Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond

This article sheds light on the stereotypical representations of Arab Americans in Hollywood. It focuses on the response of Arab Americans to the increasing outrageous stereotypes of the industry in post 9/11 America. Hollywood has always dehumanized and demonized the Arab and Muslim characters in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammed Amin Medjabra, Abdelhak Elaggoune
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bejaia Abderrahmane Mira 2025-07-01
Series:The Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/671
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849713243404107776
author Mohammed Amin Medjabra
Abdelhak Elaggoune
author_facet Mohammed Amin Medjabra
Abdelhak Elaggoune
author_sort Mohammed Amin Medjabra
collection DOAJ
description This article sheds light on the stereotypical representations of Arab Americans in Hollywood. It focuses on the response of Arab Americans to the increasing outrageous stereotypes of the industry in post 9/11 America. Hollywood has always dehumanized and demonized the Arab and Muslim characters in its movies and presented them as terrorists. The research explores how Arab American independent moviemakers and producers used counter-narratives and self-representation to challenge the long-established Hollywood’s stereotypes and provide a reasonable and authentic portrayal of Arab Americans. The rise of independent cinema offered a room for Arab Americans to showcase the cultural differences of their ethnic communities. To reach the objectives of this research, both descriptive and qualitative methods are employed. The paper concludes that the efforts made by Arab Americans to counter Hollywood’s stereotypes managed to have their voices heard and prompted them to continue their struggle against media racial stereotyping.
format Article
id doaj-art-a01f2bb6fb5e415a82dcbc5f7782d971
institution DOAJ
issn 2716-9189
2676-1750
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher University of Bejaia Abderrahmane Mira
record_format Article
series The Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society
spelling doaj-art-a01f2bb6fb5e415a82dcbc5f7782d9712025-08-20T03:14:01ZengUniversity of Bejaia Abderrahmane MiraThe Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society2716-91892676-17502025-07-0182Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans RespondMohammed Amin Medjabra0Abdelhak Elaggoune1University of Badji Mokhtar, Annaba University of 8 Mai 1945, Guelma This article sheds light on the stereotypical representations of Arab Americans in Hollywood. It focuses on the response of Arab Americans to the increasing outrageous stereotypes of the industry in post 9/11 America. Hollywood has always dehumanized and demonized the Arab and Muslim characters in its movies and presented them as terrorists. The research explores how Arab American independent moviemakers and producers used counter-narratives and self-representation to challenge the long-established Hollywood’s stereotypes and provide a reasonable and authentic portrayal of Arab Americans. The rise of independent cinema offered a room for Arab Americans to showcase the cultural differences of their ethnic communities. To reach the objectives of this research, both descriptive and qualitative methods are employed. The paper concludes that the efforts made by Arab Americans to counter Hollywood’s stereotypes managed to have their voices heard and prompted them to continue their struggle against media racial stereotyping. https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/671Arab Americanscounter-narrativesHollywood’s stereotypesindependent moviesresponding to stereotypes
spellingShingle Mohammed Amin Medjabra
Abdelhak Elaggoune
Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
The Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society
Arab Americans
counter-narratives
Hollywood’s stereotypes
independent movies
responding to stereotypes
title Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
title_full Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
title_fullStr Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
title_full_unstemmed Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
title_short Breaking Hollywood’s Stereotypes: Arab Americans Respond
title_sort breaking hollywood s stereotypes arab americans respond
topic Arab Americans
counter-narratives
Hollywood’s stereotypes
independent movies
responding to stereotypes
url https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/671
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammedaminmedjabra breakinghollywoodsstereotypesarabamericansrespond
AT abdelhakelaggoune breakinghollywoodsstereotypesarabamericansrespond