Jalal 1

Zaina Jalal
English 115 Honors
Professor Spitler-Lawson
19 November, 2016
Research Paper Rough Draft
Word Count: 1684
Terrorism in Movies
Middle Easterners being portrayed as terrorists in action movies is not something that
people are unfamiliar with. A majority of people anticipate the action and drama involved with
the mysterious plot of how the hero is going to kill the evil terrorist, or save the president from
the terrorists such as in the movie White House Down. The start of this popular plot began after
the terrible incident known 9/11, when the twin towers were attacked by two airplanes controlled
by terrorists later identified as Middle Easterners. It seems as if after September 11, 2001
producers believe that it is acceptable for them to use terrorism as a way to make an action movie
more interesting and popular. The question to be asked is, after the attack on the Twin Towers in
2001, do writers and directors portray Middle Easterners as terrorists in action movies more
often now, than they did before the incident? This question is true, especially when it is a tactic
used to earn more money in the entertainment industry. Although writers and directors create
action movies involving terrorism for entertainment and popularity, to a Middle Eastern it is
much more serious than just entertainment.
When a new action movie is released, and the plot is of a middle eastern terrorist attack,
and a hero is trying to save people form these terrorists, it serves as a fear for people. Middle
Easterners are then seen as terrorists and people begin to fear them, making them feel bad for

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who they are. This is proved in the CNN article, which is about the movie London Has Fallen
being released at the wrong time due to its terrorism plot, and it needing to delay it release due to
the San Bernardino Shootings. It claims that people being afraid of a terrorist attack is the new
normal, and that the release of the move would only cause people to be more afraid than they
already are (Beale). With the moving being about an agent saving the United States President
from a terrorist attack in London at the British prime ministers funeral, it posts as something that
is possible, and that any middle eastern can cause an attack anytime (Beale). This makes people
afraid of middle easterners, specifically Muslims, especially if a woman is wearing a hijab in
public and is peacefully going about her day, people would automatically look at her as a threat
due to her attire and religion. It is not right for middle eastern people to live a life afraid that
people will discriminate them because of movies and an incident that did not include every
middle eastern, just a couple of middle easterners blew up the twin towers, not every single
person in the middle east. This also makes people look at the middle east in a different way, and
look at the lives of middle eastern people in a different way as well.
American war action movies based in the Middle East and includes terrorism, portrays
the way middle easterners perceive terrorists in their own country is incorrect. The USA Today
article about the movie American Sniper being released in Baghdad and interviewing what
people thought of the movie included an interview with a person from Baghdad named Gaith
Mohammed and what he thought of the movie. In the interview, Mohammed enjoyed the movie,
and actually liked that the terrorists in the movie were being killed, especially when the little boy
was holding the grenade, everyone in the movie theater encouraged the sniper Chris Kyle to
shoot him, and believed that the American soldiers were helping getting rid of the terrorists
(George). Mohammed also mention that he like the because it gave him the courage to actually

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want to stand up to ISIS, and he has hope that terrorism will soon be gone, especially since he
had lived through it for so long (George). People might think that middle eastern people do not
enjoy terrorist movies because they all might be terrorists or they might feel insulted, but they
actually enjoy the movies because it gives them hope that one-day terrorism will end, and they
feel a sense of strength because they feel that can stand up to the terrorists. This is also proven
with the lives of middle easterners being portrayed incorrectly in movies.
In the movies such as American Sniper, the portrayal of Middle Easterners and the way
they live was completely erroneous. The way they are portrayed makes them look like they are
complete savages that only want to kill people, and it makes it seem as if they all deserve to die.
There was a CNN article about the how the writer Dean Obeidallah saw the movie American
Sniper and he wrote how he felt about the way they portrayed middle easterners in the movie,
especially since he is an Arab-Muslim. In the article he wrote about how he actually enjoyed the
movie and thought that it is a true anti-war film, but he also admits that it incites hatred of
Muslims and Arabs, and says that you will not like the Arabic communities after watching it
(Obeidallah). This just proves that movies similar to American Sniper would also make Arabic
people look bad in order to make the American look like the hero, even though it is an American
film and is meant to make it look like that, they do not have the right to encourage people to
show hatred towards Middle Easterners. There was also another article form Front Page Mag that
talks about movies that were banned in the Middle East due to the amount of controversy it has
caused. In the article it mentions the movie Body of Lies, which is a movie about wanting to hunt
down Al-Quida, was banned in the Middle East because it was showing that Iran was all about
drug trafficking and supporting international terrorism instead of showing the real lives of the
Iranian people (Tapson). This is another movie that proves Americans only think of Middle

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Easterners as terrorists and now even drug traffickers as well, they should not be allowed to
portray innocent people as terrible killers and drug dealers when not all of them are that way.
Movies should not show the way people live if they do not know if it is accurate or not, it is not
plausible for American writers and producers to show that Middle Easterners live a terrible
terrorism filled life when it does not apply to everyone in the Middle East. This also does not
make it acceptable if it is just used for entertainment.
The writers and directors of movies that involve terrorism are probably not trying to
insult anyone, but are probably trying to bring awareness to social issues and are giving
entertainment at the same time. An article from the Rolling Stones talks about the movie Lone
Survivor and how it shows how tough it is to be a soldier in the Afghanistan war, and how hard it
is to survive. The writer of the article describes how the four SEAL members were stuck by
themselves against over 140 Taliban members ready to kill them, and of course only on surviving
(Travers). This proves that it is hard for American soldiers to be fighting in the war, and these
movies about terrorism are just showing how hard it is for these soldiers to stay alive. However,
although writers and producers are trying to prove how tough it is to be a soldier in the Middle
East, they could do it in a way the does not make Middle Easterners look like they are savages
and are trying to destroy every soldier. An example that it is possible for people not to portray
Middle Easterners as savages is an article from Task and Purpose that describes a Danish short
film about war in Afghanistan and how the Middle Easterners and soldiers both suffer greatly
because of the war. In the article, the writer specifically says that the creator of the film believes
it is important to show the struggles that everyone goes through in war, from the soldiers to their
families and to the citizens of Afghanistan suffering as well (Dolsen). Although it is not an
American action film, it proves that it is possible so show the struggles of the soldiers in war

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while showing what the Middle Easterners go through on a daily basis as well, it also proves that
not all Middle Easterners are savages and are ready to kill everyone. Writers and directors in
America are capable of giving entertainment as well as accuracy in their movies without making
all Arabs look like terrorists.
After the terrible incident 9/11, writers and creators have used terrorism in movies more
often now than they did before the incident. Although these movies are created for entertainment,
Middle Easterners consider it more as their life than just entertainment. Their lives are proved to
be put to risk due to many movies such as American Sniper and Body of lies. These action
movies all prove to have a lot of impact on peoples lives, so if you were a writer or director,
what message would you try to send through your movies?

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Works Cited
Beale, Lewis. "'London Has Fallen' Is Ill-timed, Reckless Terror Flick." CNN. Cable News
Network, 03 Feb. 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Dolsen, Jennifer. "This Movie Gets Right About War What Other Films Get Wrong." Task &
Purpose. HirePurpose, 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
George, Susannah. "What Moviegoers in Baghdad Think of 'American Sniper'" USA Today.
GlobalPost, 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Obeidallah, Dean. "'American Sniper' a Powerful Anti-war Film." CNN. Cable News Network,
27 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Tapson, Mark. "Top 10 Movies Banned in the Middle East." Frontpage Mag. David Horowitz
Freedom Center, 23 June 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Travers, Peter. "Lone Survivor." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.