Hollywood studios looking for a new brand of "bad guy" for their films are grappling with the dilemma of portraying Islamic terrorists as "enemy number one" without perpetuating offensive stereotypes.
"The hero and the villain is a black-and-white kind of situation and Hollywood is going to have to go through some acrobatics to try to figure out how to continue to do that and be sensitive," said Leo Braudy, professor of English and film history at the University of Southern California.
Continuing a policy in place since the 1991 Gulf War, "Hollywood will probably stay away from the stereotyping of Muslims for fear of offending pressure groups, because that gives them negative publicity," argued Jonathan Kuntz, a member of the Film and Television faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Fifty years ago, after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japan, Americans had little trouble accepting the stereotype of the "Japanese enemy" adopted by Hollywood.
But America's diversity of cultures and ethnicities make such stereotyping anathema to current filmmaking.
Since Washington and New York were attacked Sept. 11 by terrorists thought to be linked to Islamist militant Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, there has been a passionate defense of American Muslims, resisting their metamorphosis into scapegoats for the horrific attacks.
"There might be a film or two with the Taliban as the villains but certainly it is not going to became a regular genre like during World War II when we had Nazis as the bad guys in so many films," opined Kuntz.
And as Hollywood generally refrains from including references to real villains in its productions, "I don't expect we are going to have a lot of films about Osama bin Laden as we didn't have ten years of films about bad people like Saddam Hussein," Kuntz said.
"Partly, because I don't know how colorful or how interesting a villain he can really be cinematically," he added.
Miramax Films, a Walt Disney company, which last July bought the rights to "Crisis Four," a novel by British author Andy McNab chronicling bin Laden's plans to blow up the White House, will tinker with the script to eliminate all references to the Saudi-born militant.
"We are reviewing the material in light of the recent tragedy and ongoing world events and right now the plotline of Osama bin Laden blowing up the White House will not be included in the film," Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said in a statement.
Upcoming Hollywood blockbusters will no doubt feature "individual megalomaniacs ... not necessarily connected to any particular ethnic group," Braudy said, noting the longtime entertainment industry strategy to avoid offending any potential ticket buyers.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS