I've been doing a lot more thinking about cinematic representations of Middle Eastern people and culture this week and, while the film does not speak to American attitudes towards Palestinian or Iraqi persons, House of Sand and Fog (2003) does offer some interesting insight that correlates with Shaheen's Reel Bad Arabs. As Shaheen observes, there exists a prevalent attitude in American culture that speaks to the fear that persons of Middle Eastern descent are slowly attempting to purchase America through slow and systematic land acquisitions. House of Sand and Fog essentially positions former home owner Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) against Iranian immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley) in a war over the property that Kathy once owned. When Kathy the property mistaken seized by the state, Behrani and his family purchase the home and proceed to renovate it. Kathy and Behrani are thrust into a property battle that spirals into a racial profiling and accusations. Throughout this process, Kathy befriends a police officer whose ideas of what constitutes an American lead him to attempt to intimidate the Behrani's into leaving the property and ultimately leads to the death of Behrani's son. Throughout the film, American ideas of Middle Eastern persons become quite explicit. The Behranis are accused of being terrorists, illegal aliens, and attempting to steal land and money from Kathy. As Shaheen points out within his film and cinematic guide, Reel Bad Arabs, these portrayals of the Behranis are consistent with racist ideologies within American society. While the film was enormously successful, particularly within the Academy, its portrayals of Arab Americans are ripe with bigotry and subsequently must lead us to question how American popular entertainments present Arab Americans.
When I saw this film over a year ago and I took for granted its stereotyping of Arabs. From what I recall, it portrayed an overly dominant father figure whose traditional family festooned the house with articles from the old country, such as "oriental" rugs. This film suggests that Arabs will not only take your home, but they will turn it into a "house of sand."
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the actors name is Ben Kingsley... It seems as though Hollywood often casts people that are not actually of their characters "type," unless of course it's type-casting Hugh Grant (no offense).
ReplyDeleteP.S. I will be reading The Lake Beyond the Wind.
Without ever having watched this film I am curious... Are the Behrani's portrayed as the victim or villain in this film? It seems as though they have done nothing wrong, so I wonder how they are characterized in the story...
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this film yet. Usually Ben Kingsley takes on progressive projects, "Gandhi" and "Schindler's List" for example. It is also interesting that Kingsley, an Englishman whose ancestors were from South Asia, is able by virtue of his "ethnic difference" to portray Indian, Jew, or Iranian...
ReplyDeleteI saw this movie a long time ago and have the book. I do think there are some instances of poor research that add to stereotypes, but I always interpreted the stereotypes/racism explicitly portrayed by the characters as the author's way of calling negative attention to that mindset. I thought the "sets" of characters (Kathy and the Behranis) were portrayed pretty humanely and that the Behranis acted in a way (wanting to keep the house and still feeling for Kathy) that could have easily been portrayed by Americans. But maybe I need to reread/rewatch, it has been a while.
ReplyDeleteI would add that the movie does criticize the racism that it presents; however, it does also contain the same mythologies about the Arab world that Shaheen speaks to.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting film, and I would definitely like to check it out. Sometimes it really seems to me that people in our nation (and perhaps elsewhere as well...?) are not just racist much of the time, but really quite paranoid (which probably goes hand-in-hand with the racism, I would imagine). Aside from in the media, I find I can sometimes see it just in people's reactions when they see someone "different" than they are. Sounds like it might be a similar reaction presented in this film.
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