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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

True lies (Motion picture); Kingdom (Motion picture); Rules of engagement (Motion picture); Syriana (Motion picture); Arabs in motion pictures; Muslims in motion pictures; Orientalism; Stereotypes (Social psychology) in motion pictures; Academic theses;

Abstract

Before 9/11, almost all Hollywood Orientalist films fit the tenets of Orientalist discourse, which Edward Said describes in Orientalism. Brushed with a series of negative qualities, the Oriental character is usually represented as an absolute opposite to the Western character, whose perfection is highlighted by the former's numerous flaws. Not only is the Arab or Muslim character in pre-9/11 Hollywood dumb and inept, but evil and dangerous as well. Additionally, Orientalist filmmakers avoid a solid, deep construction of their Arab or Muslim characters in such a way that the personal or humane side of these characters is completely ignored. In this thesis, I use True Lies (1994) and Rules of Engagement (2000), two films made before 9/11, to show how these films closely follow the dogmas of Orientalist discourse. Although Said argues that, as a field of study, Orientalism is incapable of advancement or development because it derives its own strength and durability from its resistance to change, this thesis suggests that the tragic events of 9/11 have had a considerable impact on the representation of Arabs and Muslims in Orientalist Hollywood. 9/11 has drawn America's attention to Arabs and Muslims, and Americans have become curious to learn more about the Middle East and Islam. In the mean time, Arabs, Muslims, and Arab-Americans were urged to come out of their shells and explain their tradition and religion to the Western world. For these reasons, Americans' general knowledge about Arabs and Muslims may have considerably increased after the tragic events. Influenced by America's increased knowledge of Arabs and Muslims, Hollywood filmmakers attempt to produce better, more authentic portrayals of the Orient in their films. These considerable changes can be detected in Syriana (2005) and The Kingdom (2007), two post 9/11 films. In these films, the Arab and Muslim characters are deeply constructed, humane, and round. They also possess good qualities just like their western counterparts. Although these changes are small, they could be one step towards a different era of Orientalist Hollywood films where negative stereotypes slowly recede. Unlike most scholarly work in the field of media stereotyping, this research depends on deep, solid analyses of films. Characters, dialogues, and some film techniques such as camera shots and frames, are closely examined with the purpose of tracing any possible changes in the perception of Arab and Muslim characters in post 9/11 films as compared to the ones before the tragic date. During this process of analysis, the research questions the validity of Said's hypothesis about the fixed nature of the Orientalist discourse and its inability to develop.

Year of Submission

2009

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

First Advisor

Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure

Second Advisor

Adrienne Lamberti

Third Advisor

Grant Tracey

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2009

Object Description

1 PDF file (98 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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