Hollywood Stereotypes

Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, is an Abrahamic and monotheistic religion. It began at the beginning of the seventh century by the prophet Muhammad, and it has the Quran at its core. The followers of Islam are called Muslims, and, ultimately, they believe in the same God as Christians and Jews. Unlike Christians and Jews, however, when someone brings up the word Muslim in a conversation, people usually start associating concepts such as violence, terrorism, bombing, ISIS, bloodshed, and war. Since Al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks at the beginning of the new millennium, there has been an increase in the blaming and stereotyping of Muslims in the media. In February of 2015, three Muslim Americans were murdered at the University of North Carolina,

In the past few decades, Hollywood has been responsible for the creation of so many movies that portrayed “degrading images of Muslims, from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding terrorists” (Shaheen). Movies such as Argo and Zero Dark Thirty have created some very negative and inaccurate images on viewers’ memories. Argo is a story of the CIA’s effort to rescue six U.S. embassy workers during the Iranian hostage crisis. As Elise Schmelzer writes in her blog, “an entire race of people is made to look like a crazed mob, inherently dangerous to the lives of Americans.” Argo views Muslim men and women holding AK-47s in their hands and chanting death to America and Israel slogans throughout the movie. I still remember the day when the movie came out. I went to the cinema with my American friend and watched the film. When the movie ended, he told me that he did not know people in Iran could carry guns around! As an Iranian, I was totally speechless; I was so shocked that the movie made him believe that Iranians really carry guns around and burn the American flag. The movie made Muslims look ignorant, ugly, zealous, and to some degree