Among the films that represent Muslim women as voiceless and oppressed, no film does so more explicitly than the Hollywood blockbuster Sex and the City 2. In this chick-flick, Muslim women are represented as imprisoned women who are struggling to unshackle themselves from the evil abaya (loose over garment) and burqa (face veil). In one scene of the movie, for instance, Carrie, the main character, stares at a veiled women in pity, implying that this women has no free choice and that she was forced to wear the burqa . Carrie in disapproval states “ the veil across the mouth freaks me out as if they don’t want them to have a voice.” Through this scene the director instills two false perceptions in the minds of Americans, firstly that Muslim women regardless of background are forced to wear the head veil. Viewers are left with the idea that women who cover their faces do not do so out of their own free will but are coerced to dress a specific way as a result of what is thought to be a sexist religion .
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Not only are Muslim men stereotyped in Hollywood, biases regarding Muslim women are common as well. Muslim women, regardless of background, are portrayed by two opposing images. First, the Muslim woman is voiceless, oppressed, and submissive. The messages regarding Muslim women in the media revolve around the idea that they lack freedom and that it is the West's critical role to free and rescue them from “evil” Muslim men. The second image displays these women as sexually exotic and mysterious, in which they are depicted as belly dancers or harem girls. These stereotypes, are prevalent in films of diverse genres from the "Sword –and-sandal soaps, musical comedies, magic carpet fantasies, historical tales, movie serials, and terrorist shoot’m ups.” They attract wide audiences and do not seem to dissipate over time as they are present in both modern and classic Hollywood films (757 Hussain).
Secondly, the director gives the false impression that the burqa is mandatory in Islam and that Islam has a specific uniform that comprises of all black clothing. Little is stated about the fact that although women are asked to dress modestly, they are free to choose their own clothing style. In another scene of this film Muslim women are displayed in curtains of black, walking voiceless, with somber expressions. When the women enter a room free of the gaze of men, they quickly remove their veils and abayahs in what seems as relief and extravagantly reveal to their audience western designer clothing of varying styles and colors. It is not until this scene that the women in the the film are said to be liberated, implying that a women is not free until she chooses to comply with western standards of fashion. In other words, the directors sends to his audience the message that the women were oppressed while wearing the hijab (head veil) and are now free after shedding their veils. This scene directly highlights the stereotype that Muslim women wear the hijab out repression rather than the decision to guard their beauty or simply dress in their diverse standards of modesty. This scene also highlights the misconception that the hijab is used as a tool to silence Muslim women.
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These false ideas are instilled in the minds of Americans beginning at a young age and are not limited to adult movies. In the popular Disney animation Aladdin, similar stereotypical themes are projected regarding Muslim women. More specifically, once again, viewers are introduced to the idea that Muslim women are voiceless. In the film Jasmine, the main character, faces a dilemma as her father attempts to marry her off against her will. In one of clip of the movie, we see an angry prince Ahmed, who is one of the many bachelors thrust upon jasmine, storm out of the room. Jasmine's father storms into the room in fury as he scolds his daughter for rejecting marriage as the law gives her no choice. From this scene viewers are given the false impression that Muslim women are so voiceless that they are not even allowed to make critical decisions such as choosing a husband. Viewers are left with the idea that in Islam it is the role of women to be submissive and when they challenge this role they are scolded and punished. What is particularity interesting is that when women are not illustrated darkly clothed in burqas and abayas, juxtaposing this veiled image is the image of Muslim women as sexually exotic and mysterious.
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Aladdin is filled with belly dancers and harem girls in exemplifying the characteristic of the Muslim women as exotic. The clip above is a vivid example of misrepresentation of Muslim women. The scene opens with Aladdin, or prince Ali, being ostentatiously presented to public with a parade of animals, acrobats, and not surprisingly belly dances . Belly dancers dressed in red and purple enter in front of prince Ali as they wave brightly colored shawls at their audience. As prince Ali tosses money to the floor more "exotic" Muslim women enter the scene. All the women fit Hollywood stereotype having faces veiled with sheer and brightly colored silk, dark almond shaped eyes, and dark hair.
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Complying with the stereotype of
the exotic Muslim women is M.I.A's music video Bad Girls, in which we see similar themes as those found in
Aladdin. M.I.A, in her bad girls, gives the American public a false perception of Muslim women. While the plot is extremely unique the way Muslim women are displayed is an old Hollywood cliché. Like Aladdin, once again women are shown with veiled faces and dark eyes. Although M.I.A puts a twist on Muslim Women’s clothing in the video, she fails to move away from the idea of the mysterious Muslims women. The image of Muslim women in Aladdin and Bad Girls are not new creations of Hollywood but date back in film history. The first film to depict Muslim women this way is the silent short film Fatima, which was created in 1897. From there, movie directors, for one reason or another other could not break away from this old stereotype and choose to display Muslim women as sexually exotic in one movie after the other. In the classical film Shiek (1921) and the Slave Girl (1947), for example, viewers are taken to mysterious land full of exotic Muslim women who serve men as belly dancers or harem girls. Upon viewing these films is is easy to see how Aladdin and MIA depictions are not unique but simple reiterated classical Hollywood biases. |
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While these Hollywood biases may apply to some regions of the world, they place Muslim women, regardless of background into a single homogenous group with specific characteristics. They imply that all Muslim women are oppressed, voiceless, and confined in cages that are believed to be made up of burqa’s and black veils. They imply that Muslim women are either dressed in black veils or are the exotic belly dancers found at harems. These biases fail to address the diversity of the Muslim world and in failing to do so result in the in the stereotyping of American Muslim women who lives completely digress from these images. It is due to these powerful images that large misconceptions exist regarding Muslim women in America. |
picture above source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01864/burkaSUM1864145b.jpg