2014 American Sniper Film Analysis

As a form of mass-media entertainment, Hollywood films have the potential to stimulate propaganda and hatred towards Muslims, especially when the characters in a box-office hit are flatly constructed, falsely misrepresented, and positioned as the irredeemable opponents of America. One notable example of this genre is the recently released 2014 American Sniper film directed by Clint Eastwood in which the film sets a box-office record of over $337.2 million in the United States, making it the top domestic gross film in 2014 on Box Office Mojo statistics according to the report by Pamela McClintock, a senior film reporter at The Hollywood Reporter News (McClintock, 2015). The film centers around Chris Kyle's, an American Navy S.E.A.L. (Sea, Air, and Land Team) soldier, who is assigned to hunt an al-Qaeda terrorist leader, Abu Musab

In contrast, the Iraqis who are the main villains in the film are represented as terrorists and nothing more than fodder and foes, whom Chris Kyle does not hesitate on gunning down to carry forward an American false patriotism. The Iraqis representation, in addition, is oversimplified in which they do not have a significant character development and are depicted as one-dimensional characters who are barbaric, violent, and purely evil whereas Chris Kyle is shown as one complex man, a deadly and patriotic American soldier but also a compassionate husband who cares about his family at the same time (Beydoun & Ayoub, 2015). This misleading representation of the Iraqis sparks anti-Muslim propaganda which is apparent through the significant rise in violent hate rhetoric targeting the Arab and Muslim American communities following its release due to the Iraqis' appearance and close resemblance to Muslims in real