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It's barbaric, but hey, it's home
Feb. 9th, 2006 09:17 amThe English class I'm sort of facilitating/TAing/coteaching will be watching Aladdin in two weeks. I'm a bit nervous. Back in '93, when a stanza of the first song was changed, I rolled my eyes:
It seemed rather silly, given that the entire movie was set in a fictional, mythical version of the Middle East. Who cares if a movie alleges that the land of Agrabah is barbaric?
But now that I live in the Middle East, I'm not rolling my eyes anymore. I'm upset that, when I Googled the lyrics, I found a bunch of people saying things like:
When it comes to the media painting an ugly picture of another religion, as happened with the infamous Danish cartoons, I come down pretty hard on the side of free speech. Papers should be able to print anything short of an incitement to violence, and while people have every right to get angry at the printing of something offensive, it is completely inappropriate to respond with the kinds of violence we've seen in the last couple weeks.
At the same time, living in the Middle East has made me really cringe at how the Western world portrays Arabs and Muslims. Negative stereotypes that seem merely idiotic in the States -- the jihadist in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, the terrorists on innumerable episodes of Law & Order and other law-enforcement shows -- are truly mortifying when you see them over here and you know your Arab friends are seeing them too.
People in this part of the world read our books and watch our movies; they know every stereotype we have about Arabs and Muslims. I absolutely support the right of the media to say say stupid and offensive things, but I sure wish they wouldn't.
| Theatrical release | Video release |
| Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place Where the caravan camels roam, Where they cut off your ear If they don't like your face; It's barbaric, but hey, it's home! | Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place Where the caravan camels roam, Where it's flat and immense And the heat is intense; It's barbaric, but hey, it's home! |
It seemed rather silly, given that the entire movie was set in a fictional, mythical version of the Middle East. Who cares if a movie alleges that the land of Agrabah is barbaric?
But now that I live in the Middle East, I'm not rolling my eyes anymore. I'm upset that, when I Googled the lyrics, I found a bunch of people saying things like:
"Protesters claimed the original line perpetuated a negative stereotype of Arab countries and peoples. But...but...but marketplaces and cities in Arabian countries still cut the hands off convicted thieves. And there's even a scene in the film which threatens to relieve the princess of an appendage. They're not being negative; they're being accurate.OK, first of all there's a difference between cutting a hand off a convicted thief and cutting an ear off someone because you don't like their face. And, anyway, corporal punishment is hardly universal in Arab countries.
When it comes to the media painting an ugly picture of another religion, as happened with the infamous Danish cartoons, I come down pretty hard on the side of free speech. Papers should be able to print anything short of an incitement to violence, and while people have every right to get angry at the printing of something offensive, it is completely inappropriate to respond with the kinds of violence we've seen in the last couple weeks.
At the same time, living in the Middle East has made me really cringe at how the Western world portrays Arabs and Muslims. Negative stereotypes that seem merely idiotic in the States -- the jihadist in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, the terrorists on innumerable episodes of Law & Order and other law-enforcement shows -- are truly mortifying when you see them over here and you know your Arab friends are seeing them too.
People in this part of the world read our books and watch our movies; they know every stereotype we have about Arabs and Muslims. I absolutely support the right of the media to say say stupid and offensive things, but I sure wish they wouldn't.
