9/11 Informative Speech

Presenter: Hi. Today I am going to be talking about how Muslims have been depicted in Hollywood after the events of 9/11. [PROJECTOR: IMAGES of the films that I have researched, fading in one by one as I am introducing them.] The films that I have chosen for my research are Iron Man (1), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2), Zero Dark Thirty (3) and Argo (4). I believe that it is important how religion and culture is shown in the media, because people of all ages watch films and this embeds ideas into their minds about certain ethnic groups. Projector: IMAGES Iron Man, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Zero Dark Thirty and Argo Presenter: I chose these films because I believe that they strongly convey the message of Muslims being the enemy of the

[PROJECTOR: QUOTE film synopsis…IMAGE The Reluctant Fundamentalist still] Here is a clip from the film [PROJECTOR: VIDEO In 25 Years scene] It is important to acknowledge the reactions of Changez’ colleagues when they hear what he says. Their expressions show that they are afraid of him and this is proved when one of them says, “he really scared me.” This shows that they could not tell that Changez was joking and are really frightened by the idea of a Muslim dictator. Riz Ahmed was the lead in this film and he said that he chose this role because it ‘smashes’ the assumptions (7) that the public had on Muslims after 9/11. [PROJECTOR: QUOTES Riz Ahmed acting stereotypes] This is useful because Riz only works on projects that he believes in, proving that he thinks the Americans acted ‘arrogantly’ with Muslims after

[PROJECTOR: QUOTE Zero Dark Thirty synopsis.] Although this film was a commercial hit, many people disliked it. Here are some of the things critics (14) (15) had to say about the film. [PROJECTOR: QUOTES Chris Tookey, Daily Mail review and Richard Corliss, Time Magazine review]. These quotes are useful because they show that the film received mixed reviews, which allowed me to appreciate the different viewpoints on this matter. I think that there were aspects in the film that were biased against Muslims and would probably offend them. In reality, there wasn’t any universal acclaim regarding the immorality of killing Osama bin Laden but this wasn’t shown in the film. I liked that they had an Arab man in a pivotal role, conveying the idea that not all Arabs are