For the third page of my blog I watched the movie "Iron Man." Before I begin my analysis on stereotypes, I must applaud the filmmakes. I was expect the portrayal of Arabs to be much worse than what it was, and the real enemy shown at the end turns about to be an American businessman.
In the Movie, along with several other movies (especially war ones), Arabs are portrayed in an unfriendly way. It is because of this portrayal that Arabs in real life are seen in a dark light.
Iron Man is about Tony Stark, a CEO of Stark Industries. He works with a man named Obadiah Stane who ends up turning against him. The terrorist group that captured Tony is known as 'The Ten Rings' and Obadiah has been selling them Stark products. The terrorists wanted Tony to build a Jericho missile and were going to kill him if he didn't make one. After escaping in an iron suit (hence iron man), Tony finds out from his secretary, Pepper, that it was Obadiah that told the terrorists to capture him.
In the film, Arabs are portrayed as either terrorists or innocent people that get killed by the terrorists. The Arabs are terrorist men dressed in their traditional garment with all kinds of weapons strapped to them. Yensen, the Arab doctor also captured by 'The Ten Rings', saves Tony's life after he is caught by hooking him up to a car battery. Yensen is portrayed as a rather nice person who is willing to risk his life to help Tony. During Tony's great escape, however, Yensen is shot by the terrorist group. He says before he dies that this is his destiny and that it's what he wants. To me, this is slightly stereotypical due to the fact that most media outlets make it seem like Arabs have no problems strapping bombs to themselves in the name of their god. This could be because of the agenda-setting theory. Suicide bombers are always top news so I expect it to be the most important. The schema theory could be used for this as well. Because the news and entertainment industries portray Arabs in this way, it is my schema, or the picture in my head, to see them in that way.
Surpsrisingly, no racial slurs are said during the film. I found this interesting since we are currently at war with them. Either that or I am desensitized to the subject and did not notice any racial slurs.
