Samuel L Jackson in Rules of Engagement:
Coke commercial from 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uFQAqwbwSg
Aladdin:
Original lyrics to a song from the movie say, "from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
This was really appalling to me once I started diving deep into the problem. Muslims are stereotyped so harshly in the United States. It's sad that the things that are happening over in the Middle East are ruining perception over here.
From the media I gathered, there are a couple perceptions being addressed.
1. Muslims are seen as radicals
2. Muslims lives are seen as irrelevant and worthless
3. Muslims are seen as a third world population, living in poverty
4. Muslims are seen as naive and stupid
The Coke commercial clearly depicts an Arab/Muslim struggling with a camel. Everyone else seems to be doing just fine. The clip from Rules of Engagement shows American soldiers carelessly shooting Muslims of all ages. The Aladdin lyric depicts their living conditions as barbaric.
These messages are very narrow minded and give people a certain feeling towards Muslims. Sure some of them may be a little radical, and viewers will pick up on that. But are the viewers going to view other media that depicts Muslims in a better light?
These single story examples are limiting because it fails to show the wide range of Muslims. It shows the more radical population of Muslims. There are plenty of Muslims who practice their faith in a beautiful/positive way and who live in hostile communities.
It's so easy to come up with content that is stereotypical towards Muslims, especially in today's society. With everything going on in the Middle East, all we hear over the news is negative. So pop culture has followed that trend. Too bad there isn't much out there that shows the positive sides of Islam.
We really know so little about other people. I think that's probably one main reason we single-story them so much. It is sad to think that the media is portraying Muslims and Islam as something barbaric and heartless. I just think, imagine how we'd feel if the world suddenly took one aspect of our religion and blew it up in our faces so disrespectfully and incompletely. We need to try to understand others better. That takes time and effort, which a lot of us don't care to give. But if we don't, we just fool ourselves into thinking we know everything and therefore have free reign to say whatever we want to say about anything.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. The way muslims are portrayed is similar to if all mormons were presented as being the same as the FLDS church. That is a fringe group as are the radicals among the muslim people, and failing to see that has created a huge perception issue within our country.
ReplyDeleteI agree! The implication that others are barbaric is basically a condemnation and we don't even see them as human. Or at least we don't seem them as having the same level of humanity as we do because they are less civilized. Who decided humanity is inseparable from civility?
ReplyDeleteHoly balls.... that youtube clip with Samuel L. Jackson?!? That's messed up. I served my mission in France which is like the melting pot for muslims and northern Africans, so I know both sides of stereotyping muslims. I used to have really negative views on Muslims just because in all of our movies and TV shows - muslims are 99.9% the bad guys or the villain. Muslims and Islam in itself are actually really peaceful, kind, caring individuals who have a negative light pasted on them because of 'terrorists' and other organizations. Saying that all muslims are terrorists is like saying the KKK represents Christianity. Beautifully written bro.
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