The Stereotype of Arabs and the Distortion of the Islamic History in the International Cinema

Abstract

The current research seeks to identify the stereotypical image of Arabs in world cinema and its role in distorting the Islamic history. It contained an introduction and definition of the term "stereotype", addressing the image of the evil Arabs in the Crusades, the distortion of the Arab and Islamic revolutions, and the stereotype of Islamic terrorism. It shows the way European and American films dealt with the personality of the Arab Muslim stereotypically, and the way this image was molded and reduced to the extent that the Muslim started imitating the status of the antithesis and the backward terrorist in Western thought. American cinema has mostly dealt with the Islamic history and the Arab character in a pre-prepared stereotype, ignoring the real man behind this fictional image. It is a preconceived image prepared in advance for filmmakers to use as a storehouse for villains, a reason for humor, and a falsification of established historical facts. It is not a good image due to the role of the Jewish lobby in amplifying the stereotype about them. The American and European cinema not only distorted the Islamic history and the history of the Arab and Islamic revolutions, but European and American filmmakers always intended to show the Arab character as a terrorist and racist figure.