Between Orientalism and Occidentalism: U.S.-Middle Eastern Cinematic Encounters
Panel 019, 2010 Annual Meeting
On Friday, November 19 at 08:30 am
Panel Description
Over thirty years ago Edward Said called attention to the ways in which the West has historically "represented"--and in so doing dominated--the Orient, especially the Middle East. Said referred to this phenomenon as Orientalism, and debates over his approach continue still. One arena of this debate is the analysis of cinema, a powerful medium for popular education and mis-education.
This panel addresses questions relating to the representation of the Middle East by the U.S. and the representation of the U.S. by the Middle East in the area of cinema. We address such questions as: How useful is Said's approach for the analysis of cinematic representations? Has Orientalism in cinema given way to Neo-Orientalism or Post-Orientalism and, if so, what is the difference? How has the U.S. represented the Middle East in cinema and--a more recent question--how has the Middle East cinematically represented the U.S.? Have U.S. and Middle Eastern cinematic representations of each other changed in recent times and, if so, how Is there such a phenomenon as "Occidentalism" and, if so, is it simply a mirror image of Orientalism Does 9/11 continue to play a powerful role in U.S. perceptions, or is its salience finally beginning to fade? Is 9/11 also central to Middle Eastern perceptions of the U.S. and, if not, what is? Finally, what is the relationship between cultural phenomena such as cinema, on the one hand, and political and economic phenomena, on the other?
The first two papers in this cinematic encounter look at the West as seen in Arab feature films: (1) one analyzes Arab nationalism and its corollary of anti-Americanism in Egyptian cinema; (2) and the other analyzes Arab films from different periods as responses to U.S.-led globalization. Switching perspectives, the next two papers analyze Western representations of the Middle East: (3) one argues that there has been significant improvement since 1999 in how Hollywood represents Middle Easterners; (4) and the other explores representations of the Middle East in cartoons and feature-length animated films. (5) A final paper brings these perspectives together in a comparative analysis of reciprocal Western and Eastern cinematic gazes
In the Arab world there is always a sense that Arabs fail in attracting the US interests to guarantee a fair policy while assuming the role of broker in the peace process between Israel and the Arabs. Lagging behind the West politically, economically, and culturally, Arabs believe that they became an easy prey for Western and American hegemony, dominance and of course negligence. Following the invasion of Iraq, there is a refusal to submit in any way to this hegemony. There is a rejection of any type of 'supremacy' to be exercised by these 'white' nations. Arab films come to respond to this spirit amongst the Arab nation. This paper will examine and analyze this phenomenon and its manifestation in Arab films. I will specifically focus my examination and analysis on two movies: Laylat El-Baby Doll or The Baby Doll Night (2008) and Aeez Haqi or I Want my Right (2003). The idea of 'manufacturing terrorism' is at the core of The Baby Doll Night as we see how Abu Gharib in Iraq was a source of terrorists rather than a prison for terrorists. I Want my Right makes a hint that the US and Israel are heads and tails of the same coin.
The two movies are produced in Egypt after 9/11. My choice of Egyptian cinema is due to its being "the Hollywood of the East," and the biggest film industry in the Middle East. Egyptian films are distributed across the Arab world and are watched by Arabs all over the globe. Moreover, the Egyptian cinema has played an important role in feeding 'Arab nationalism' called for and defended by the Egyptian ex-President Gamal Abdel-Nasser. This Arab nationalism, or the construction of the self, resulted in anti-Americanism or the deconstruction of the other. Resurrecting the past with the brutality of the colonial West and the bravery of the colonized East has dominated Arab cinema over its history. Escaping from the cruel present into the glorious past has also marked the Egyptian cinema ever since its beginning till present. My work will draw on major theoretical frameworks from different fields that embody the larger aspects of Arab culture.
Ever since the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, many Americans have wondered, "why do they hate us?" The immediate and dominant response has been a polarizing contention that locates the terrorists' cultural and religious identity as the driving force for their extreme acts of violence. This assessment has advanced on the discursive premises of the 'clash of civilizations' theory, and appealed to both a U.S. exceptionalist and nationalistic narrative that claims uniqueness to the American experience and celebrates America as the world's force for goodness, and a U.S. Orientalist repertoire of images that homogenizes Arabs and Muslims and ascribes villainy to them.
This theoretical interpretation, I argue, does not offer an encompassing account of the complexity surrounding the tension that exists between the United States and the Arab and Muslim worlds. Hence, this paper seeks to present a more elaborate and contextualized reading of the interplay of many American, Arabic, and Islamic discursive formations; a reading that neither brands 9/11 as 'the' turning point in the history of the U.S. encounters with Arabs and Muslims, nor de-emphasizes the relevance of the event to U.S. policy-making and its impact on the lives of millions of Arabs and Muslims, including their diasporas in the United States.
To help illustrate the significance of those theoretical renderings, the paper resorts to an inter-disciplinary analysis of the internationally acclaimed Egyptian film Laylat El-baby Doll or The Baby Doll Night (2008), which, for the first time in the Arabic and Islamic cinematic history, offers an intricate alternative account for the factors that continue to shape the U.S.-Arab/Muslim tension, particularly in the post-9/11 context. Central to such an analysis is an attempt to identify the particularities, and deconstruct the theoretical groundings that constitute the popularized perceptions of the 'Self' and the 'Other,' as entertained by Americans, Arabs, and Muslims alike.
Throughout the twentieth century Arabs and Muslims have been negatively stereotyped--indeed, vilified--in American cinema. Jack Shaheen has convincingly documented this in his filmography Reel Bad Arabs (Shaheen 2001). However, in 1999 there appeared two major mainstream American movies--The Thirteenth Warrior and Three Kings--with positive Arab and Muslim major characters.
Positive characterizations of Middle Easterners have continued to appear, despite the terrorist incidents of 9/11, American wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, and a continuing backlash against Middle Easterners and Muslims in the U.S. Notable examples of such films include Syriana (2005), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and Body of Lies (2009). What accounts for this counterintuitive trend of positive cinematic representations?
The paper first documents the phenomenon, discussing major films about Arabs and Muslims between 1999 and the present. It divides the films into analytic categories of "positive," "neutral" and "negative," with positives outweighing negatives. Admittedly, not all films fit neatly into these three categories. An ambivalent category is anti-war films and films about the negative effects of war on the U.S., in which Middle Easterners are merely incidental victims; examples are Jarhead (2005), In the Valley of Elah (2007), and Stop Loss (2008). Another analytical problem is that some movies about Middle Easterners have been interpreted as positive by some viewers but negative (even Neo-Orientalist) by others; examples discussed are The Four Feathers (2002), The Kingdom (2007) and The Kite Runner (2007).
Some anti-Arab and anti-Muslim films continue to be made in Hollywood, but there has been a movement away from Orientalism, toward fairness and complexity. This paper discusses possible reasons for this trend, offering a theory of cinematic "rehabilitation" of American minority groups. The paper argues that Arabs and Muslims are perhaps following in the footsteps of groups such as Native Americans, Blacks, Russians and Asians, who at first were vilified but gradually came to acquire cinematic respectability.
