Study Guides: Representations of Arabs in U.S. Media
Depictions of the Arabic and Islamic peoples in U.S. media tend to follow a few predictable stereotypes. As "Arab Stereotypes and American Educators," an article available through the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, notes:
Arab men are portrayed as violent terrorists, oil "sheiks" or marauding tribesmen who kidnap blonde Western women. Arab women are seen as belly dancers and harem girls.
As the article also notes, Disney's animated film Aladdin offers a widely influential example of these stereotypes. The following screen shots illustrate the "Anglicization" of the film's hero, who also speaks with an American accent. Evil and/or untrustworthy characters in Aladdin are "dark-skinned, swarthy and villainous--cruel palace guards or greedy merchants with Arabic accents and grotesque facial features" (133).
Particularly notable in the villains is the "hooked," Semitic nose. Ironically, this caricature has been used for centuries in racist depictions of Jews. Good examples may be found in an archive of Nazi propaganda maintained at Calvin University. Today, the stereotype and its negative valences are mobilized to portray the treacherous, violent nature of Arabs.
