Hollywood portrays Arabs in ever darker shades

Beirut: American films and TV dramas shot since the 9/11 attacks have reinforced screen images of Arabs and Muslims as fanatics and villains, ingraining harmful stereotypes, argues an author.

In his book Guilty - Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs after 9/11, Jack Shaheen praises some post-9/11 films for offering a more sympathetic image of Arabs and Muslims, who he argues have been castigated for decades by Hollywood.

But he says that too many have portrayed them in ever darker shades, criticising films including The Kingdom (2007) and The Four Feathers (2002) and condemning the creation of a new "Arab-American bogeyman" in TV dramas such as 24. "In the United States, you can say anything you want about Islam and Arabs and get away with it. In other words, as someone said, 'You can hit an Arab free'," said Shaheen - also the author of Reel Bad Arabs - How Hollywood Vilifies a People.

Shaheen, an American of Lebanese descent, has examined the treatment of Arabs and Muslims in some 1,000 films, including more than 100 shot since 9/11. "The [stereotyped] images have remained fixed and have only been changed in the sense that they have become more vindictive and damaging," he said.

"What enables these images to persist and prevail? One of the primary reasons is silence," said Shaheen, a retired professor who worked as a consultant on Syriana (2005) and Three Kings (1999).