“Gender has been as essential part of the Orientalist Discourse. Orientalist notions of the Arab World are invested sensual and submissive females (The Harem), and violent, yet succumbing, males (the colonized). Lina Khatib’s introduction to her chapter on Gendered tools of nationalism paints the perfect picture of portrayal of Arab societies in Hollywood as those which lack freedom and equality of rights through the adoption of a backward perspective on everyday life. Still, she highlights the importance of understanding the different lives of women in various Arab nations. I was specifically interested in Khatib’s focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been going on for various decades now. Hollywood movies are constantly depicting the US as “the rational negotiator”, dealing with Palestinian extremist groups rejecting any ideas of peace, and Arabs objectified “as essentially uncivilized and uncontrollable.” Khatib clearly establishes that the Arab is most commonly America’s enemy in most movies, an image quite quickly carving itself into the mindsets of western society.
The short documentary, Hollywood Harems, cleverly shows the progression in depiction of women of different races and their influence in creating the stereotypes we all knowingly live by, yet try to remain oblivious to. Movie directors and producers must face this issue and realize the power of their productions in the modern era the world has entered. Viewpoints expressed in movies such as the one Khatib mentions become representations of whole societies. Through the decades, Hollywood’s films developed the Orientalist themes that have spread, and have created a derogatory and destructive image of women based primarily on their country of origin.
Still, I believe that to get the most personal approach to the issue of women representation in the Arab Word, one must refer to Rhoda Kanaaneh’s essay, We’ll Talk Later. She uses exceptional style and diction with the aid of real-life characters to establish a true image of the Palestinian woman living in the occupied territories. In a way, she uses her essay to express her views of her womanhood powerfully, and convey it as anything but a possession to be owned by anyone. No obstacle can stand in the way of her freedom, and others echo her voice as we saw in the Palestinian uprising (Intifada). Towards the end of her essay, she addresses her aunt, who she establishes a clear connection to. She states, “ Aunty, you tell me there is danger. I say you are so right. You tell me there are ways of escaping. I say yes, I could escape. You tell me it is hopeless because they will always find me and take me back. I say no! I refuse.”
The focus on Muslim extremists around the world climbed dramatically after the September 11th attacks. Such groups tore apart the benevolent and peaceful representation of the religion, and created an image of Arab societies that lacked tolerance, equality, and respect for different religions and origins. I greatly believe that this distortion is due to nations holding on to the imperialist policies that are unfitting with the political and economic situations of global society today. With no alterations in generalizations illustrated through the various forms of media, false representations will continue to be taken to be factual, and no long-term improvement on global understanding will be attained.
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