Earlier this week, Steven C. Clemons posted a video at the Washington Note called “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People.” TAPPED blogger Matthew Duss said the film showed “offensive images and representations” of Arabs from popular–and old–films, including True Lies, Back to the Future, and Disney’s animated Aladdin. Admittedly, I’ve never seen True Lies, and I was too young to understand most of the cultural references in Back to the Future when I first grew to love the trilogy. But Aladdin? I’d hardly call beautiful Arabs, exotic Middle Eastern scenery, and the typical Disney villain “offensive.” If anything, Aladdin made a wannabe-Princess Jasmine like me want to fly on a magic carpet with my own Aladdin. What about Beauty and the Beast? There’s a film that didn’t do much to make little girls like brawny hunters in rural France. But seriously, “Reel Bad Arabs” makes some silly assertions–and reasonable bloggers agree. Ross Douthat notes that the film “is forced to resort to clips from such blockbuster films as Cannonball Run II, Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, and Hell Squad. So far as I could tell, the most recent clips are from Aladdin and True Lies, both of which are fifteen years old.” Michael Weiss adds “that despite what the 200 pounds of bad veal calling itself a narrator in this documentary will tell you, Aladdin and True Lies are not quite as culturally paradigmatic as all that. If Jafar merits a Saidian dissertation, then perhaps I can enjoin a Caribbean scholar of stereotypes to explain the Rasta rock lobster who told Ariel how to land her man in The Little Mermaid?” And I agree with Ace, who asks, “Incidentally, as regards Aladdin, who precisely could have served as the villain and his minions in an Arab land? Who else was there?” He has an answer that Hollywood might like. So what are modern filmmakers to do? At Commentary, James Kirchik snarkily remarks that perhaps the villains should change since, after all, “Arab terrorists…are mere holograms created by the neocon war machine.” Now, back I go to You Tube-ing songs from Aladdin and reliving an important cultural aspect of my childhood…
