The Muslim-American Dilemma: Escaping the Hollywood Bias
The American public, through the various media outlets, are increasingly being exposed to anti-Muslim/Islamic ideologies. Hollywood movies, in particular, are fraught with Islamaphobic misrepresentations and play an ancillary role in molding the American public's view's of Islam/Muslims as a religion which foments
hate, radicalism, and oppression. According to media credit Jerry Mander, media images have the power to "cause people to do what they might have otherwise thought not to do." This quote could not apply more to the American public's reaction to the Hollywood biases they are heavily exposed to. Stereotypes regarding Muslims, have defined to the America public what Muslims are, as "motion pictures are one the most powerful teaching tools ever." Studies clearly show that Biases in Hollywood have caused Muslim American's to face mass discrimination, and hate, and are one of several factors that contribute to islamophobia. In a study conducted by Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), it was found that 26 percent of non-Muslim Americans associated Muslims with negative images or words, such as "violence," "war," "guns," and "towel heads." What is interesting about the survey findings is the hateful comments used to describe Muslims were accurate descriptions of images of Muslims in Hollywood. |
In other words, images such as guns and violence are what Muslims are associated with in Hollywood and respondents were simply describing characters and images they have been exposed to. In addition, in the same survey CAIR finding concluded that over 22 percent of Americans believed the Islam oppresses Muslim women (8). These views correspond with the ideas that Americans are exposed in popular films such as Sex and City, Aladdin, and The Kingdom.
These negative perception, result in mass bigotry, and hate crimes against American Muslims. A common target for these hate crimes are mosques. Based on CAIR findings, in 2012 eight incidents of hate crimes targeting mosque occurred in only a thirteen day period, between august 6 to august 18. The fact that these hate crimes |
occurred in 2012 show that Islamphobia has not died down over the year. In the addition, the amount of these hate crimes reveals that bigotry against Muslims is not uncommon. Islamphobia does not only take the form of hate crimes against Islamic organization but also includes attacks on ordinary Muslim Americans.
Nowadays, Muslims get scrutinized constantly by authorities and ordinary Americans just because their name sounds Muslim. The American society have been associating Islam with terrorist acts, especially after the 9/11 attacks. Muslim men "have been made legitimate targets of direct governmental actions such as arrests, closing down charities, and constant insinuation of existing terrorist attacks" (Bazian 4). |
Consequently, Muslims are always conscious about their own thoughts and actions to avoid the never ending interrogations and cruel treatments. To escape Hollywood's instilled evil characterization of Muslims, they try to "prove they are worthy 'Americans and also good human beings'" (Bazian 22). It is much disappointing to see the American public perceive a negative image of what Muslims are based on Hollywood films.
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Works Cited
Bazian, Hatem "Virtual Internment: Arabs, Muslims, Asians and the War on Terrorism" The Journal of Islamic Law and
Culture 9.1 (2004) 2-26
picture above: http://theacademy.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/917669/Image/clipart/Words/hollywood-
sign-l-dp.jpg
Bazian, Hatem "Virtual Internment: Arabs, Muslims, Asians and the War on Terrorism" The Journal of Islamic Law and
Culture 9.1 (2004) 2-26
picture above: http://theacademy.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/917669/Image/clipart/Words/hollywood-
sign-l-dp.jpg