Ep. 114: Hollywood & Anti-Muslim Racism (Part II) - Oscar-Bait Imperialism
Added 2020-07-15 15:13:56 +0000 UTCOur cultural context for understanding what we see on the news and hear in our politics, is often informed by the films and TV shows we’ve grown up watching. Pop culture is powerful and persuasive, and — for a century now — racist, Orientalist and cartoonish portrayals of Arabs and Muslims have littered our screens, big and small. This is the second episode in our three-part Citations Needed series on anti-Muslim racism in Hollywood. On Part I, we discussed big budget action and adventure films like Delta Force, American Sniper and True Lies, where Muslims get blown away at every turn.
But not every movie and TV show is quite so overt in its vilification of the designated enemy. Since the release of these movies, the state curated narrative in film has diversified, broadening to include savvier Oscar-bait productions in which anti-Muslim racism is dressed up in elaborate plot structures and supposedly nuanced "debates".
Films like Argo, Syriana, and Zero Dark Thirty are lauded for their ostensible complexity, subtlety, and nuance, such as their willingness to suggest that government agencies like the CIA are bloated and bureaucratic. Instead of scenes with a tough action hero bodyslamming or mowing down teeming hordes of Muslim terrorists, these films are part of a smarter genre of jingoistic action film — the prestige thriller — featuring flawed protagonists, some meta comedy, and women CIA agents excelling in a historically male-dominated field of coups and torture.
But ultimately, they project the same tired nationalism and ideology reinforcement just in a sleeker, more modern form. On this episode, we’ll examine how anti-Muslim and anti-Arab propaganda is disseminated through the contemporary prestige thriller genre.
We're joined by historian, artist and author Maytha Alhassen.
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Guest
Dr. Maytha Alhassen is an historian, writer, poet, journalist and artist. A contributor to Al Jazeera’s The Stream and The Young Turks, her writing has been featured, among other places, in The Baffler and the Boston Review. She is a staff writer and consultant to Hulu's Ramy. As a Senior Fellow at the Pop Culture Collaborative, she authored the report “Haqq and Hollywood: 100 Years of Muslim Tropes and How to Transform Them.”
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Show Notes
Haqq and Hollywood: Illuminating 100 years of Muslim Tropes And How to Transform Them
Dr. Maytha Alhassen | October 2018 | Pop Culture Collaborative
Oscar Prints the Legend: Argo's Upcoming Academy Award and the Failure of Truth
Nima Shirazi | February 23, 2013 | Wide Asleep In America
Q&A: Ben Affleck on Directing ‘Argo’ and Surviving Hollywood
Sean Wood | October 12, 2012 | Rolling Stone
'Argo' Screenwriter Explains the CIA Secrets and Surprises Behind the Film
Jordan Zakarin | October 15, 2012 | The Hollywood Reporter
Revisiting 'Argo', Hollywood's CIA-Supported Propaganda Fable
Nima Shirazi | April 16, 2016 | Wide Asleep In America
Argo's Asinine Auteur and his American Audience: Are We Hostages to Hollywood History?
Nima Shirazi | October 12, 2012 | Wide Asleep In America
CIA’s Work With Filmmakers Puts All Media Workers at Risk
Adam Johnson | April 8, 2016 | FAIR
How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran
Joshuah Bearman | April 24, 2007 | Wired
Nick Shou | June 13, 2016 | Alternet
Ex-CIA Agent Robert Baer, Inspiration for 'Syriana'
All Things Considered | December 6, 2005 | NPR
Does Zero Dark Thirty Endorse Torture?
Jesse David Fox | December 10, 2012 | Vulture
Newly Declassified Memo Shows CIA Shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative
Adrian Chen | May 6, 2013 | Gawker
Tequila, Painted Pearls, and Prada — How the CIA Helped Produce 'Zero Dark Thirty'
Jason Leopold and Ky Henderson | September 9, 2015 | Vice
Jack G. Shaheen | Winter 2015 | The Cairo Review of Global Affairs
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here.
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Comments
I'm late on this, but this was a really good episode; thank you for bringing up the fake polio vaccine drive, an absolutely terrible action by an agency known for terrible actions! Also, I'm glad you discussed Syriana...I always liked that movie (except Matt Damon's character) but have wanted for a while to read/hear criticism of it. <3 CN
No Borders Only Podcasts
2020-08-02 00:16:07 +0000 UTCGetting excited as we move closer and closer to a two hour long episode
Patrick Flaherty
2020-07-18 22:21:15 +0000 UTCI have to disagree on this point. If you’ve ever talked to native Scots, not only do they despise that film on all levels, but the hatred of English rule and colonialism runs deep.
Emily Povse
2020-07-18 16:32:05 +0000 UTCThese are great, thanks guys.
Jake Schroeder
2020-07-16 04:23:01 +0000 UTCto be fair, I ought to have said "**helped reignited nationalism in Scotland in the mid-’90s" it did not solely do so.
Citations Needed
2020-07-16 01:02:37 +0000 UTCAwesome, appreciate it y’all! Helping me with a Reddit argument and be informed at the same time. Still seems like part of this analysis is a way for liberals to let the UK’s neoliberal policy failures off the hook, much the same way as liberals always blame social issues on anything but material reality of their making, but makes sense movies like Braveheart could exacerbate it and provide a modern myth to encourage nationalism
Potato
2020-07-16 01:00:15 +0000 UTCHere are some articles on this https://www.medievalists.net/2014/08/braveheart-scottish-independence/ https://www.npr.org/2014/09/19/349908346/braveheart-writer-laments-with-other-scottish-independence-supporters https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/thelist/braveheart-and-scottish-independence/5750742 "Braveheart—which told the story of William Wallace, the warrior who led the Scots in the 13th century War of Independence against England —aroused a sense of national identity that provided ammunition for the Scottish National Party’s campaign for devolution. In that 1997 referendum, Scots voted for an independent parliament and control over their own domestic policies. I think Scotland was kind of ready for this image of itself as this wild, empire defying, Celtic tribesman that needed to be apart from England. Sally Morgan, professor of fine arts at Massey University in New Zealand, has written extensively on the political use of Scottish cinema in the 1990s. ‘This image of Braveheart became so embedded during this period of devolution,’ she says.
Citations Needed
2020-07-16 00:51:48 +0000 UTCI get it wasn’t part of the episode’s thesis, but any kind of source on Braveheart actually inspiring Renewed Scottish nationalism in the 90s?
Potato
2020-07-16 00:45:34 +0000 UTCJust because I'm a pedant and I've seen The Great Escape several times...I'm afraid you were incorrect about that film. American actors may play British/Australian/Polish characters but the characters are not "60-70% American." There are only 3 American characters - Hilts, Hendley, and Hilts's buddy. What is artistic lisence is that the former two characters were invented for the film and given an outsized role in its events.
LeninsRage
2020-07-15 18:15:26 +0000 UTC
