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Zaina Jalal
English 115 Honors
Professor Spitler-Lawson
9 December, 2016
Research Paper Final Draft
Word Count: 2299
Middle Easterners in Movies: Heroes or Terrorists?
Middle Easterners being portrayed as terrorists in action movies is something that moviewatchers are have become familiar with. A majority of people anticipate the action and drama
involved with the mysterious plot of how the hero is going to kill the malicious 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 dreadful incident known as 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 marketable. Is it possible to believe that
after the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, writers and directors portray Middle Easterners as
terrorists in action movies more often now, than they did before the incident? This thought is
actually easy to believe than, especially when it is a tactic used to earn more money in the
entertainment industry. Movies, as a part of pop culture, are meant to entertain people, and
although writers and directors create action movies involving terrorism for entertainment and
popularity, to a Middle Eastern it is much more than just entertainment, it is their lives. Due to
the involvement of terrorism in action movies after 9/11, all Middle Easterners are feared, they

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feel ashamed of who they are, and the portrayal of their lives and where they live makes them
seem like atrocious beasts.
When a new action movie is released and the plot consists of a Middle Eastern terrorist
attack with a hero trying to save the people from these so-called terrorists, it serves as a fear
for people, making them believe that it is capable of happening in reality. All Middle Easterners
are then seen as terrorists and people begin to fear them, making them feel ashamed for who they
are. This is proved in the CNN article, which is about the action movie London Has Fallen being
released too soon after the San Bernardino shootings due to the plot of the movie, and it needing
to be postponed. It claims that people being afraid of a terrorist attack is the new normal, and
that the release of the movie would only cause people to be more afraid than they already are
(Beale). After 9/11, it seems as if terrorist attacks have been a large fear of people, and with life
threatening attacks such as the San Bernardino shooting, it puts people in a state that makes them
afraid of any Middle Eastern. With the movie 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 is capable of causing an attack at any
time (Beale). This makes people afraid of Middle Easterners, specifically Muslims because the
people responsible for 9/11 were Muslim Middle Easterners. An example of their fear would be
of a woman 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. People do not think that she is
an innocent woman respecting her own religion with her attire, not making it so she could scare
everyone with what she is wearing. It is not plausible for Middle Eastern people to live a life
afraid that people will discriminate them due to the way movies portray them and an incident that
did not include every Middle Eastern. The Twin Towers were crashed into by a group of Middle

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Easterners that do not care for the lives of others, but that does not mean every Middle Easterner
thinks the same as them. The negativity brought towards Middle Easterners due to movies, does
not affect the way they think of these movies, and how they feel about the terrorism that occurs
in these movies.
Action movies that involve terrorism expect Middle Easterners to feel ashamed of the
way they live, and expect them to show hatred towards a movie involving the act of killing
terrorists. However, 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
response that a lot of people do not expect. In the interview, Gaith Mohammed claims that he
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). People in the Middle East do not oppose to the killing of terrorists because it
they think of it as improving their lives, and allowing them to live a much safer life in the Middle
East. Mohammed also mention that he liked the movie because it gave him the courage to
actually want to stand up to ISIS, and he has hope that one-day 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 think that they all might be terrorists
or that they might feel insulted by the act of Middle Easterners being killed, nonetheless, they
actually enjoy the movies because it gives them hope that one-day terrorism will end. It also
allows them to feel a sense of strength because they feel that they are strong enough to stand up
to the terrorists. The people in the Middle East have lived a terrorist-filled life for so long, that a
simple movie involving an act of killing them, makes them feel happy that some change in their

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life is possible. People must not underestimate the way Middle Easterners think of American
action movies, it actually gives them hope, which is something people do not think about often.
The thoughts of Middle Eastern people are not the only thing that writers get wrong; the way
they live is inaccurately portrayed in movies as well.
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 as if they are
complete savages that only want to kill people, and it makes it seem as if they all deserve to die.
In a CNN article written by Dean Obeidallah, he explains his thoughts on the movie American
Sniper, and how it made him feel, especially being an Arab-Muslim man. In the article he
discussed how he actually enjoyed the movie and thought that it is a true anti-war film, however,
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 statement made by Obeidallah proves
that writers and directors of these types of movies only care about portraying the main character
as the hero even if that means they must create false accusations of other peoples lives and
where they live. Another article from Front Page Mag describes the different types of movies that
were banned in the Middle East due to the amount of controversy it has caused because of the
inaccuracies and false accusations made in these movies. In the article it mentioned the movie
Body of Lies, which is a movie about CIA agents wanting to hunt down Al-Saleem and wanting
to kill him, and how it 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
Easterners as terrorists and even created the false accusation that Iranians are drug traffickers as
well, they should not be believe that people will approve of their attempt to portray innocent

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people as terrible killers and drug dealers when not all Middle Easterners live that way. Although
the writers and directors of American action movies are not meant to bring awareness to the lives
of the Middle East, they should at least make them seem civil, not look like monsters. The
creators of action movies should not be given the permissions to display 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 may not be acceptable because it is used or entertainment,
and although it might be informational, it is not right to destroy a persons life based on your
thoughts of how they live.
The writers and directors of movies that involve terrorism are probably not trying to
insult anyone, but are probably trying to bring awareness to the struggles that an American
soldier goes through in the Middle East through entertainment such as movies. An article from
the Rolling Stone 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 at the end only one SEAL member survives (Travers). This proves that it is hard
for American soldiers to be fighting the war, and these movies about terrorism are just showing
how hard it is for these soldiers to stay alive, especially against fully armed ruthless killers.
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 anything that gets in their way. 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

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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 to show the struggles of the soldiers
in war 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 in sight. It proves
that it is possible to compromise between a soldiers struggle and Middle Easterners struggle
and include both in a movie, not just one persons struggle. The article also mentioned that they
had real Danish Veteran act in the movie to bring reality in motion picture, he does not want to
film drama, he wants to create something that shows the pain a soldier experiences along with
the pain of the Afghan people, while he was creating the war scene (Dolsen). Not all movies
should be filmed around the thought of entertainment and drama, this creator proves that there is
so much more than that, the movie he created proves that there can be a balance. Writers and
directors in America are capable of portraying accuracy of struggles in their movies as well as
giving the entertainment that people want, without insulting some form of race, in this case, the
Middle Easterners.
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 were created as a form of
entertainment while simultaneously portraying the struggle of a soldier in war, a Middle
Easterners life and struggle is affected by it as well. Their lives are proved to be put to risk due
to many movies such as American Sniper and Body of lies. People begin to fear them due to the
misinterpretation of their lives and the way they live, as well as their thoughts of these action
movies. Peoples lives are always affected by some form of pop cultures, and in this case, it is

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action movies that affect the lives of Middle Easterners due to terrorism. 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.

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