Hollywood – The Unofficial Media
Cinema is not usually
and not technically seen as part of
media. But its influence and input in
shaping public opinion and attitudes
makes its role integral in the domain
of news and views.
A recently released Hollywood movie
epic was “Kingdom of Heaven”,
directed by award-winning director,
Sir Ridley Scott, whose “Gladiator”
won the Oscar award for Best Film at
the 2001 ceremony. The film, set during
the 12th Century, purports to be a fact-based
dramatization of the Salahuddin Ayubi-led
siege of Jerusalem against its European
Crusader occupiers. It is an account
based on the book, “A Brief History
of the Crusades” (Constable &
Robinson, 2004) by Geoffrey Hindley.
Instead of the usual depiction of the
Muslims as wild-eyed saber-rattling
barbarians, it was a balanced and historically
accurate depiction of Salahuddin and
his warriors as the epitome of chivalry,
gallantry, and military skill. Salahuddin,
whose humane attitude toward captives
along with his honor-oriented capacity
to keep his pledges endeared him to
the hearts and imaginations of his European
foes-cum-invaders, put him morally streets
ahead of his Crusader counterparts (Salahuddin’s
war-time conduct influenced international
humanitarian law to such an extent that
it later became enshrined in the Hague
and, then, Geneva Conventions governing
the treatment of POWs and civilian populations).
This movie – which could have
been posited as a partial corrective
to the endless avalanche of anti-Muslim
vitriol – was instead lampooned
and panned by critics. A prominent piece
of cinematic art thus has been consigned
to obscurity.
The fate of the “Kingdom of Heaven”
is a reminder of what befell a quarter
century ago to Mustapha Akkad’s
“Lion of the Desert”. The
movie depicted Mussolini’s Italian
campaign against Libya, whose resistance
was led by Omar Mukhtar, played by the
great Anthony Quinn.
This movie was similarly slammed by
film critics to such an extent that
it provoked The New York Times noted
military correspondent Drew Middleton
to write a rebuttal establishing that
the movie was historically accurate.
In striking contrast, movies with pro-Israeli
themes often get rave reviews and positive
write-ups – and usually have relatively
little difficulty in garnering awards
and accolades – even though they
may be less than stellar.
Forty-five years ago, based on Leon
Uris’s novel, the movie “Exodus”
was released glorifying in heroic terms
the creation of Israel in 1948. Paul
Newman starred as Yitzhak Rabin, the
former Israeli premier. Ironically,
in that ponderous movie, a Zionist character
is seen justifying terrorism.
Hollywood, in the ‘40s and early
‘50s, when the pro-Israeli lobby
had yet to gain leverage and clout,
was markedly different than present-day
Hollywood. Then, Arab and Muslim characters
were glamorized and romanticized, in
movies such as “Sinbad”,
“Aladdin”, “Ali Baba”,
“The Thief of Baghdad”,
“Kismet”, “The Flame
of Araby”, “The Veils of
Baghdad”, and “Omar Khayyam”.
In the Silent Era, the biggest hit was
“The Sheik” and the biggest
star was the swashbuckler, Rudolf Valentino,
who portrayed the Sheik. But that was
then and this is now.
Professor Jack Shaheen wrote the seminal
book, “Reel Bad Arabs” (Olive
Branch Press, 2001), whose book launch
I was invited to at Georgetown University
shortly after 9/11. The book elaborates
and substantiates how Hollywood is used
to skew discussion and warp perceptions
about Arabs, Muslims, and the Middle
East dispute.
It clearly shows that, when it pertains
to how the West looks at the Muslim
world, Hollywood is a part of the unofficial
media.
