Portrayal of Muslim Stereotypes Post 9/11
During and after World War II, the Cold War, and the Gulf War, Hollywood portrayed villains as the current cultural fear and official enemy of the United States. This trend changed after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Since the attacks on the World Trade Center, Hollywood has often refused to use Muslims as villains, even though Muslim terrorists became the United States’ cultural enemy due to their responsibility for the attacks. This can best be explained by Americans’ change in attitudes about what is considered politically correct. In referring to the portrayal of the Japanese as villains after the attack on Pearl Harbor, John Danziger claims, “The enemy, of course, is portrayed in a manner that today would be termed politically incorrect” (www.digitallyobsessed.com). Times have changed in the 60 years between Pearl Harbor and September 11. Today people try to be politically correct more than ever because they fear the consequences that stereotyping may have. Due to rising political correctness, fears of false branding and stereotyping, and sensitivity of the September 11 attacks, Hollywood has started using, in place of Muslims, former enemies, such as Russians and Nazis, as villains, but with the stereotypical traits of Muslim terrorists. These traits include the targeting of innocent mass crowds, blending into society and attacking when least expected, and religious fervor as motivation for attacking America and can be seen in The Sum of All Fears (Robinson 2002), Con Express (Cunningham 2002), and Batman Begins (Nolan 2005).
In The Sum of All Fears, the villains are European Nazis who carry out an attack on a mass crowd of innocent civilians at a Baltimore stadium, reflecting the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. In the movie, European Nazis buy an old Israeli nuclear bomb that had been lost when an Israeli plane crashed in a Middle Eastern desert decades earlier. These Nazis are a reflection of the Muslim
In The Sum of All Fears, the villains are European Nazis who carry out an attack on a mass crowd of innocent civilians at a Baltimore stadium, reflecting the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. In the movie, European Nazis buy an old Israeli nuclear bomb that had been lost when an Israeli plane crashed in a Middle Eastern desert decades earlier. These Nazis are a reflection of the Muslim
Cited: Batman Begins. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, and Katie Holmes. Warner Brothers, 2005. Cavanaugh, Tim. “Unreel Claims: Why is Hollywood still beating up on the Serbs?” Reason Online. 2002. 25 Feb. 2006. <http://www.reason.com/hod/tc121602.shtml>. Con Express. Dir. Terry Cunningham. Perf. Sean Patrick Flannery, Arnold Vosloo, and Ursula Karven. Artisan, 2002. Danziger, John. “DVD Review.” digitallyOBSESSED!. 2002. 7 March 2006 <http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3015>. Irvine, Cliff. “Racial Violence After September 11.” Project Muse. 5 Dec. 2002. 10 March 2006. <http://muse.jhu.edu.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/journals/social_text/v020/20.45ahmad.html>. Lyman, Rick. “Hollywood Struggles to Create Villains for a New Climate.” RaceMatters.org. 3 Oct. 2001. 7 March 2006. <http://www.racematters.org/strugglecreatefilmvillains.htm>. “September 11, 2001 attacks.” Wikipedia. 7 March 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 March 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks>. The Sum of All Fears. Dir. Phil Alden Robinson. Perf. Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, and James Cromwell. Paramount, 2002.