Michaella Claire P.

Layug September 17, 2015

INTTREL A51

Reflection Paper:
Valentino's Ghost: Framing the Arab Image

Hate is a word that when used by one ethnicity against another, automatically elicits the idea of danger to
the minds of the majority. With the occurrences from the past as references, people associate violence to identities
of Middle Eastern descent. For the past decades, stereotypes have become increasingly threatening to the relation-
ship of states and the legitimacy of foreign policy. The documentary Valentinos Ghost which was directed and
written by Michael Singh, unraveled certain realities that mainstream media has rarely tried to cover. It was shown
in this documentary how the portrayal of Arabs and Muslims by the media has been greatly influenced by the ways
in which the United States has changed its foreign policy in the Middle East.
In a world where there is constant struggle for survival, it seems inevitable for people to do evil things for all kinds
of reasons, although most of which are unjustifiable they occur whether we hear about them or not. Stereotypes
are a result of what seems to be a coping mechanism of people when someone does something evil and it is applied
to the entire group therefore, leading to a certain groups isolation; having a common identity. It was evident in
the documentary how Hollywood has unceasingly produced films through the past years where Arabs were por-
trayed as dangerously violent and how in some way, these representations are expected to be received positively.
Film after film, Arabs have played the roles of being the attacker and this has resulted to a lasting effect not only
among the Americans, but also within most foreign societies around the world.

One of the phenomenon mentioned in the film that probably fuelled the existence of the American and Middle
Eastern conflict was the severe economic sanctions by the US on Iraq during the 1990s where there were increased
number of deaths of women, children and elderly resulting from the sanctions. Instances where Arabs were victims
are rarely remembered by most people today. Then, the 9/11 happened, the way they were portrayed in most of
the Hollywood films came into reality. Americans were furious probably along with most of the nations around
the globe as they watched with horror, images of people dying and suffering was all that was seen on television
for several days. But the message of why this was done never reached the people of America. I believe that making
their motivation known does not make it any less of an evil act to the eyes of many, nor does it justify anything,
but understanding the reasons of why they did it make us less vulnerable to assumptions centered merely on our
perspective. Knowing their reason could decrease the chances of this resulting to racism, ethnocentrism or any
form of extreme hatred that could linger for centuries and pass on from one generation to another. One of the lines
from the people interviewed in the film that I would agree on was something that talked about the moment we say
we are not as bad as Saddam Hussein we allow ourselves to do evil until before we reach the level closest to
what he did. People can easily be blinded by hatred especially when it comes to defending ourselves from threats
of foreign origin, but this does not give us the authority to end lives. The US government as shown in the film
became aggressively responsive to the point of encouraging the CIA and other agencies to elicit information from
suspects (Arabs) by means of waterboarding a form of torture where an immobilized captive is tied down on a
board and water is poured over a cloth covering the face causing the individual to experience the sensation of
drowning. It was mentioned that the White House at a certain point was all for exempting them from the Geneva
Conventions and this is clearly a higher form of corruption because it came from the highest authority and it was
to satisfy a specific agenda which was to force the suspects to give out information for the benefit of the US
government without consideration of the individual rights of the captives. It was never fully explained by the
media why Arabs were extremely vengeful towards America, thus their motto: Death to America. There was a
clip showing a gathering of the Arabs and their leader delivering a speech on why America is their enemy. He said
it was because they are the plunderers of their treasures and their resources resulting to their people's suffering
from unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and hunger. There was an incident that occurred in Paris last January 2015
where there was a terrorist attack. In this event, two Islamist gunmen killed a number of civilians who worked
at a satirical publication as a result of a cartoon in a magazine that for them seemed liked a mockery of their
prophet. Without a doubt, what they did was wrong, but it is always important to learn why they did it.
One of the things mentioned in the film that I also agree with is that the existence of double standards is probably
what enrages the Muslims. I believe that the portrayal of the Arabs in those Hollywood productions may have
damaged a nation and it is something that is hard to resolve. It changed the way the world looks at them. An
American killed on Middle Eastern territory generates more sympathy from people than an Arab killed on US
territory. I for one, do not reject that seeing an Arab board a plane strikes fear in my mind despite my awareness
of existing biases. It is truly difficult to think critically when during my formative years I was exposed to such
assumptions and flawed narrations of the Middle East. It is also not easy knowing that this would affect generations
to come. I do not defend in any way a particular ethnic identity. It is apparent that the dispute between the Middle
East and the United States is a chain reaction; a response of one state to another and it keeps on going, taking more
innocent lives and possibly permanently damaging the future of the next generation of Americans and Muslims
alike. With the leaders of both sides promising to defeat the other is a promise of a threat not only to both of
countries, but the world.
Researching about the film after watching it, I came across critiques which question its reliability although, more
than the issue concerning the Arab image this film with or without credibility has induced realizations which go
beyond the bounds of the film itself. I believe that the most important thing I learned is that stereotypes in extreme
cases can undoubtedly affect nations and dictate foreign policy. Moreover, it is of extreme significance that we
inform ourselves of the motivation of others for acting as they do to avoid creating flawed narratives that could
affect future actions of society.

References:

Jordan, C. (2015, August 23). Valentino's Ghost: Framing the Arab Image [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2015/08/valentino-ghost-150816121213605.html

Regan, H. (2015, May 19). Charlie Hebdo Cartoonist Rnald "Luz" Luzier To Leave the Magazine. Retrieved
from http://time.com/3883533/charlie-hebdo-renald-luzier-luz-resignation-attacks-deaths/