Reel Bad Arabs

"Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People" (ISBN 1-56656-388-7, Olive Branch Press) is a 2001 book by Jack Shaheen where he surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced. Shaheen writes "Seen through Hollywood's distorted lenses, Arabs look different and threatening.". [cite news |first=John |last=Levesque |title=Arabs suffer in the hands of Hollywood |url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/63118_tv21.shtml |publisher=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=2002-03-21]

He contends that the movies with the most anti-Arab content are: "Rules of Engagement" (2000), "The Delta Force" (1986) "Death Before Dishonor" (1987) and "True Lies" (1994).

Included on the "worst list" is:

Inspired by the "worst list", a 9-minute-long trailer called "Planet of the Arabs" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443610/] [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-600397827976179049] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1ZNEjEarw] ] was assembled. This short was an Official Selection at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Sut Jhally directed a 2006 video called "Reel Bad Arabs" about Jack Shaheen's thesis.

References

*cite book |last=Shaheen |first=Jack |authorlink=Jack Shaheen |coauthors= |title=Reel Bad Arabs |year=2001 |isbn=1-56656-388-7