Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Miscellaneous Blogs -> Law & Humanities Blog

Miscellaneous

: Law & Humanities Blog

Hollywood and Ethnicity on Film

Tung Yin, Lewis & Clark Law School, has published Through a Screen Darkly: Hollywood as a Measure of Discrimination Against Arabs and Muslims, in volume 2 of the Duke Forum for Law and Social Change (2010), which was presented at a symposium at Duke Law School on "The New Face of Discrimination: Muslim in America." Here is the abstract.

In this essay, which was prepared for the Duke Forum for Law and Social Change?s ?The New Face of Discrimination: Muslim in America,? I compare Hollywood?s depiction of Arabs and Muslims in terrorism thrillers before and after the 9/11 attacks. The goal of this comparison is to see whether the increased awareness of Arab and Muslim culture since 9/11 has changed the way that Hollywood depicts Arab and Muslim characters in such television shows and movies. I chose Hollywood as the focus because popular culture both reflects and shapes public attitudes. I reach three conclusions: (1) although 9/11 led to an increase in Arab characters, Arab-American actors have not benefited, perhaps an indication of the problematic depictions of such characters; (2) Hollywood has moved toward creating Arab-American counterterrorism agents, but these characters typically play minor roles that understate the key roles played by some (of the few) real-life Arab-American agents; and (3) the new ?sleeper cell? characters ? seemingly normal Arab-American characters who secretly plan and execute terrorism plots ? who are a post-9/11 development, for the most part overstate the nature of the Arab-Americans who have been prosecuted for terrorism-related offenses in this country.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Full post as published by Law & Humanities Blog on February 01, 2011 (boomark / email).