The Arab Dilemma in Hollywood
Ashraf Khalil at the LAT discusses the dilemma for actors of Arab extraction in Hollywood that they have to play terrorists or they just don't find work. Some Arab American actors only get ahead by "passing" (claiming, like the Coneheads on Saturday Night Live, to be "French.")
There is a word for what these actors suffer, and it is called "racism." Khalil is too polite to use the word. And it even affects Christian Lebanese-Americans (Tony Shalhoub once had to take such a role).
Lebanese started coming to the United States in fair numbers from the 1880s; millions of Americans have some Lebanese heritage. The Shiite Lebanese of Iowa are a pillar of the business establishment in that state, and they are fourth and fifth generation. That is, they are part of the warp and woof of America, and have been here much longer than many more-accepted immigrant communities. Although in the early 20th century only about 10% of them were Muslim, since 1965 that percentage has increased.
Of course, Arab Americans are not the only ones to suffer such stereotyping. (There are hardly any good roles for African-American actors on network television, e.g.)
But at this moment, racism against Arabs and Muslims is an urgent social problem in the United States, with hate crimes all too frequently being committed against them and the attitudes revealed in opinion polls being increasingly negative.
It would help if we could see some ordinary Arab-Americans on the big screen doing non-terrorist things. Michael DeBakey [Michel Dabaghi], e.g., was a pioneer in heart surgery.
Labels: Islamophobia
posted by Juan Cole @ 10/04/2007 12:15:00 AM
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How's the Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie doing these days?
Shows like this?:
http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/index.html
Well, Canada is airing a second season of "Little Mosque on the Prairie". This is something I don't think we can do in the US.
With the News systems engaging in the racial stereotypes, what could be expected in the USA. I fear it will get worse before it gets better.
As for Arab actors (and other minorities) not being able to get good roles, a large part of the problem is that most of the roles are written that way. Of course, they are written that way because that's what sells to producers, directors and agents.
I happen to have a screenplay, which I am currently novelizing, where all of the characters, except one, are either Lebanese, Egyptian, Persian, Jewish, or African. There are a few bad guys who are French.
So if there are any movie producers who read the professor's post and said, "I'd make movies with Arab actors, except I never get any good scripts with Arab roles," - call me, write me, or leave a comment on my blog.
Jackie Salloum has a short film worth watching that highlights this problem. It's in the format of a film trailer.
href="http://www.jsalloum.org/planet9a.mov"
It's called "Planet of the Arabs."
I think there's more wrong with Hollywood than just arab american typecasting. Look at the plots of the latest coming attractions. Iron Man is about a weapons designer who finds his place in life as a superhero that kills taliban-like villains. The Kite Runner capitalizes on the noble savage routine and shows that the simpleton Afghanis were only interested in kites and love before the white man imported war. And even though it's about Burma, Rambo seems to carry the message that in order to solve brutal sectarian violence, we must use brutal sectarian violence against them.
Short answer: Hollywood's fucked.
Michael DeBakey pioneered cardiovascular surgery (bypass operations), but did not invent the artificial heart.
Clearly Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the US has raised questions about Shiite fundamentalist views about homosexuality. Foreign Policy Magazine's blog today commented on Ahmadinejad's statement in Farsi which was translated - some reports say incorrectly - as "homosexuality doesn't exist in Iran".
The blog said this today: "His preposterous statement about homosexuality will serve for many as all the evidence they need that this guy is a big, fat liar. This will prove useful to the Bush administration if it decides to attack Iran down the road (a big if at this point)":
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/6550
Little Mosque on the Prairie is incredibly successful, however the arab characters are being played by a hispanic, a greek, and someone of welsh and pakistani descent(there are also no muslims in the cast). But I mean there is not really much to say about this, how many middle eastern folk coming out of law and engineering schools are advised ti change their names?
Dear Nadia :
I saw your comment at Informed Comment by Prof. Juan Cole ,
Re: Little Mosque on the Prairie .
I respectfully suggest that you consider canceling or withdrawing it .
You embarrass yourself with your racist attitude and factual ignorance .
You mention " the arab characters ".
FYI - On the show , as on planet earth , most Muslims are not arabs .
You mention a hispanic , a greek and someone of welsh and pakistani descent .
FYI - it is a Canadian show , with a Canadian cast .
You wrote " ... there are also no Muslims in the cast . "
FYI In the show , Amaar , the imam , is played by Zaib Shaikh .
In the Toronto Star , on Tuesday Oct. 2 '07 : " Well I am Muslim . Which is why I am fasting today ."
FYI The show's creator is Zarqa Nawaz . Try reading her - she's a published author , and her name doesn' exactly sound Irish to me - it sounds Canadian .
P.S. When my grandfather arrived in Canada , he was literate , and he was advised by Immigration to change his name . With a moniker like Hugh MacNamara , he'd never get a job that didn't use a pick and shovel .
Some of us in Canada have grown since the 19th century - are you perhaps in Toronto Ohio ?
"Star Trek: Deep Space 9" had Alexander Siddig (formerly Siddig el-Fadil--he's Sudanese) playing "Dr. Bashir." No mention was ever made of his ethnicity, however. He "passes" for white, but played an Arab in "Lawrence After Arabia."
Wow someone really had a lot of trouble understanding me so I'll make some points.
As a Canadian that was born here I have no problem referring to myself as an "Arab," I don't see the two as mutually exclusive or any reason why they should be. One is a nationality, the other is an ethnicity.
I read that none of the cast were muslim in an interview with Zarqa Nawaz a while back, when she was asked about the scenes where Rayyan was not in hijab at home and she mentioned that the cast wasn't muslim so it wasn't an issue for them, I guess I was mistaken.
By "Arab" characters, I was referring specifically to Yasser, Rayyan and Yasser's mother, who are supposed to be Lebanese/of Lebanese descent on the show. I was well aware that not all muslims are Arabs and not all Arabs are muslims, which was why I specified. With my comment I was not referring to the characters on the show that aren't Arab. I figured this would make sense in the context of this post being specifically about Arab actors and characters in Hollywood, and that this would be pretty obvious to anyone that had the mental capacity to read and operate a computer. I'm truly sorry about that.
The show's creator is Zarqa Nawaz . Try reading her - she's a published author , and her name doesn' exactly sound Irish to me - it sounds Canadian .
I agree that Zarqa Nawaz isn't Irish? She's a Canadian of Pakistani descent...but I'm really not sure what this has to do with anything.
ANYWAYS, if you want to see Arabs play three dimensional characters (that aren't Italian) check some French movies out of the video store. Said of La Haine has since moved on to be typecast in Three Kings, and I believe, The Kite Runner, whenever that comes out.
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