ETERAZ

Thank you Mr.

Thank you Mr. Kadivar...that was excellent...appreciate your taking the time...

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

How come no mention of

How come no mention of anti-Iran film? how come where is "Not without my daughter"? Arabs always like this. We should care of us and make the world know that WE ARE NOT ARABS. in tanha rahesheh!

āghā Kadivar

I am assumng that your book will be published in French. I hope that it will also be published in English or Spanish. I would love to read your book.

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Dariush Kadivar

Thanks for the clip and for very informed analysis.

Mr. Kadivar

Thank you so much for sharing the video clips with us. I was shocked to find out that such cartoons are being seen by children.

It takes generations to develop stereotypes, misunderstandings of cultures and hate. It takes even many more generations to undo the damage.

I wish that things would be better for the children of this world.

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

FYI/Sidney Poitier Oscar Speeches

 1964 Academy Awards - Sidney Poiter's acceptance speech

Sidney Poitier accepting an Honorary Oscar®

Long But Worthwhile Journey within Hollywood, The TRUE Hollywood !

sadegh

Dear Sadegh,

Thank you for your very interesting and insightful comments. I was not trying to sound paternalistic in anyway but I happen to be writing a book on the same subject but from a different angle and the "The Koulechov Effect" deserved being mentioned here for all readers of the blog who are not necessarily familiar with semiotics as you and me.

To be quite honest I actually share much of what Mr. Shaheen has been exposing in his conference and it just happens that this subject in relation to Middle Easterns has never been thouroughly developed by any other author but Mr. Shaheen to date except through a few articles.

There is no doubt in my mind that these stereotypes have been a source of cultural prejudice and distortions on the large masses and particularly thanks to mass medias like television.

The point however is that some of these stereotypes were initially created because they did and do correspond to a certain reality.

The notion of martyrdom is very much part of our culture throughout the middle east. It is certainly a marginal interpretation of our culture that includes religion but it is one that has grown stronger over the past century and certainly Sept 9/11 ( regardless of the responsabilities or causes involved ) was to summit of what this radical interpretation was to lead too.

It also took Hollywood some time to distinguish Nazis and Germans in many WWII films and that was because the German community and maybe society in America at large came to the realization and understanding of the issues that led to WWII.

This delay and Gap between the misrepresentation of a community and its true representation is something that is particularly noticeable in America's Pop Culture that includes Cinema and therefore Hollywood. It is maybe less the case in European Cinema. That said it took until recently for French Filmmakers to seriously tackle with issues like colonialism and some side effects like Torture by French Army officers of Algerians in the Algerian War.

One recent film to do this was : L'Enemie Intime:

It is a kind of French Apocalypse Now. It is an excellent movie but the point is that not many people went to see it.

It is a sad fact that most people go to movies not to be educated ( and yet there is much to learn from it both Good or Bad) but be entertained and forget about their own shortcomings. As a result it is always easy to target a community other than the one you want to sell the movie too in order to guarantee a Box Office Hit. The Cinema business alas does exploit our fears and prejudices and always has.

I think it is ultimately a question of maturity but also education and it is the duty of each community to also show a more constructive image of itself to the world than what the world or part of the world sees in it. It should also show it to itself in order to create the positive role models its youth can aspire to.

The problem with a medium like Cinema is that it is meant to be superficial and narcissistic and often the critics of Hollywood don't offer any better alternative or solution to avoid these prejudices but simply a substitute. The best example that comes to mind is BlackSploitation films of the 70's that became a genre in themselves admired by likes of Tarantino

But ultimately these films were simply reproducing the same stereotypes vehicled by cheap White Hollywood films.

Whe remembers a better film like Sidney Poitier in The Heat of the Night:

Or in Guess Who's coming to Dinner Tonight:

Poitier was unjustly heavily critisized for years by more radical members of the Black Community and the likes of Malcolm X. But He truly pioneered the influence and positive presence of the Black community in Hollywood.

Racism is a flaw in every society and needs to be addressed and fought back but the only way to do this in films is with a good story and powerful and intelligent statements. The American Independent cinema has been doing this for years but one has to keep an eye open like for films like this one:

In anycase it is a fascinating and interesting debate. Those who really love movies and understand it as a medium will always find an echo with the film community at large.

Satrapi's Persepolis is a good example.

Ultimately The Key is Talent and sincerity !

Understanding vs. Ignorance

Your regime

I am addressing the ususal Islamist/apologists in this website, not ordinary Iranian?

What is the matter with you? You have to constantly make a fool of yourself?

Your regime?

One day people will learn to  differentiate between a government and the people ruled by that government.

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Disclaimer: The author of this comment does not at this time support any specific poltical group or ideology.

Instead of such childish stuff...

... Maybe you all should take a look at this instead. This is how the real thing looks like:
//iranian.com/main/blog/asghar-taragheh/why-i...

(Funny how some of it is so similar to the rantings of some people here. Very revealing.)

... Maybe you all should take a look at this instead. This is how the real thing looks like:
//iranian.com/main/blog/asghar-taragheh/why-i...

(Funny how some of it is so similar to the rantings of some people here. Very revealing.)

Though it is more honest. Zionists not Jews, eh? Iranian Jews are seen differently in your regime, right?
Very revealing indeed.

Mr Kadivar thank you for

Mr Kadivar thank you for your lengthy response but please don't attribute views to me I never ever stated. And please let's not feign subtly where there is none. I don't need a highschool level run through rudimentary film theory to be apprised of the notion that multiple interpretations are possible in the interpretation of artistic works - such an idea is the bedrock of hermeneutics, structuralism, semiotics and numerous other disciplines and cinema theory has borrowed massively from semiotics, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and most recently Deleuze (who rebels and criticizes the signifier-signified nexus advocated by Saussurrean structuralism).

It is simply fact that Arabs and Middle Easterners are almost invariably portrayed as terrorists, misogynists and lecherous sheikhs (a cousin of mine who lives in the States has pretty much made a career out of playing an Arab terrorist - so much so that it's become a family joke) - a few examples break through such a stereotype - Syriana, Paradise Now, Kingdom of Heaven and despite being applauded outside of the States, inside the US they were nearly universally loathed and showered with vitriol. Bearded monsters who want to kill you, molest your wife and enslave your children. Very few positive portrayals of Arabs or Muslims exist in American cinema (which you yourself concede) - this is simply brute fact. Valley of Elah makes a minor and throughly pathetic objection to the war, and it's entirely from the perspective of the psychological and moral toll such a war has taken on the troops i.e. the moral fabric of American society. There is not a single Arab role in that film. No Iraqi character is meaningfully developed. I'm sorry but what you are saying is simply not true. Shaheen makes a point with the Axis of Evil Comedy tour and Fahrenheit 9/11 and these relay flickering signs of hope. But that is all they are and the fact is that 'nasty Arab terrorists' make money - some see some ay-rabs getting blown away on their screen and they are relieved, able to turn their attention away for a moment from the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no conspiracy, though it's undeniable that there are vested interests in Hollywood or that the US military needs to approve the content of films which use US military equipment.  

Please read the gentleman's book because you make hasty judgements...You took issue with the Indiana Jones clip - the point there was distinct and that Arabs are usually objects of ridicule, and turned into stupid buffoons (when they are not shadowy, blood thirsty baby-killers), so what if it was played by Ford's friend? The insinuation is there. And that is merely one instance of legion. One only has to watch 24 or more recently that dreadful series Nip/Tuck - a friend of mine forced me to watch an episode and I have to say that I felt physically sick afterwards. The ghost of the Palestinian suicide bomber is turned into a murderous beast - truly he is a seething monster - bereft of any human qualities - the Israeli woman who was his victim is depicted as a saint, a Jewish Mother Teresa, she works in a Children's Burn Unit. They even go so far as to say that the pieces of shrapnel i.e. the bits of bone and teeth of the Palestinian boy, still lodged in the Israeli woman post-explosion continue to torment her, and are destroying her anointed 'sainthood' by means of their fragmentary depravity and evil. No mention of Israeli military occupation and that Palestinians are having their land, water and agriculture appropriated and destroyed every single day. No mention of anything at all, no context, just an Arab monster, NO SUFFERING HUMAN WHO BLEEDS LIKE ALL OF US. This is ideology and propaganda at its purest, you destroy his humanity so that when it come to liquidation nobody feels a thing, in fact they cheer and welcome it.

Of course there is room for interpretation in everything, but when you have such asymmetrical representations such that the Oriental has been stripped bare of any humanity whatsoever and then decide to throw in the token 'good Arab' who is allied to the Americans, who almost always are by default the 'good guys' (i.e. being an American ally and supporting American interests = GOOD, the converse = BAD AND EVIL) as in The Kingdom, is that supposed to suffice? Why not add that this so-called 'good Arab' is supporting a kleptocratic and morally bankrupt dictatorship / US ally in the form of the Saudi Monarchy? 

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

FYI/Hollywood and Oil by Darius KADIVAR (Iranian.com)

//iranian.com/DariusKadivar/2003/May/Oil/index.html

For Palang, Sadegh : The Koulechov Effect

With due Respect to both of you but Welcome to the Movie World:

What you seem to have discovered is what is known and taught in rudimentary film courses: "The Koulechov Effect" :

Which consists like in this video of showing that one can give two very different or opposite interpretations to an actor's performance or to a scene if you edit it differently. A Simple example is here:

//cours.cegep-st-jerome.qc.ca/530-gjb-p.l/effet.htm

James Stewert's face expresses hunger, lust or fear based on which image follows in the editing respectively: An Apple, The beutiful face of Grace Kelly, or a Skull.

The viewer will interpret it differently based on what he or she sees.

This theory developed by russian film theorist Lev Koulechov and what this brilliant Arab American film critic has simply done is develope his outlook on Hollywood Films on the Arab and Middle Eastern World based on the same approach. This is called a Thesis in other academic university fields only he uses video clips to illustrate his demonstration instead of quoting from books.

The point is that I can clearly do the opposite demonstration using the same set of images or sequences but edited in a different order and prove that they lead to different conclusions.

I don't deny what this scholar says which is based on his sensitivity and personal interpretation of what some of these films express. As I said I do share some of his views and concerns because they do correspond to a reality which I think we have all come across when seeing films on the middle East in recent years : the movie 300 being the latest example.

The point is that looking at an excerpt of a film out of context does not particularly prove anything. 

Take the Indiana Jones movie where the Arab swordsman is killed by Indy. It is a scene filled with prejudice when seen out of context ( and most probably intended to be ironic from Spielberg's outlook) but it would be far fetched to claim that Spielberg ( After all he also made munich which is not flattering for the Israelis) is being racist towards the Arabs for one of the major recurrent characters in the Indiana Jones films is portrayed by John Rhys-Davies who plays Sallah, who is Indiana Jones good friend.

Same thing for the excellent film The Siege which contrary to the depiction here was quite a visionary film made prior to 9/11 and which denounce Islamic Terrorism and how the muslim community in NY (represented by various Arab American actors like Tony Shaloub who plays an Arab American cop) is prejudiced as a result of the radical behavior of a minor few. As often the case when we speak about terrorism the latter is commited by only a small group than by the large majority of a given community. The character played by Bruce Willis is a fanatic general who wants to use the terrorist actions as a pretext  to take control of the entire city and in doing so he is finally opposed by Anette Bening ( a nympho who is a sexual partner to one of the terrorist not knowing that he is involved in underground activities) and Denzel Washington ( A Black cop who is friends with Tony Shaloub).

So basically the film denounces Radicals from all sides and is anything as the simplistic anti Arab film as depicted in Schartzenegger's movie True Lies ( Actually a Remake of a French Film: La Totale ).

So boiling all these films into one does not give you the full picture nor an entirely unbiaised view on the subject.

I don't blame this scholar for his interpretation and demonstration, but I just claim that like every thesis it can also be contradicted by an anti thesis following the same Koulechov approach.

Another point that seems to escape the scholar is that much of what is denounced in most of these films is stupid terrorist acts and not particularly one's muslim faith or culture.

Such plots are often reduced to "Good Guys" and "Bad Guys" where in nearly all cases the "Good Guy" is the White Middle Class American and the Bad Guy's in this case the Arab Terrorist like in most Cowboy and Indian films. It is a genre that needs this simplistic division of roles mainly because it is made for an american audience. The same is true for the Germans often reduced to Nazi's in most WWII films but you do also see so called  "Good Germans" amongst them like in The movie The Cross of Iron or much earlier The Desert Fox.

The fact is that seen with the passage of time many films can be interpreted differently in the light of new events. The best example are the James Bond Films which were an answer to Cold War Paranoia but also one where James Bond is the Super Hero to which the "White" and "Western World" common man can identify himself to without guilt. By making it a popular hero it turned them also into a popular icon. Today however James Bond looks more like a parody of the Western Man than emblematic of its best virtues. Most female characters for instance are no more stupid dolls or can be reduced to sex toys because society has evolved and women wish to be portayed differently in these films. But you can't claim that regardless of all the macho ridden and action packed plot that James Bond was created by the White House or the Government of Her Gracious Majesty in order to defend the western world.

Unlike in totalitarian states these films were a product of individuals rather than state policies. Now that these directors and actors were or have prejudice or lack culture due to the consumption society is a valid argument but to claim that these films were directly manipulated by a government as a propaganda tool ( as in most totalitarian states where Art is controlled ) is not entirely convincing nor true.

Best,

DK

sigh....

I don't know what to tell you Darius...

Interesting But Reductive ...

I do share some of the arguments here but I have to say that you should not confuse the "Hollywood Industry" with the American Films at Large which constitute an "Art form" however collective and subject to financial constraints.

Non of the films mentioned here to my knowledge have ever won an Oscar for instance nor have had major critical acclaim be it nationwide or internationally.

What about Lawrence of Arabia then ? See Trailer :

Or the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films that are as enchanting and fun to watch today and are the best example of Fantasy films to date:

Also Paul Haggis's movie  In the Valley of Elah as much as many other Hollywood films have been denouncing the War in Iraq and the American responsability in the conflict in ways rarely done in any film made in the Arab World.

I can give hundreds of other examples but that would be subject to a book I am working on.

In 2006 a Turkish film with 2nd rate Hollywood actors called Valley of the Wolves was a Big Box Office Hit in Turkey and Germany but banned in France.

It presented the Americans as the Bad Guys and the Iraqi's as the Good guys. It was a B-Movie made with the same technical craftsmanship as any Hollywood production in the lines of Rambo or Swartzy Movies. The message however was as simplistic as the Rambo films.

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Wolves_Iraq

best,

DK

Ah...we get villified all of the time also...

"the Ugly American"

  There was a movie that played in Turkey and Iran that was completely false.  I can't remember the name, but thousands went to the movie and they interviewed the movie goers afterwads. They all said horrible things about Americans.

There is a lot of animosity against Arabs and Iranians right now.  I was at dinner with Iranians, Turkish and Pakistani physicans and listened to them slam Arabs.  We have had discussions on this site with negatvie statements about Arabs.  If I had to pick a  culture, other than the American culture, it would be the Iranian culutre.  I thought the Iranian men and women were sophisticated and their love for education really impressed me.

Indians are so caste conscious that it would make your head spin.  I heard Indian doctors' wives talk about dark skin color so often that I finally told that that my skin was a lot "whiter" than theirs.  That threw them for a loop. It's easy to see the problems when you are a quiet observer.

By the way... the British are bad cooks and the French are snooty....  hey....we can do it to them.  They haven't organized yet.

Iranians are going to be slammed because Iran has decided to export the Revolution.  Americans get insulted because we have Bush the Second as our leader. I think I need to organize a group that will stop the villfications of Americans.  Many of your are Americans so I hope that you will join.

to Zeynab..

If the people whom you are referring to are the Iraqis who kidnapped and beheaded foreign nationals a few years ago...

I do not condone what these Iraqis did, but given the level of brutal jaw-shattering violence that has been visited on them by Saddam dictatorship/8 years of war against us (Iran), 11 years of UN sactions (in which 500,000 children died), a decade of US air raids (in which "they were sent back to the stone-age"), and a bloody invasion/occupation by the US and her allies. 

I find what they did obscene but I also do not view it as model behavior of Iraqis/Muslims/Middle-Easterners.

You bring up a good point, but you need to also ask yourself:

Q:  Should the world view what happened in Abu Quraib prison as model behavior of Christians/Americans/"Westerners"???

Thanks for posting the link

Thanks for posting the link Natalia...looks very interesting and a much needed palliative to the swamp of ignorance in which public opinion has become enmired...Thanks again...Gonna look at it properly asap...

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

I was at a teacher workshop the other day...

The book selected for the workshop "Choice Words: How our Language Affects Children's Learning" by Peter H. Johnston had a very interesting poem in it. It is a rework of the "sticks and stones, will break my bones but words......."

It is as follows:

"Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words could never hurt me."

And this I knew was surely true

And truth could not desert me.

But now I know it is not so.

I've changed the latter part;

For sticks and stones may break the bones

But words can break the heart.

Sticks and stones may break the bones

But leave the spirit whole,

But simple words can break the heart

Or silence crush the soul.

-Herb Warren

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Disclaimer: The author of this comment does not at this time support any specific poltical group or ideology.

MEOC..........sadegh

Almost a year ago, I joined an organization called The Middle East Outreach Council  MEOC

One of the members recommended that we view the film but I could not find it locally. It never occurred to me to google it.  I learn as I go along. :o)

Have you heard of the MEOC? The organization was created to further a better understanding on the Middle East.

The membership is small at the moment. Only a couple of hundred members from varying backgrounds and countries. It is rather interesting. The membership was only $10.

Take a look at it and let me know what you think? :o)

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Disclaimer: The author of this comment does not at this time support any specific poltical group or ideology.

No problem Natialia - if

No problem Natialia - if a single person finds it interesting or entertaining then I am satisfied... 

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

I do not agree with the people who made the videos.

But do we really think , cutting humans throat in front of the camera and yelling " allahu akbar" is going to show a civilized and pretty picture of Muslims?

really , be fair, does it?

از ماست که بر ماست...

Mehdi-Phalang and Sadegh thank you...........

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Disclaimer: The author of this comment does not at this time support any specific poltical group or ideology.

It's thanks to you that I

It's thanks to you that I watched it in the first place Mehdi, so again thank you. The level of indifference is astounding and the steady dehumanization of Iraqis, Palestinians, Iranians as well as many other people in the history of cinema certainly has had a dehumanizing effect with very really ramifications for public opinion and the way we perceive others.

As for Fred, thanks for the hekaayat, but as you know I have dispensed with responding to your nonsense. Tell you tales to someone who cares. I'm simply too busy aziz-e-delam...hanuz doostam dari???

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

An Indian man from India

An Indian man from India murders his black daughter-in-law. The son is remarried to an Indian girl.

"Atlanta jurors have found an India-born businessman guilty of masterminding the murder of his black daughter-in-law because he feared the mixed marriage would smear the caste-conscious family's name.
Chiman Rai, 68, was convicted on seven charges, including felony murder and burglary. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

According to Associated Press reports, two women arrived at the apartment of Rai's son Ricky and his new wife, pretending to deliver a package. A 300-pound hit man then choked Sparkle Reid Rai with a vacuum cleaner cord and stabbed her a dozen times within earshot of her 6-month-old daughter.

This case, which turned from a simple murder investigation into an alleged hate crime across two communities of color, highlights the complexity of race relations in a country that has often framed its prejudice in black and white.

But racial intolerance, sometimes in the form of violence, is increasingly more inclusive. Experts say that such bias is nothing new, although the national immigration debate has fueled that hate, giving bigots of all complexions more excuses to act on their ignorance.

Donna Lowry, who married Sparkle Reid's father and is now raising the victim's daughter, said, "It was such a shock to us when we found out a few years ago and we were floored.

"We had no idea it would go in this direction," she told ABCNEWS.com today en route to the trial. "It's mind-boggling. We are raising her biracial child and there is so much hatred on the other side of the family."

//abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=5237459&page...

thank you brother...

I hadn't seen the entire documentary before and I appreciate your posting of it.  The level of complacency by some non-affected people (on this site) greatly frustrates me and I am reminded of the complacency of many German citizens during the Holocaust. 

My grandmother grew up in Bavaria during WW2 and had told me of the level of anti-semitism during that period.  She said there was an air of indifference to the state in which Ashkenazi Jews were treated, and we all know what happened in the end.  Just as Germans/Europeans/Catholic Church were indifferent to Ashkenazi Jews' suffering, we are now faced with the suffering of the Palestinians/Iraqis/(soon to be Iranians).  What will the international community do?

 I guess these types of propaganda and their respective complacencies will always exist as long as there is some type of political goal at hand.  Meaning that as long as a scape-goat is needed by an institution (governments, etc)  in order to further its aims, be they imperialistic or not, we (human-beings) will spare no expense at creating them.

To Fred

I think you're delusional when you say "For injecting Iranians in to this nonsense" because in the eyes of the most westerners (ignorent ones, of course), we're all the same - Ayrabs.

For injecting Iranians in to this nonsense

حکایت
مردکی را چشم درد خاست پیش بیطار رفت که دوا کن بیطار از آنچه در چشم چارپای میکند در دیده او کشید و کور شد حکومت به داور بردند. گفت برو هیچ تاوان نیست اگر این خر نبودی پیش بیطار نرفتی. مقصود ازین سخن آنست تا بدانی که هر آن که ناآزموده را کار بزرگ فرماید با آنکه ندامت برد به نزدیک خردمندان بخفت رای منسوب گردد.

ندهد هوشمند روشن راى      به فرومایه کارهاى خطیر
بوریا باف اگر چه بافنده است     نبرندش به کارگاه حریر 
 

Can someone please embed

Can someone please embed these videos? Thanks so much, your hard work is greatly appreciated...

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh