the Sultan looks like a generic old man, and Genie clearly started as an Arabian caricature of Robin Williams, but the “bad” characters and only the “bad” characters actually <i>do</i> look Semitic.<br />
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The perennial disregard-for-life Arab stereotype rears its ugly head from the outset. Literally less than a minute in, the frame tale narrator sings, “Where they cut off your ear / If they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” (In an obvious overdub, Disney later changed the former two lines to, “Where it’s flat and immense / And the heat is intense.”) Speaking of whom, the narrator—Robin Williams showing off his discursive, kinetic comedy style in a non-Genie role—appears in the unnecessary frame scene to set the mood. This narrator-cum-merchant seems lifted almost straight from the stereotypically sleazy, cunning merchant in <i>Casablanca</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgP-t3e2YY03p6qzMdAD2-bk7BoCHAwOGFnAQEVx6xmhTIkERq4eVp4v0OsgtqECbadlFpBnK-vZy6coVnu70BoZN-QgrbEW6NFNR91lsWJSg2uBaAOTSeS9qS-QQmAb22-TpfV-UbUo/s1600/narrator.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgP-t3e2YY03p6qzMdAD2-bk7BoCHAwOGFnAQEVx6xmhTIkERq4eVp4v0OsgtqECbadlFpBnK-vZy6coVnu70BoZN-QgrbEW6NFNR91lsWJSg2uBaAOTSeS9qS-QQmAb22-TpfV-UbUo/s320/narrator.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, this character looks as though Disney put him on this earth to lie for money.</td></tr>
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No sooner does the merchant begin the actual narrative than we meet the main antagonist Jafar and Azeem, a small-time cutpurse who thinks nothing of slitting throats.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least he has fluid, dynamic animation for a stereotype.</td></tr>
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Throughout the film, Aladdin finds himself under siege by stereotypical, burly, hook-nosed guards who brandish scimitars and sneer imprecations through missing teeth before repeatedly trying to murder him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmlCADEsk3eABiZGvuy3eZRGJEif5NSNT6oJG_W6x5gi0hB0e91yY3OCFWuhdiWAKvgSQZdNlgLH7Tl4RgV5UhKrQkwfTcpCooyQin-QuQ6u9kN1pqqzlFPQN6JECkRda5jf6wRRJh-c/s1600/guards.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifmlCADEsk3eABiZGvuy3eZRGJEif5NSNT6oJG_W6x5gi0hB0e91yY3OCFWuhdiWAKvgSQZdNlgLH7Tl4RgV5UhKrQkwfTcpCooyQin-QuQ6u9kN1pqqzlFPQN6JECkRda5jf6wRRJh-c/s320/guards.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even for a stereotype, the scimitars seem like a bit much.</td></tr>
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At another point, a decidedly Semitic-looking grocer nearly cuts off our Aryan-looking Princess Jasmine’s hand.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_b18iYJ6HHjgweXzGpVxGVQ_EVYXInAOBW5sebq1MOec4d5q1T3-oyq5IPVPPGLZrgeAE9ntqzkVVdtCesiNKEvhdSM1hh_3kDBv2bO1mnNS6CmbeqMXce16JBvZvd6XZjegEurMM4Y/s1600/hand.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_b18iYJ6HHjgweXzGpVxGVQ_EVYXInAOBW5sebq1MOec4d5q1T3-oyq5IPVPPGLZrgeAE9ntqzkVVdtCesiNKEvhdSM1hh_3kDBv2bO1mnNS6CmbeqMXce16JBvZvd6XZjegEurMM4Y/s320/hand.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These two characters scarcely look like they even belong in the same film.</td></tr>
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The film largely establishes Agrabah—the film’s answer to the Middle East—as a lawless no-man’s-land where deceit and death lurk at every corner, which does a fine job setting the mood but a terrible job encouraging young viewers to feel safe around Arabs.<br />
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Moreover, many of the instances of Islam appear in a negative context. Azeem praises Allah as he prepares to rob a horde of treasure. The intransigent, stereotypical guards invoke the Islamic tenet about amputating the hands of thieves. Only the doddering old sultan comes close to contradicting this… by invoking Allah’s name as an exclamation of surprise.<br />
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For <i>Aladdin</i> in particular, the writers owe a massive debt to the creators of the first two <i>Thief of Bagdad</i> films. This film uses the basic plot of the first and character names and roles of the second. I don’t say any of this to the detriment of <i>Aladdin</i>, mind you. But more than most filmmakers, Disney embody that writers’ aphorism: “when you steal, steal from the best.” And steal they do. Most of the plot of the 1924 film and the characters of the 1940 film inspire the same in this film. Even a number of little moments carry over from these films, like Aladdin’s dip in deep water, the sultan’s flight in the sky, and a brief scene in the Far East!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1UDsugt2xLY5SZVUBCLlSlwD-Lvi73Sr0X7zi-1CuoGk2AZGPQucH3Zz2MuvoFas3_J2DdMSI54KutFqRxU4eg3n-yquc68mOiThpx31yyIvGmcWe_pJ_8B9H8YEKnTqXgciJG8NKRo/s1600/china.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1UDsugt2xLY5SZVUBCLlSlwD-Lvi73Sr0X7zi-1CuoGk2AZGPQucH3Zz2MuvoFas3_J2DdMSI54KutFqRxU4eg3n-yquc68mOiThpx31yyIvGmcWe_pJ_8B9H8YEKnTqXgciJG8NKRo/s320/china.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aladdin romances Jasmine so hard they take a trip across a continent through song!</td></tr>
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Plot-wise, the movie doesn’t differ appreciably from the average Disney animated feature released since their Renaissance. It stars a kind, attractive protagonist with a perceived imperfection in his life over which he has a monomaniacal obsession. He falls in love with an apparently-unattainable woman. He fights the antagonist, who in the second act brings his weakness to light and robs him of the MacGuffin he used to get this far. He discovers his “true strength” without said MacGuffin, humiliates and defeats the antagonist, and wins the love interest in roughly the same way one wins a stuffed animal after successfully throwing baseballs at bowling pins.<br />
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Frustratingly, as the film progresses, Aladdin repeatedly asks for Jasmine’s trust whilst lying about his identity at every turn. While this plays into his character development, one never quite gets the feeling that Aladdin actually understands the violations of trust that he causes.<br />
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The interplay between Aladdin and his simian sidekick Abu in particular feels reminiscent of the two main characters in both those <i>Thief of Bagdad</i> films. Once Jasmine enters the mix, the three main characters end up paralleling Peter, Wendy, and Tink in Disney’s <i>Peter Pan</i>, with Abu querulously refusing to get along with Aladdin’s new love interest.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwy-8a0cj7Jv_l8JOiIUaD2wkvfRVkMSmxR3hooITYPLtAMv7gItkEU9eiXcuMxBy9HVohI4whJyR185L4Vai9YZNUKBx7d0Rm-iETi2gDCnqe_0TT77TijzNQo3g2q8ZDw2heHDk5wo/s1600/jasmine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwy-8a0cj7Jv_l8JOiIUaD2wkvfRVkMSmxR3hooITYPLtAMv7gItkEU9eiXcuMxBy9HVohI4whJyR185L4Vai9YZNUKBx7d0Rm-iETi2gDCnqe_0TT77TijzNQo3g2q8ZDw2heHDk5wo/s320/jasmine.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abu answers the encroachment of romance on his bromance with the scowling of a lifetime.</td></tr>
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For a Disney Princess, Jasmine seems refreshingly opinionated, smart, and able. Far from the mute Arab women of so many other films, Jasmine fights her role in life and the desire of men to make all her decisions with everything she has. She refuses to marry a man who can’t respect her enough to believe in her free will. Unfortunately, she ultimately ends up in the same old damsel-in-distress routine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kw_sSNARI3C_SleySzEcc3_CB9Uf7ToM9vMcS_s5KLZUlS7AoS0oGLy0aVRyNNg-k3E1GKDdVOzwTgiNnPldrKATM5IMuUlwe87z6Oi9nkFdVNT8rvUz0vHxvx1QtEVXhB6VWqIq6k4/s1600/jasmine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kw_sSNARI3C_SleySzEcc3_CB9Uf7ToM9vMcS_s5KLZUlS7AoS0oGLy0aVRyNNg-k3E1GKDdVOzwTgiNnPldrKATM5IMuUlwe87z6Oi9nkFdVNT8rvUz0vHxvx1QtEVXhB6VWqIq6k4/s320/jasmine.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jasmine even stands up to Jafar with unfailing aplomb.</td></tr>
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Setting aside its handling of Arabs, Aladdin works well as an animated film. The characters all have lively, fluid animation. In that sense, this film serves as an excellent cross-section of how Disney rose to become kings of theatrical animation, even after their long lull following Walt’s passing.<br />
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The writers keep the characterization lively by pairing each major character with a sidekick: Aladdin & Abu; Jasmine & Rajah; Genie & Carpet; Jafar & Iago…<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcjO7Ng1rnFYdH1eRk3uRwB97y0n6iLRV-olo1tmtxAUbaaZgB-W2wSx3R6gzthywAojXtFIqTb_D6E15uIjW0a0JS2OC9ej_ngDKxjZzhB_F3FGx0WFpQenjgGcMaUk0tA6vTx5okTI/s1600/iago.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcjO7Ng1rnFYdH1eRk3uRwB97y0n6iLRV-olo1tmtxAUbaaZgB-W2wSx3R6gzthywAojXtFIqTb_D6E15uIjW0a0JS2OC9ej_ngDKxjZzhB_F3FGx0WFpQenjgGcMaUk0tA6vTx5okTI/s320/iago.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iago’s ever-moving limbs perfectly complement Gilbert Gottfried’s inimitable, plangent screeching.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqblBFXs_0XKHzxHkan2UrN38cfiBaWa2a_SENjUVAtf37M7Y2SPJyjiYcGROp3fEt7g-VwP5r3Vt6O-tqHZWIXEKDWusxtxBH0hjoUklwce2_WK5diVnCwXHbfu78PBElLqfJUgN6ZY/s1600/rajah.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqblBFXs_0XKHzxHkan2UrN38cfiBaWa2a_SENjUVAtf37M7Y2SPJyjiYcGROp3fEt7g-VwP5r3Vt6O-tqHZWIXEKDWusxtxBH0hjoUklwce2_WK5diVnCwXHbfu78PBElLqfJUgN6ZY/s320/rajah.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know <i>I’d</i> watch myself around a girl who had the protection of a cat that big.</td></tr>
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Of all the characters, in some ways, the magic carpet stands out most of all. For a mute, volant quadrilateral with a digitally-applied texture, animator Randy Cartwright imbues the character with astounding fluidity.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSRdkmG3JBBgPJmbeuk_i1GtvbNIWoURO2leLccXtebs5GPDynW4_Uo4R2sO-kk5DPYnS27okmbY1EGhKUIf36fxTxnB314RMTR1NfRbtYIYLbgOlBFAXVUnKf3zpkwZCBHbgfV9SWaQ/s1600/carpet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSRdkmG3JBBgPJmbeuk_i1GtvbNIWoURO2leLccXtebs5GPDynW4_Uo4R2sO-kk5DPYnS27okmbY1EGhKUIf36fxTxnB314RMTR1NfRbtYIYLbgOlBFAXVUnKf3zpkwZCBHbgfV9SWaQ/s320/carpet.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Disney animators ably express trepidation with naught but four corners.</td></tr>
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Of course, Robin Williams’ Genie serves as the film’s wacky breakout character. His all-over-the-place comedy delivers most of the film’s overt laughs. I don’t find his humor quite as funny as I did in childhood, but he absolutely meets the demands of the role.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2gkDoFauHhHfkO27VABKaopPxLpNE9XnxDlzuOkvCNho0Tpc_C6vIlyNlYdpM0498af5sGwMMLmt5i60l-RA8jkrq3-1mKRQjnY8nvPlyfNw0bZtnEY79Aea579yRLbO8JwokFXlFYM/s1600/genie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2gkDoFauHhHfkO27VABKaopPxLpNE9XnxDlzuOkvCNho0Tpc_C6vIlyNlYdpM0498af5sGwMMLmt5i60l-RA8jkrq3-1mKRQjnY8nvPlyfNw0bZtnEY79Aea579yRLbO8JwokFXlFYM/s320/genie.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin Williams’ scene-dominating presence matches his character’s stature.</td></tr>
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The background art more than lives up to Disney’s high standards as well. The filmmakers make astounding use of color to make distinctively Arabian settings that feel lively and fresh.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvoziLEN3t1IPiMBejcJh4MuqlOj2TbgmYpdzQCkdBBW0_hHZT7yJwZaIgr8V0gyA9L6gAPMgtFE7x6nywlBf9wqfc1pw5HfkqZFNTwdJQPdLNiR49ktKilKILCLVpu6OgLjCPgrxcH8/s1600/agrabah2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvoziLEN3t1IPiMBejcJh4MuqlOj2TbgmYpdzQCkdBBW0_hHZT7yJwZaIgr8V0gyA9L6gAPMgtFE7x6nywlBf9wqfc1pw5HfkqZFNTwdJQPdLNiR49ktKilKILCLVpu6OgLjCPgrxcH8/s320/agrabah2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here, the animators expertly use “hot” colors to create a “cold,” desolate milieu.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYkmG4KD7h_I_K2aME7bTVAKWvYHtP1NymuyCJJb_x1DJ2W-fcEvTuLI5RcH7xb716enGyevhFXhkJkLzXdJl_7ejDDp5lWt_5RrcUkhlH_X6nmrzAlbIq46so22HtNN3nIUqRfg-40ec/s1600/pond.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYkmG4KD7h_I_K2aME7bTVAKWvYHtP1NymuyCJJb_x1DJ2W-fcEvTuLI5RcH7xb716enGyevhFXhkJkLzXdJl_7ejDDp5lWt_5RrcUkhlH_X6nmrzAlbIq46so22HtNN3nIUqRfg-40ec/s320/pond.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This gorgeous palace exterior also closely resembles one in <i>The Thief of Bagdad</i> (1940).</td></tr>
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Of course, every Disney animated film needs music. As these things go, this film excels in the music department. With big band style, the songs have an uncanny ability to worm themselves into the head and stay there for years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflHVUY-R8MzWA3xDRkEWSB31yL3fOg_JIBbZauh0iAVadnKH3inFuuFlh6NpkbI16INx-OZAk2QnXI64RAvPE_J2kAzaZ9wAjgYBx4GurbXDxZV3KZdXhQQHA7h45heHRuRtkftUmqiA/s1600/princeali.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflHVUY-R8MzWA3xDRkEWSB31yL3fOg_JIBbZauh0iAVadnKH3inFuuFlh6NpkbI16INx-OZAk2QnXI64RAvPE_J2kAzaZ9wAjgYBx4GurbXDxZV3KZdXhQQHA7h45heHRuRtkftUmqiA/s320/princeali.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You probably have <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">“</span>Prince Ali” stuck in your head just <i>looking</i> at this still right now, don’t you?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6gbzErUISeeAAT9Npof4Gykud03Fs3fBdx81NbMOjs_3L4oBobeWuHo1eXPKO4WmqqE807Suu3xqXOcwtc5MNDyCnbiIEJ8Fvwpo5hy4iRDpCIWqk3NQPrY414d8w0J6XrkxxX48Pck/s1600/wholenewworld.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6gbzErUISeeAAT9Npof4Gykud03Fs3fBdx81NbMOjs_3L4oBobeWuHo1eXPKO4WmqqE807Suu3xqXOcwtc5MNDyCnbiIEJ8Fvwpo5hy4iRDpCIWqk3NQPrY414d8w0J6XrkxxX48Pck/s320/wholenewworld.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… Or “A Whole New World.”</td></tr>
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My mild irritation with the depiction of Arabs notwithstanding, I still really like <i>Aladdin</i>. The entire film has excellent music and dynamic animation. The characters succeed by their wits and intelligence, and the title character’s good heart makes him very easy to identify with. I, for one, don’t regret the many fond memories I have of watching this film as a youngster.Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-76583683515951785662013-08-01T20:59:00.002-07:002013-08-01T20:59:10.404-07:00Shout-Out: Mehdi Hasan: Islam is a Peaceful ReligionI don't have any movies to write up for the moment, but as I started this blog to spread acceptance of different races and religions, I wanted to post a video that I think will do a lot of good to that end. British journalist Mehdi Hasan weighs in on an Oxford University debate over the peacefulness of Islam, arguing the point—which I agree with—that Islam does indeed have peace at its core.<br />
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In a world where people who look like me or grew up in a Muslim family face scorn and derision on a daily basis, I found it refreshing to see such an intelligent voice encouraging people <i>not</i> to hate Muslims, especially with such trenchant and objective arguments.<br />
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As with any YouTube video, you probably shouldn’t read the comments. You should, however, follow Mehdi Hasan <a href="https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan">on Twitter</a>.Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-32830541448340760012013-06-20T18:40:00.003-07:002014-01-02T13:53:29.448-08:00The Sheik (1921)Rudolph Valentino’s most famous picture, <i>The Sheik</i> catapulted him to wide-reaching—if ephemeral—fame as an actor… leaving Arab perceptions as the collateral damage.<br />
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<i>The Sheik</i> tells a story of what we now call Stockholm syndrome: the Arab sheik of the title kidnaps a patrician, independent-minded European woman, keeping her in captivity until he can force her to fall in love with him. In keeping with contemporaneous gender politics, his scheme actually <i>works</i>… But soon the sheik soon finds himself protecting his proto-Patty Hearst from bandits who have the same regressive views of women as he has.<br />
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In order to truly understand this film, one must understand the nature of its male lead and deuteragonist, Valentino’s titular sheik. So I’ll begin this piece with a revelation made at the end of the film that technically qualifies as a spoiler. I’ll reveal it after the jump on the off-chance that you actually care about spoilers for a fairly boring silent romance from 1921.<br />
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Alternatively, just watch the film yourself.<br />
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<h3>
Sheik Ahmed Bin Hassan</h3>
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When we first meet Valentino’s Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, we learn of his place as potentate of a nomadic desert tribe. The tribe turns to him to resolve disputes and decide which men get to
<strike>own</strike> marry which women. Here we see part of a contemporary tendency in film to use “sheik” as a synonym for “thief” or “bandit.” Paramount marketed this film to women; as such we see a lot of Valentino’s chain-smoking, slightly-exotic presence.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4xntTTi6iNY1gWhkeRDf8Fi2THXdUJIzvyIC-kUIlu0iN1bGkHQhhPrh1wFcQmY96tRqjPYMx2ZDDqVgMc_RhqLZXB-liiWfdwnZBZO-GbMNKtCVSTAEFb2mSJ27bmBey9fuAfs0lSA/s1600/sheik.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4xntTTi6iNY1gWhkeRDf8Fi2THXdUJIzvyIC-kUIlu0iN1bGkHQhhPrh1wFcQmY96tRqjPYMx2ZDDqVgMc_RhqLZXB-liiWfdwnZBZO-GbMNKtCVSTAEFb2mSJ27bmBey9fuAfs0lSA/s320/sheik.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valentino: The cheerful face you can trust for all your flesh-trade needs!</td></tr>
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As you may have guessed by simply looking at Valentino’s face, we learn in the last minutes of the film that the sheik himself does not actually have Arab ancestry by blood. The previous sheik adopted Ahmed when his parents died in an attack in the Algerian deserts outside Biskra, raising Ahmed as his own and having him educated in Paris. (This also explains why this “Arab” has a French manservant. Like miscegenation, you would <i>never</i> see a non-Aryan with an Aryan servant in a film from this time period.)<br />
<br />
The main character, Lady Diana Mayo—played by Agnes Ayres—deduces this through the magic of overgeneralization… <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_FZlDhJ4WaBMNg3WEi9OnPowB7Gowma4VFWXR2EFFyaMeKMNluqPA-qswJq3hcnThai0yYOXqhPg95H6-yCtJPrEmBR30CgTBGZwp9NWzX5Orf_uUAbQtNEKKgljqiPCkZgWs5joRaaI/s1600/hand.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_FZlDhJ4WaBMNg3WEi9OnPowB7Gowma4VFWXR2EFFyaMeKMNluqPA-qswJq3hcnThai0yYOXqhPg95H6-yCtJPrEmBR30CgTBGZwp9NWzX5Orf_uUAbQtNEKKgljqiPCkZgWs5joRaaI/s320/hand.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, Valentino has large, meaty European hands, not those puny, milquetoast Arab hands.<br />
Apparently they taught hand size by race in finishing school. I had no idea. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now, this made me feel aggrieved all by itself, mostly because it has no basis in fact whatsoever. I have big hands myself. Point of fact, I’ve met literally <i>one</i> person <i>in my life</i> with hands bigger than my own.<sup>i</sup><br />
<br />
This whole European-descent thing could have made an interesting plot twist—facilitated by the silent nature of the film—if it didn’t then point to the idea that Ahmed Ben Hassan <i>chooses</i> to live as an Arab out of a desire to act out his own latent misogyny.<br />
<br />
Moreover, this plot twist removes any impetus for Aryan viewers to sympathize with a Semite. Indeed, the film actually exhorts us to root for an Aryan who <i>fights</i> Semites. This ultimately vitiates the power of the film to put us in the shoes of people very unlike us, arguably what film does at its very best.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3maGVRVpWdIYQMy9HG8_RXLuvGxvOfipSBr_MzrAXFKDWqH_uaNxwQVihBpCNX_cF5bjzi9KF5guv5WLXuWK3x5-hdkm40TddP7XMDyMDG2U__X8Xui4uFHx5VttTW7oI6LOF7SFAi8/s1600/arabsees.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3maGVRVpWdIYQMy9HG8_RXLuvGxvOfipSBr_MzrAXFKDWqH_uaNxwQVihBpCNX_cF5bjzi9KF5guv5WLXuWK3x5-hdkm40TddP7XMDyMDG2U__X8Xui4uFHx5VttTW7oI6LOF7SFAi8/s320/arabsees.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we have it, the most offensive and untrue line in the entire film.<br />
Seriously, the sheik actually says this.</td></tr>
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<br />
To his credit, Valentino himself made it clear that he didn’t condone the portrayal of Arabs in the film. Said Valentino himself, “People are not savages because they have dark skins. The Arabian civilization is one of the oldest in the world... [T]he Arabs are dignified and keen brained.”<sup>1</sup><br />
<br />
<h4>
Women in <i>The Sheik</i></h4>
<br />
Even worse, if you judge by the rest of the film, you’d think the sheik told the truth. The sheik runs a lottery in Biskra, where Arab Muslims literally gamble with women using a roulette wheel… despite that the Qur’an expressly forbids gambling (<a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Quran_%28Progressive_Muslims_Organization%29/2#217-221">Qur’an 2:219</a>). The film explicitly likens Arab women to “chattel slaves” and the entire marital process as a game of chance with women as the stakes, the exact sort of mendacity that promotes racism and ultimately harms everyone. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRSOueXlcpNjgPd9oxibO86hTg3678ARlpiSJq2xU-aHf8FUlhq0HbF0yyZ_9Yf-_0f81bJOMvuZxoN437GFcIEP12pM-QK63I9DgufkcThv2u-entwAdodO0asQ7MQUMd_Je5kS6xKtg/s1600/marriagemarket.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRSOueXlcpNjgPd9oxibO86hTg3678ARlpiSJq2xU-aHf8FUlhq0HbF0yyZ_9Yf-_0f81bJOMvuZxoN437GFcIEP12pM-QK63I9DgufkcThv2u-entwAdodO0asQ7MQUMd_Je5kS6xKtg/s320/marriagemarket.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, this didn’t happen in real life.</td></tr>
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<br />
Female lead Lady Diana Mayo starts the film as a fiercely independent gamine who resolves to trek out into the desert with no European escorts. Her peregrinations come to an abrupt end <i>on the first day</i> when the sheik quickly (and easily) kidnaps and rapes her<sup>ii</sup> and she responds by gradually falling in love with him, subsuming her own free will into his desires.<br />
<br />
Consequently, the film itself becomes an endorsement of Stockholm syndrome. Diana’s “character arc” (if you could even call it that) has her realizing she could find love by forswearing her independence and agency and capitulating before the “barbarous” Arab panjandrum… who then turns out to come from the same part of the world as her, so we have no risk of that “icky” miscegenation. (Even before the Hays Code, Hollywood considered Arabs non-white and avoided interracial relationships on film.)<br />
<br />
Racism underlies the sexism in this film as well. In keeping with a longstanding “tradition” of mute Arab women in film, no female Arab utters a single intertitled word in the film. <i>The Sheik</i> also portrays white women as objects, objects of greater perceived “value” and “purity” than women of other races.<br />
<br />
The film comes from a 1919 British romance novel by Edith Hull. Averred Hull <a href="http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article.html?isPreview=&id=411149|387079&name=The-Sheik">of this entire situation</a>, “I don’t wish to […] defend the callous brutality of Ahmed Ben Hassan […] But I am old fashioned enough to believe that a woman’s best love is given to the man […] she recognizes as her master.” Call me new-fashioned, but this sentiment sickens me. I don’t care—or even want to know—what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, but there exists a clear dividing line between whatever craziness consenting adults get up to in their sex lives and portraying a love affair based around rape <i>as a positive</i>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Other Racism</h3>
<br />
The racist elements in this film don’t stop with Arabs. Black characters fare little better. To the last, they all occupy servile roles, silently guarding a captive Diana or waving one of those feather-fans over a dignitary. The black-man-as-potential-rapist stereotype rears its ugly head as well.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxXH8NfA_NlDsX3bpjM3OCKv4DsB4EMowD1BLHT2ZRwqwUGs4SLYq6ynkKj7C6zUWRDxaK6wabppV0WtcZpQMSYh-A-zNH8bnAhEpHOUc3fis9GETzl9ViAOZywch2uZxVce4ho8GZwc/s1600/blackservant.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxXH8NfA_NlDsX3bpjM3OCKv4DsB4EMowD1BLHT2ZRwqwUGs4SLYq6ynkKj7C6zUWRDxaK6wabppV0WtcZpQMSYh-A-zNH8bnAhEpHOUc3fis9GETzl9ViAOZywch2uZxVce4ho8GZwc/s320/blackservant.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A black servant looks at Diana as though he plans to take matters into his own penis.</td></tr>
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<br />
One may rebut that the film depicts white servants as well, most prominently Ahmed Ben Hassan’s French valet Gaston, played by Lucien Littlefield. Even among the servants, though, the black servants get short shrift. Relative to the white characters, their jobs invariably lean to the more menial, less dignified side, and of course, they speak with other characters considerably less frequently.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Good Points</h3>
<br />
Anyway, I don’t <i>like</i> this film, but I don’t consider it a total loss. <i>The Sheik</i> does have some decent visuals. I love these hand-painted intertitles that dot the narrative and mark scene transitions.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-AN-9oTDXFhi5H7wgMaxNaJb3FioWy2ZyQrzH3g_DWWWUNXOw04MuCPlEzJ3w6pjJOtLb9uncmT5pNKdE4P8zUwe7-AXA87eVt4lcdQ7VFd6zzbGZmqxtkDT-UOrG9oDij5c7oEGOrP0/s1600/biskratitle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-AN-9oTDXFhi5H7wgMaxNaJb3FioWy2ZyQrzH3g_DWWWUNXOw04MuCPlEzJ3w6pjJOtLb9uncmT5pNKdE4P8zUwe7-AXA87eVt4lcdQ7VFd6zzbGZmqxtkDT-UOrG9oDij5c7oEGOrP0/s320/biskratitle.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This does make Biskra look like an interesting place.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SHwdCPYboGHqBRjcSWDjBCLPnVg44KoJ8kwiQ6C_SmWmRERdDPVHkF-NxumxL0HGp5Ts_D37bjrFI6_4ETpy-W841GTPXsZklig5HG9Fd0SnjC34acweGucWHvlj_bZLv1_n334uUVM/s1600/ignorance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SHwdCPYboGHqBRjcSWDjBCLPnVg44KoJ8kwiQ6C_SmWmRERdDPVHkF-NxumxL0HGp5Ts_D37bjrFI6_4ETpy-W841GTPXsZklig5HG9Fd0SnjC34acweGucWHvlj_bZLv1_n334uUVM/s320/ignorance.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The film still finds ways to use these things to piss me off, though.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The film does have occasional bouts of good cinematography as well, with well-composed, intriguing shots of the desert.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNmr7K_pLrF73tfi5S9fLLM0wLzp5VpymC3GOGfg-rzgXtIxFR3tLHP5_WR9EjnHrfbaSOvSSfK9AEHV6adE5LSqrogaCEERc2PXZp_UZt5JN_APrnQ4wVsp7qQlwOTU9BBDAJiH4NV0/s1600/sahara.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNmr7K_pLrF73tfi5S9fLLM0wLzp5VpymC3GOGfg-rzgXtIxFR3tLHP5_WR9EjnHrfbaSOvSSfK9AEHV6adE5LSqrogaCEERc2PXZp_UZt5JN_APrnQ4wVsp7qQlwOTU9BBDAJiH4NV0/s320/sahara.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This <i>does</i> make the desert look pretty cool… Well, not literally.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsV5gtCo-I5t06flCJMuMPYcTXtvR4RwkKJJ9WKyAL3Sy6RK5FO8RKMBShcqZfIb_rrhil7j4QfGfDi-6dgJmb8OX-IeWM010pHsII3mnp8aR9VbxB6f6WBPBgu4XTzeN43VFoEgVtb8/s1600/prayer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsV5gtCo-I5t06flCJMuMPYcTXtvR4RwkKJJ9WKyAL3Sy6RK5FO8RKMBShcqZfIb_rrhil7j4QfGfDi-6dgJmb8OX-IeWM010pHsII3mnp8aR9VbxB6f6WBPBgu4XTzeN43VFoEgVtb8/s320/prayer.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“<span class="st"><span dir="rtl">إن شاء الله</span></span>, maybe <i>this</i> film won’t make us all look like toothless, rapey savages.<br />
It… It did? Again? … Oh, crap.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Thankfully, we occasionally see brief moments of historical accuracy. Early on, we meet an Algerian dancing girl from whom Diana borrows some clothes.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6ExdqNja1n4QN1H-hbozC3UBwpS04XkyHF7BHx6TyjH-COg8Hqc1JGWfCFy6XEj4dTwux2qA9ACBxqYp2mnY1jb0JRyCuE8sLBAyXt6KUt6qvuG9yTqkwzSmkbC8XP9MbpjRutFBlgU/s1600/dancer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6ExdqNja1n4QN1H-hbozC3UBwpS04XkyHF7BHx6TyjH-COg8Hqc1JGWfCFy6XEj4dTwux2qA9ACBxqYp2mnY1jb0JRyCuE8sLBAyXt6KUt6qvuG9yTqkwzSmkbC8XP9MbpjRutFBlgU/s320/dancer.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dancing girl shows Diana her costume.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As it turns out, Biskra actually did have girls who danced for money,<sup>iii</sup> as in this picture from a 1917 issue of <i>National Geographic</i>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/wJhUr5m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i.imgur.com/wJhUr5m.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“A DESERT FLOWER. ‘Somewhere in the Sahara’ lived this child of the Desert [sic] until she came to Biskra, the ‘Garden of Allah’, [sic] to earn her dowry as a dancer. One would imagine that she is dreaming of some turbaned knight left behind and counting the days until she may return to her natal tent.”<sup>2</sup></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
On a similar subject, the film really does have some pretty interesting costumes. Valentino’s real-life wife, Natacha Rambova, designed the costumes for this film. (I have no doubt she saw the National Geographic picture above before designing the dancing girl’s costume.) She did a very good job, and as one might imagine, her real-life husband got the best costumes of all!<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the more I think about this film, the more it seems the flaws outweigh the good points. Setting aside the racism and sexism, the general listlessness of the plot only twists the knife. Valentino and Ayres have strikingly little chemistry, subplots fizzle prematurely, and the action scenes languish under poor direction.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxLMDNFbY77vy9oEqV7j14aXVQidCIIR9SljTnOBNIsnNYnmrBQT8Zzp-aWv0zPbTL3-D5Mi5lpKN1IwTxhkbGTqRl9hx_r0IBVZLGRyLEd5SDs3QOF7EPFjFTwdbRqz5u7hffwYV3os/s1600/rasslin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxLMDNFbY77vy9oEqV7j14aXVQidCIIR9SljTnOBNIsnNYnmrBQT8Zzp-aWv0zPbTL3-D5Mi5lpKN1IwTxhkbGTqRl9hx_r0IBVZLGRyLEd5SDs3QOF7EPFjFTwdbRqz5u7hffwYV3os/s320/rasslin.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sheik and antagonist Omair resolve their differences by rasslin’.<br />
No, I don't mean “wrestling.” Rasslin’.<br />
Yes, they do end up on the ground at one point.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It astounds me that Paramount marketed this film toward women and then portrays their subjugation and the suppression of their free will positively. Of course, <i>The Sheik</i> came out during a different time. Frankly, I consider the film an unwelcome relic of the past that belongs there. Sadly, in today’s rising tide of Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment, and rape culture,<sup>iv</sup> I daresay a film like <i>The Sheik</i> would fit right in.<br />
<br />
<sup>i</sup> If you <i>really</i> want to know, I have a palm size of 101 mm and a <a href="http://www.theaveragebody.com/average_hand_size.php">hand size</a> of 216 mm. Since I started this blog to <i>dispel</i> stereotypes, I leave the rumored implications of large male hands to the reader.<br />
<sup>ii</sup> The film implies it; the book depicts it.<br />
<sup>iii</sup> One might say she… <i>shook for the sheik</i>?!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sorry.</span> <br />
<sup>iv</sup> For an especially atrocious example, look at the recent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steubenville_High_School_rape_case">Steubenville rape case</a> and the subsequent unjust <a href="http://gawker.com/5991003/cnn-reports-on-the-promising-future-of-the-steubenville-rapists-who-are-very-good-students">victim-blaming, sympathy for the rapists</a>, and the <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/kyanonymous-fbi-steubenville-raid-anonymous">disproportionate sentence of the whistle-blower</a>, who will serve <i>five times</i> the prison sentence of the actual rapists!<br />
<br />
<sup>1</sup> Apparently, this quote comes from <u>Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudy Valentino</u> by Emily Leider… although I admit I’ve had no occasion to read it.<br />
<sup>2</sup> <i>National Geographic</i> Mar. 1917: 261.
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<iframe frameborder="0" src="http://www.canistream.it/external/movie/4f7a753cf5f807606000001f" width="380" height="190" scrolling="no"></iframe>Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-79950003090625123822013-06-19T18:08:00.003-07:002013-06-19T18:08:38.652-07:00Sahara Hare (1955) & Hare-Abian Nights (1959)Based on <i>Turban Decay</i>’s publications so far, you may have concluded that I set out to start a blog based mostly around getting bent out of shape about old cartoons. This post… won’t contradict that.<br />
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You can find <i>Sahara Hare</i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sahara-Hare/dp/B005U9RQ30">here</a> and you can watch <i>Hare-Abian Nights</i> below.<br />
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Let’s not get me wrong. I have the same fond childhood memories of watching Bugs Bunny cartoons as you do. But I think it goes without saying that some of his shorts have aged better than others.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVYWIGIuswGMWmct_0I5CxM6N7LdfTSVLB0UsnG0NmaItVRfns-4xMTD2wb4j7FTKo7V7RWjMiVZD4ry5gld__V-k8EPHi-13_wYkymwXlFfOe9RfCYCHlJbz28DTodjbkoi6zJUgKiA/s1600/bugscard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVYWIGIuswGMWmct_0I5CxM6N7LdfTSVLB0UsnG0NmaItVRfns-4xMTD2wb4j7FTKo7V7RWjMiVZD4ry5gld__V-k8EPHi-13_wYkymwXlFfOe9RfCYCHlJbz28DTodjbkoi6zJUgKiA/s320/bugscard.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have nothing against the bunny. I love the bunny. I just don’t think he’s always made good life choices.</td></tr>
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I wouldn’t put these two on the “better” list.<br />
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<h3>
Past Offenses </h3>
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Of course, Bugs Bunny cartoons contained racism long before either of these shorts, such as in <i>All This and Rabbit Stew</i> (1941) of the infamous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censored_Eleven">Censored Eleven</a>, a formulaic, abjectly racist short from early in Bugs’ career with a racial caricature playing the Elmer Fudd role.<br />
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I’ve seen more than one reviewer refer to this short’s blatant “pickaninny” stereotype as merely “a black Elmer Fudd,” a false equivalence so jarringly stupid that thinking about it makes my brain want to hemorrhage. Similarly insensitive depictions of black characters show up in <i>Any Bonds Today?</i> (1942), <i>Which is Witch?</i> (1949), and <i>Mississippi Hare</i> (1949).<br />
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We also see similar insensitivity in <i>Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt</i> (1941), in which Elmer Fudd plays a stereotypical Native American hunter.<br />
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Footage from this short showed up again in <i>What’s Cookin’ Doc</i> (1944). Bugs Bunny, of course, went on to star in plenty of other cartoons that took potshots at Native Americans, like <i>A Feather in His Hare</i> (1948) and <i>Horse Hare</i> (1960).<br />
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In fact, in Cartoon Network’s “June Bugs” marathon, the network <a href="http://cdsherlock.wordpress.com/tag/june-bugs/">withheld twelve Bugs Bunny cartoons containing racial caricatures</a>, including the cartoons I mentioned above.<br />
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Notice that neither of the subjects of this post—cartoons which display blatant Arab stereotypes—show up on that list.<br />
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<h3>
<i>Sahara Hare</i></h3>
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The first cartoon under discussion, <i>Sahara Hare</i>, casts Yosemite Sam as the villain, “Riff-Raff Sam,” a strange hybrid between his usual Custer-inspired incompetent gunslinger self and a territorial Arab packing heat. In keeping with Sam’s IQ, the short depicts him as irrationally evil and worse, an animal abuser.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2rn2r6VIPripskEGy5Ggb3TFUqyKetrLLU6dmTvcg6AMRonFU30S0GO6PiYLwzSoE8xIpJ_kWt6Lne2s3iiWVltweKo31XxkEV9QnSEhD0H_zz7UzLyJjl9lNAik6mBFOp6HM9TWk-M/s1600/camelhit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv2rn2r6VIPripskEGy5Ggb3TFUqyKetrLLU6dmTvcg6AMRonFU30S0GO6PiYLwzSoE8xIpJ_kWt6Lne2s3iiWVltweKo31XxkEV9QnSEhD0H_zz7UzLyJjl9lNAik6mBFOp6HM9TWk-M/s320/camelhit.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even if the stereotypes don’t bother people, this still should, I would think.</td></tr>
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Bugs, of course, proceeds to mock his clothes, his poor aim, and stupidity, none of which I found offensive in itself. Point of fact, I found the gags as funny as in most other Merrie Melodies shorts.<br />
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But then Bugs proceeds to call Sam “Mister Ayrab.” There I <i>do</i> have a problem. Call me crazy, but something about having Bugs Bunny use an ethnic slur on a stereotypical villain rubs me the wrong way. Just a bit.<br />
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Overall, though, aside from the usual Arab-villain stereotype and Bugs’ use of “Ayrab,” I had no major issue with this short.<br />
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<h3>
<i>Hare-Abian Nights</i> </h3>
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As for <i>Hare-Abian Nights</i>, on the other hand… <br />
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I don’t know what I dislike more, that this short contains so many stereotypes… or that the staff made it a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_show">clip show</a>. The short features Bugs Bunny flashing back to past adventures, including the the aforementioned <i>Sahara Hare</i>, <i>Bully For Bugs</i> (1952), and <i>Water, Water Every Hare</i> (1952).<br />
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Despite that clip shows usually run short on content, this one features all the usual stereotypes, most prominently the stereotypical Arab disregard for life, as seen here where a sultan sends insufficiently-entertaining acts to a crocodile pit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8rPxznRJXvd36C0q2B0P4izSrA0ye_jsa49oCfJHxwq25eoAqyPAu3qrLTh31F5urqMIAqieZ4NCs7Nsvy3o9SU3FB16R1oQXRaGpWEaDo5pYmfucNbNd9QpKPY0vXU4tAzWQCLSWL24/s1600/elvis.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8rPxznRJXvd36C0q2B0P4izSrA0ye_jsa49oCfJHxwq25eoAqyPAu3qrLTh31F5urqMIAqieZ4NCs7Nsvy3o9SU3FB16R1oQXRaGpWEaDo5pYmfucNbNd9QpKPY0vXU4tAzWQCLSWL24/s320/elvis.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In fairness, I could see this giving closure to Elvis fans.</td></tr>
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The Arab characters within look like walking stereotypes, like the hook-nosed vizier, clad in a turban tied with a crescent (presumably to symbolize Islam), or the loutish guard of minuscule vocabulary.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdnF-EpAeMotvpbMsM5BMap86vs2ATTn5ZBuj8QOUgk7F2wGRtzXM8bbe89Ea1TTd-SMFqsPez_x1Xpk8cDAIuk0BGEwYAW9Wb-yBZCH2aDXJDavCP3YKTu9SCPJsZyt7YgF38uqrPbwc/s1600/vizier.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdnF-EpAeMotvpbMsM5BMap86vs2ATTn5ZBuj8QOUgk7F2wGRtzXM8bbe89Ea1TTd-SMFqsPez_x1Xpk8cDAIuk0BGEwYAW9Wb-yBZCH2aDXJDavCP3YKTu9SCPJsZyt7YgF38uqrPbwc/s320/vizier.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He <i>does</i> look like I looked as I watched this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAsQRR8hyqwCU-PFm35aVHVm78SHMXiRbjioU5jKOW_XQJ0KO26M8TWWbG9AGYPm5_wd1Wi3bQWKKYg5YCeKz3UYlhA9TNqZvxLIJFf1iZymesed_56fNzTs0GPsLcXZOGFzQNmXdQck/s1600/bodyguard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAsQRR8hyqwCU-PFm35aVHVm78SHMXiRbjioU5jKOW_XQJ0KO26M8TWWbG9AGYPm5_wd1Wi3bQWKKYg5YCeKz3UYlhA9TNqZvxLIJFf1iZymesed_56fNzTs0GPsLcXZOGFzQNmXdQck/s320/bodyguard.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bouncer looks like the love child of <a href="http://dicktracy.wikia.com/wiki/Lips_Manlis">Lips Manlis</a> and <a href="http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Guts_Man">Guts Man</a>.</td></tr>
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In attempting to keep his life, Bugs pulls a Scheherazade and regales the sultan with stories from his past cartoons. We see the sultan’s identity at the end: Yosemite Sam, who as usual, falls into his own trap.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2T4uiTus7HVdE1NCxQ3gpPjhT6ZU4IxTO1RWVt-BF0hEarbu38idTn_1stEW3jte507vIodVMwb-ZQuHUkZzq-xrY3gZ5CgWwBfqsSzYb7VU6EDUae3bQeGTWv0mNZf9R6KOuw8LBnbI/s1600/sultan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2T4uiTus7HVdE1NCxQ3gpPjhT6ZU4IxTO1RWVt-BF0hEarbu38idTn_1stEW3jte507vIodVMwb-ZQuHUkZzq-xrY3gZ5CgWwBfqsSzYb7VU6EDUae3bQeGTWv0mNZf9R6KOuw8LBnbI/s320/sultan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If me spoiling an over-50-year-old Bugs Bunny cartoon upsets you, well, I don’t know what to tell you.</td></tr>
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Anyway, while both shorts contain stereotypes that I dislike, I wouldn’t call either invidious enough to put you off watching them. I did find <i>Hare-Abian Nights</i> here weak on gags, but honestly, its depiction of my ancestry bothered me less than seeing my ancestry relegated to a damn <i>clip show</i>.<br />
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<h3>
So what do we do about this? </h3>
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Well, nothing.<br />
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I hate censorship almost as much as I hate racism, and I firmly believe in the necessity to fully acknowledge the past, warts and all.<br />
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For instance, I feel very strongly that Disney should officially release <i>Song of the South</i> in some form, perhaps for film students or adult viewers. I’ve seen the film. While its racism and segregation take a sickeningly subtle, insidious form, its surprisingly pretty animation serves as an informative cross-section of Disney’s contemporaneous output. James Baskett—a good actor and, by all accounts, an even better human being—deserves appreciation for his ebullient performance in the film… even though I wouldn’t call it a very good film.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIX9VfDOylJtvRVsjieCjHDSS_FSxXXFQDMolNHK2_TcG5Rvogysm2jzKFOkt3hHZ_3T2TqtJwCX6G8UK8_Z8V8KrCdWqPKZrNM_N_fs2XDBLbePZ4dV1ywPeZQYSdatTbCiBIgMpRsvY/s1600/songofsouth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIX9VfDOylJtvRVsjieCjHDSS_FSxXXFQDMolNHK2_TcG5Rvogysm2jzKFOkt3hHZ_3T2TqtJwCX6G8UK8_Z8V8KrCdWqPKZrNM_N_fs2XDBLbePZ4dV1ywPeZQYSdatTbCiBIgMpRsvY/s320/songofsouth.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="st">♫ </span>Zip-a-dee-doo-dah / Tepid-ass-film. <span class="st">♩</span></td></tr>
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I fulminated at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/books/05huck.html">NewSouth Books’ decision</a> to replace <u>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</u>’s 219 utterances of “nigger” with “slave.” In attempting to sanitize the past, we only lead ourselves to forget why we relegated these attitudes <i>to</i> the past. I agreed in particular with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/opinion/06thu4.html">this New York Times editorial</a>…<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We are horrified, and we think most readers, textual purists or not, will be horrified too. The trouble isn’t merely adulterating Twain’s text. It’s also adulterating social, economic and linguistic history. Substituting the word “slave” makes it sound as though all the offense lies in the “n-word” and has nothing to do with the institution of slavery. Worse, it suggests that understanding the truth of the past corrupts modern readers, when, in fact, this new edition is busy corrupting the past.</blockquote>
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So outside of advising parents not to show these—or Bugs Bunny’s other racist shorts—to bigots or the emotionally immature, I don’t mean to call for banning <i>Sahara Hare</i> or <i>Hare-Abian Nights</i> at all. Although I found the racially insensitive content of the two shorts annoying, I still found their usual Warner Brothers antics at least mildly amusing.<br />
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Honestly, both shorts remind me of the <i>Bill & Ted</i> movies, two very enjoyable and fun movies marred by liberal, casual use of the word “fag.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwHF_oUsV71TvO56Dnb7Aj2QpFhZFujQ-kPH9wfhRldN5Zrgi6jtTD1ZF2Nwj45YK6WYp3BXjhka3Xoyl8tFBphe2MLnySskyaUB3yiP4FqvsxsxWgQcSDyNlzqPehRgY4jvmksja_2U/s1600/fag.gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAwHF_oUsV71TvO56Dnb7Aj2QpFhZFujQ-kPH9wfhRldN5Zrgi6jtTD1ZF2Nwj45YK6WYp3BXjhka3Xoyl8tFBphe2MLnySskyaUB3yiP4FqvsxsxWgQcSDyNlzqPehRgY4jvmksja_2U/s320/fag.gif.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know they don’t mean any harm, and I love this film so, but still.</td></tr>
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Trying to bury the existence of contemporaneous attitudes always does considerably more harm than confronting them head-on. But we must remember that the people who created these cartoons probably didn’t stop and think about the attitudes they inculcate in their viewers or how it feels to have widely-proliferated media judging you for something you can’t change.<br />
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So I say everyone should watch these shorts for the same reason people should watch most Bugs Bunny cartoons: their good animation, excellent voice acting, memorable gags, and sense of fun make them timeless.<br />
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Just make sure you actually think about them while you watch them. Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5674725971124415095.post-53443888936218210612013-05-25T01:55:00.002-07:002015-10-21T15:20:41.502-07:00Back to the Future (1985)Yep. <i>Back to the Future</i>, the 1980s film classic.<br />
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Before we begin, I do not debate the classic status of the <i>Back to the Future</i> series. I love the films myself! I won’t do a full-on review here, though, because what could I possibly add to a movie that we all grew up loving that nobody else has already said?<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Unfortunately, while Robert Zemeckis has made a number of great, great films, he also has some experience working in politically unsavory undertones. The entire plot of Forrest Gump has a naïve, simple man follow orders unquestionably and stumble on honor and fortune doing so… while the love of his life, Jenny Curran, finds her life slowly spiraling down the drain in her attempt to live as a “liberated woman.” My friend Martin Schneider wrote <a href="http://www.somethingawful.com/d/current-movie-reviews/battle-los-angeles.php?page=2">a wonderful review</a> of Mars Needs Moms—one of the most sexist, heteronormative movies ever made—after which <a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/10/29/mars-needs-moms-best-3d-movie-robert-zemeckis/">he actually confronted Zemeckis himself</a> about the film.<sup>i</sup>
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We all know how <i>Back to the Future</i> unfolds. (If you don’t, go watch it. You should anyway. I’ll wait.) The film tells a wonderfully engaging story about… Actually, I'll let Kelly Oxford explain.<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Back to The Future is a cautionary tale about going back in time and discovering your Mom wants to fuck you.<br />
— kelly oxford (@kellyoxford) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyoxford/status/249569780070227968">September 22, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<h3>
The Libyans </h3>
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For all the film’s intelligent writing, striking imagery, and incredible editing, it has one big flaw<sup>ii</sup>: it features two Libyan characters who don’t exactly exemplify the country’s better tendencies. Doc Brown explains that he used the Libyans' gullibility to steal plutonium from them (that they themselves had previously stolen).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cYe8PoWl2t6pjtX3dgL9GoqTPuQ-eGbCEPajA38we2KQSn4kOCxHCnDP9suTwCrdjLVIhESYg-D3RY_07Ce894kJTUkMvYR1ROpmqbmFf6A0AjdTFyB8ooKBY32XDOKSEZyhDfD3l14/s1600/libyan.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_cYe8PoWl2t6pjtX3dgL9GoqTPuQ-eGbCEPajA38we2KQSn4kOCxHCnDP9suTwCrdjLVIhESYg-D3RY_07Ce894kJTUkMvYR1ROpmqbmFf6A0AjdTFyB8ooKBY32XDOKSEZyhDfD3l14/s320/libyan.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard L. Duran as Terrorist #1, who spends his screen time doing this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQXMHe7BPgRsyHI2FLxfcDwCoCi5M-tt3LeM1RYigU98_ffaf6nh6oOLaLT-xbglc2t1JxRzhcxFuVyVdEbhCvZh8W9Sx4GAaVYyCjfjA9_ZLTLdZwjASpQ7AgeErxYmBkdI_j5SXLdQ/s1600/otherlibyan.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQXMHe7BPgRsyHI2FLxfcDwCoCi5M-tt3LeM1RYigU98_ffaf6nh6oOLaLT-xbglc2t1JxRzhcxFuVyVdEbhCvZh8W9Sx4GAaVYyCjfjA9_ZLTLdZwjASpQ7AgeErxYmBkdI_j5SXLdQ/s320/otherlibyan.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeff O’Haco as Terrorist #2, who spends his screen time doing <i>this</i>.</td></tr>
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Clad in taqiyah and keffiyeh and spewing fake Arabic gibberish, these terrorists spend the entirety of their time in the movie shooting and shouting. Notice that Terrorist #2 has trouble starting his Volkswagen, tinging his characterization with ineptitude. Terrorist #1 has his AKM jam, even though Kalashnikovs have a reputation as some of the most reliable guns in the world (implying that only the most inept terrorist could jam a Kalashnikov). From the Volkswagen’s German roots and the AKM's Soviet roots, we also have a subtle association of Libya with America’s most powerful enemies of the 20th century.<br />
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Yes, the Libyans exist as an almost-incidental subplot in a much larger film. Yes, the film clearly labels them as nationalists and terrorists and does not imply that <i>all</i> Libyans resemble them. I doubt I’d have a problem with this depiction if it existed in a vacuum.<br />
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But this film exists in a long line of films that depict every Arab character within as a provincial terrorist who shouts guttural imprecations as he wildly fires an AK-47 at anything not as brown as himself, a stereotype that predates September 11 by many years (as will become more than clear in time as this blog progresses). That such a longstanding, pernicious stereotype appears in such a venerated and otherwise-excellent film only rubs salt in the wound.<br />
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<h3>
The Historical Context </h3>
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Libya didn’t actually possess nuclear weapons at that point in time, and there existed no evidence of the country having an interest therein<sup>1</sup> (although Libya and the USSR did engage in talks to build a nuclear power plant within Libya).<br />
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Nevertheless, then-President Reagan made his enmity toward Libya and its longtime ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, abundantly clear. He described Gaddafi as an international pariah and a Soviet puppet ruler. Reagan viewed Libya as a potential channel through which the Soviets could attack America and heat up the Cold War. Probably motivated by his virulent anti-Jewish sentiment, Gaddafi continued to aid revolutionaries in Palestine to combat what he called the “Zionist enemy,” as well as revolutionaries in El Salvador and Nicaragua.<sup>2</sup> In response to Gaddafi’s inimical decisions, Reagan implemented <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3336423.stm">a series of sanctions,</a> including the 1982 oil embargo.<br />
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This little history lesson has a point: at this point in time, America considered Libya among its most threatening enemies. As America has a history of doing with its enemies, it then comes as no surprise to see Libya vilified in film. Even so, it remains important not to conflate an insane, authoritarian, evil ruler like Gaddafi with his people, whom he oppressed himself directly. <i>Back to the Future</i> made only perfunctory attempts—if it attempted at all—to do so.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2k5Lu0fO2ctlTt2Dc0dof7-z3LuZHVMPsecks0h-fCDoHBpVeveBzlxWvDRT-iLsPrkA7Jp3O99lu9cFDJR5qZEszOZBdqcAQT9R90HMpJHWxUzMdVhF6-aFkp_TW8lk7tH9_UNDiS0/s1600/reagan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2k5Lu0fO2ctlTt2Dc0dof7-z3LuZHVMPsecks0h-fCDoHBpVeveBzlxWvDRT-iLsPrkA7Jp3O99lu9cFDJR5qZEszOZBdqcAQT9R90HMpJHWxUzMdVhF6-aFkp_TW8lk7tH9_UNDiS0/s320/reagan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least the film doesn’t show Gaddafi directly… unlike Reagan.</td></tr>
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Dr. Jack Shaheen put the film on his list of worst films, a verdict I can’t say I agree with. I believe the film’s success and subsequent wide propagation motivated his decision, as well as a personal experience of his own that he mentions in the book.<sup>1</sup> I wouldn’t call <i>Back to the Future</i>’s depiction of Arabs positive by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve certainly seen worse.<br />
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I love <i>Back to the Future</i>. But even more so than in the things we hate, we must remain cognizant of negative images and undertones in the things we <i>love</i>, the films and media that actually influence us and change our worldviews as we watch (especially those as widely seen as this film). So as much as you and I love <i>Back to the Future</i>, it remains important not to take its depiction of Libyans seriously.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bvyaj5bai_-TCbfUMOkFfQGy0yUmDfYXC_7LJ5BBe86F8fWwylDkxApLdo-4JVn97CKQOYimavPjSVGz2Hc2iJzZ2mRlxuNrJwVxMO9y2fVWFb1bfeJZVSs-u8rfdf3exRGmpm7xals/s1600/telepathy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bvyaj5bai_-TCbfUMOkFfQGy0yUmDfYXC_7LJ5BBe86F8fWwylDkxApLdo-4JVn97CKQOYimavPjSVGz2Hc2iJzZ2mRlxuNrJwVxMO9y2fVWFb1bfeJZVSs-u8rfdf3exRGmpm7xals/s320/telepathy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In fact, I really wouldn’t recommend taking <i>anything</i> about this movie seriously.</td></tr>
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<sup>i</sup> I know for a fact that Marty admires Zemeckis and didn’t actually want to do that, but telling off one’s heroes comes with the film criticism territory!<br />
<sup>ii</sup> Well, two flaws, really. The soundtrack features Huey Lewis & the News’ “The Power of Love,” a particularly annoying song from the cottage cheese of rock music.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> Shaheen 91-92<br />
<sup>2</sup> Bruce St. John 121-124 <br />
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<h3>
Books I Cited</h3>
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<ul>
<li>Bruce St. John, Ronald. <i>Libya and the United States: Two Centuries of Strife</i>. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2002. Print. </li>
<li>Shaheen, Jack G. <i>Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People</i>. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch, 2009.</li>
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<!-- “”‘’ -->Jordan Saïdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.com5