By Gaelle Rizkallah – Author and Translator

The Middle East is no stranger to the countless stereotypes it falls victim to, again and again. For years, all anyone has ever seen when Arabs are involved in Hollywood ranges from hypersexualized belly dancers, to refugee victims and terrorist villains, all coming from deserts. Aren’t we all sick of just watching countless “Aladdin” movies all the time? There has been, without a doubt, some evolution over the years, but we can’t deny that there is a recurring image, one that is always haunting Middle Eastern characters. Will it ever come to an end or are we forever stuck in this barbie box?

Convenience of A Cliché Explained

We all know how Hollywood is a great influential force to all. Whether in cinema or even in politics, movies are not just entertainment. There is, in fact, a political role that is played in the filmmaking world for everything to be represented one way or another. 

All these years, it hasn’t just been telling us stories. In reality, ideologies and beliefs have unconsciously been integrated and reinforced in our minds, allowing Hollywood to thrive as an instrument to reflect political narratives. For instance, just like we see a lot of villains and enemies in many films originating from Arab countries, we also watch many Russian characters represented as evil spies as well. Each enemy could be based on a war-related era that allowed such stereotypes to rise and make the perfect go-to cliché.

Misinterpretation And Its Heavy Toll

What comes after such stereotypes win? Well, when people are constantly conveyed as terrorists or barbaric individuals, there is a deep cost on the way they will be seen. The result? A deep loss of humanity on a global scale. While such interpretations are not very deeply thought of, they end up devaluing populations as a whole. We are talking about something bigger than a simple stereotype. It’s a cultural erasure, stripping people of the real identity they worked so hard to show. 

What about psychologically? The anxiety and pressure youth nowadays feel about this ”image” strangers have of them, is always a shadow behind them, following them everywhere they go. The recurring thoughts of “How will others see me?” or “If I speak in Arabic, will someone suspect me as dangerous?” are haunting Arabs in foreign countries. And as entertainment keeps these stereotypes fueled, it does not stop. 

But if you think it ends here, you are very wrong. It goes as far as standardizing in casting, or more commonly known as “typecasting”.

Typecasting: the act of assigning the same genre of roles repeatedly to an actor or an actress resulting from the convenience of their appearance for it. 

Think about the following: How often do you see Arabs playing as doctors, CEOs, or even rom-com leads? 

Do you have an answer in mind? 

Now, try to answer this next question: How often do you see middle eastern actors as terrorists? Refugees? Victims? religious fanatics? belly dancers? Tanned skin and dark haired people with a “Middle Eastern” accent or specific clothing? 

How many times did you think “a lot” as you answered the second question? Which question was easier to answer?

The reality of it all is that we are stuck in a loop, consistently required to look and act “Arab enough” for the camera. 

But behind the camera, sit writers with little to no cultural context about the Middle East when writing their characters. Therefore, characters end up always being based on headlines and portrayed inaccurately. Sometimes, many are even conveyed in an offensive way while the area is simply reduced to endless deserts and conflicts.

The Big Misunderstanding 

When the Middle East enters the picture, we rarely ever see joy, humor or innovation being explored in the entertainment industry. Many forget that while the imperfect and caricatured side of the Arab world exists, just like in any other region, there is also the real side. The multilingual and religiously diversified side. The culturally rich side that no one seems to set foot in and represent. 

The real image? It’s the one where actors aren’t always in cliché roles related to war or trauma experiences. It’s the image that really shows how normal Middle Eastern life is, how people actually are, not the people that the media is always so focused on. Not just the people that make the headlines and create controversy. 

It’s not all about dancers and terrorists. It’s about family, culture and everyday middle eastern life.

Time to flip the script: what’s holding it all back?

“If it sells, don’t change it” is what really keeps the entertainment industry from making a change and giving Middle Eastern voices the chance to break through. 

However, Gen Z is taking the great risk and disrupting the representation everyone has gotten so used to. Young creators are now breaking myths and stereotypes with a weapon that will always conquer: comedy. Satire and comedy are making a revolution that is pushing back on misinterpretation. Arab creators are no longer accepting the image that has belittled them to yet another Aladdin country. 

But with a generation of creative youth who have watched people tell their stories from a stereotypical perspective, the fight is still ongoing. 

Real lives are harmed, global understanding is distorted. For what? For misrepresentation that sells. The destruction is greater than it seems. It’s bigger than just wanting a positive picture. It’s about wanting an accurate and real one.

About Stereotypes

Beliefs based on race, gender, age, etc. may seem harmless, but are, in fact, damaging for a lifetime. As they keep on reinforcing bias over and over again, they limit real individual identity, causing many to live a personal crisis concerning who they really are. breaking free from stereotypes is the real challenge that we have all been trying to overcome since the beginning of time. But the reality that we forget is that: it starts with us.

About The Author

Gaelle Rizkallah is a Master’s student at Saint Joseph University, specializing in Conference Translation. From a young age, she has had a passion for translation and reading. Gaelle typically enjoys studying topics that are always on her mind, specifically ones that are not so spoken about. She likes to dive into the side of trends that are rarely thought of, and sides that should not be overlooked in her eyes.